Posted: Feb. 24, 2011
The Phoenix Suns have acquired guard Aaron Brooks from the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard Goran Dragic and a protected 2011 first-round draft pick, the team announced.
“We are excited to add Aaron Brooks to our team,” said Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby. “We are confident that he will upgrade our backcourt now and in the future. He should add scoring to our second unit, which is important to our success.”
The 6-0, 161-pound Brooks is an established NBA point guard who owns career averages of 12.8 points and 3.6 assists in 247 games (124 starts). Originally selected by the Rockets with the 26th overall pick (first round) of the 2007 NBA Draft, Brooks was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player a season ago after averaging career highs of 19.6 points and 5.3 assists while starting all 82 games for Houston.
Brooks garnered the honor after registering the largest scoring increase of any NBA player (+8.4 points) last season, and leading the NBA in three-point field goals made (209). Brooks became just the sixth player in league history to tally at least 200 three-pointers and 400 assists in a single season.
The 26-year-old Brooks joins the Suns with 2010-11 averages of 11.6 points and 3.8 assists in 34 games (seven starts). After dealing with injuries early, Brooks has appeared in 21 of the Rockets’ last 22 games and has scored 15 or more points in seven of those games.
A fourth-year pro, Brooks has made two playoff appearances in his first three NBA seasons, appearing in 19 postseason contests (13 starts), and averaging 12.8 points and 2.5 assists. Brooks started all 13 playoff games for the Rockets in 2009, as Houston won a series and pushed the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the semifinal round. Brooks averaged career playoff highs of 16.8 points and 3.4 assists in 2009.
A four-year performer at the University of Oregon, Brooks earned Second-Team All-America honors as a senior, and was a member of the Wooden Award All-American Team and the All-Pac-10 First Team as a senior when he led the conference in scoring (17.7).
The Suns originally acquired the draft rights to Dragic, who was the 45th overall pick (second round) of the 2009 NBA Draft, from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for the draft rights to Malik Hairston (48th overall), a 2009 second-round pick and cash. A third-year performer from Ljubljana, Slovenia, Dragic owns career averages of 6.7 points and 2.7 assists in 183 games (five starts).