Aaron Brooks (basketball)

Aaron Brooks

File:Aaron Brooks.jpg Brooks with the Rockets in 2008
No. 0 – Chicago Bulls
Position	Point guard
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1985-01-14) January 14, 1985 Seattle, Washington
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight	161 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school	Franklin (Seattle, Washington)
College	Oregon (2003–2007)
NBA draft	2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 26th overall
Selected by the Houston Rockets
Playing career	2007–present
Career history
2007–2011	Houston Rockets
2007	→Rio Grande Valley Vipers (D-League)
2011	Phoenix Suns
2011–2012	Guangdong Southern Tigers (China)
2012–2013	Sacramento Kings
2013–2014	Houston Rockets
2014	Denver Nuggets
2014–present	Chicago Bulls
Career highlights and awards
NBA Most Improved Player (2010) CBA All-Star (2012) Third-team All-American – AP (2007) Second-team All-American – Sporting News (2007) First-team All-Pac-10 (2007) McDonald's All-American (2003)
Stats at NBA.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing the United States FIBA Americas U18 Championship 2002 Isla Margarita National team

Aaron Jamal Brooks (born January 14, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected 26th overall in the 2007 NBA draft. He won the NBA Most Improved Player Award for the 2009–10 NBA season.

High school career

Brooks, a high profile recruit out of Franklin High School in Seattle, "earned just about every honor possible" while leading his team to the Washington 4A State Championship as a senior. As a high school senior he averaged 24.3 points, 7.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. In that championship game, Brooks went head-to-head with future Gonzaga Bulldog and NBA player Adam Morrison. Brooks finished with 38 points in the 67-55 win. Morrison finished with 37 in the loss but was still named Tournament MVP after matching the then four-game scoring total.

Considered a four-star recruit by 247Sports.com, Brooks was listed as the No. 4 point guard and the No. 30 player in the nation in 2003.

College career

Brooks finished his college career at the University of Oregon in 2007. He was a four-year starter for the Ducks, and finished his career with 13.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. In his first year at Oregon, Brooks took over the starting point guard role previously occupied by current NBA guard Luke Ridnour. Despite missing 10 games with a broken bone in his wrist, Brooks earned Pac-10 All-Freshman honors. Brooks was named honorable mention all-Pac-10 for his efforts as a sophomore, a season which included a 34-point effort against USC. After a disappointing junior year at Oregon culminating in a suspension during a game against Washington, Brooks rebounded to become one of the leading candidates for Pac-10 Player of the Year. He led the Ducks to a number of key victories, including game winners over then #1 ranked UCLA and then #10 Arizona in Tucson. Brooks scored a team high 31 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in an overtime road win against then top 25 ranked Washington State, helping to hand the Cougars their first home loss of the 2006-07 season. At the half-way mark of Pac-10 conference play, Brooks was averaging 19.1 points and 4.5 assists per game in leading Oregon to a top 10 ranking and a 19-2 overall record. The Ducks went on to finish and tie for third place in the Pac-10 conference, and won the Pac-10 Championship tournament following an impressive three day run over Arizona, Cal and USC. Oregon advanced to the Midwest Regional Final where they lost to defending champion Florida. Brooks was announced as one of 22 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, which is given to the top college basketball player in the nation. Brooks was one of 10 players named to the Wooden All-American Team, and he was also All-Pac-10 First Team. He won the men's three point shootout on March 29, 2007, to finish off his NCAA career, but lost the "battle of the sexes" to Katie Gearlds of Purdue University. He graduated from Oregon in 2007 with a degree in political science.

Professional career

NBA

On June 28, 2007, Brooks was taken 26th overall in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. During the 2007–08 season, he spent time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League.

On February 19, 2009, Rafer Alston, the Rockets' starting point guard at the time, was traded to the Orlando Magic minutes before the trading deadline, making way for Brooks to become the starter. As a starter, he averaged around 14.0 Points and 4.5 assists per game. On April 21, 2009, Brooks scored 11 points in 27 seconds in a First Round 107-103 Playoff loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, in which Brooks played a huge part in Houston's rally, scoring three 3-pointers and a fast break lay-up. While the Rockets lost that game, they were able to eliminate Portland in six games. Aaron Brooks scored a then career-high 34 points in Game 4 of the 2009 Western Conference semi-finals as the Rockets, without Yao Ming, defeated the Los Angeles Lakers to even the series at 2-2. However, the Los Angeles Lakers eventually won the series in 7 games.

On January 13, 2010, Brooks scored a new career high of 43 points in a triple overtime win against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On March 15, 2010, Brooks scored the game winning shot against the Denver Nuggets with 2.9 seconds left in the game. On March 17, 2010, Brooks shot 7-7 from behind the three arc against the Memphis Grizzlies, setting a new franchise record. On April 11, 2010, Brooks became only the sixth player in NBA history to make over 200 3-pointers and over 400 assists in a single season.

On April 23, 2010, he was named NBA Most Improved Player, averaging 19.6 points, 5.3 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game.

On November 6, 2010, Brooks suffered a sprained ankle. He returned on December 19, 2010 in a 102-93 win over the Sacramento Kings, in which he came off the bench for 15 minutes and recorded 9 points (all 3-pointers). In his first start since return from his injury, on January 10, 2011, he tied his season-high 24 points, in a win over the Boston Celtics.

On February 24, 2011, Brooks was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Goran Dragić and a first round pick the team got from the Orlando Magic in an earlier trade.

China

During the 2011 NBA lockout, Brooks signed to play for the Guangdong Southern Tigers. On January 6, 2012, Brooks scored 40 points while playing 38 minutes off the bench as Guangdong defeated the Tianjin Ronggang 110-97. Brooks was 5 points shy of tying the Guangdong points scored record made by former player Du Feng. On February 16, 2012, Brooks was selected as the replacement starting point guard for the 2012 CBA All-Star game. The original starter, J.R. Smith, decided not to play due to personal reasons. Brooks was also selected to participate for the CBA's Three-Point Shootout competition. In the three-point shootout, Brooks was one point shy from entering the final round of the competition. In the All-Star game, Brooks led all competitors with 9 assists, but his Northern All-Stars team lost to the Southern All-Stars, 122-112. On March 8, the NBA on TNT did a segment on Brooks' time in China with Guangdong. Brooks led the team in assists for each game leading up to the 2012 CBA Finals, where they lost to the Stephon Marbury-led Beijing Ducks.

Return to the NBA

After an absence from the NBA during the 2011–12 season, the Suns initially extended a qualifying offer to Brooks for the 2012–13 season, but would later withdraw the offer, thus making Brooks an unrestricted free agent. Three teams that expressed interest in him were the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, and Brooks' former team, the Houston Rockets. In July 2012, Brooks signed with the Sacramento Kings. He was waived by the Kings on March 1, 2013, and signed with the Rockets on March 5, 2013. On June 30, 2013, he was waived by the Rockets, but on July 19, 2013, he rejoined the team, reaching an agreement on a one-year minimum contract.

On February 20, 2014, Brooks was traded to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Jordan Hamilton.

On July 22, 2014, Brooks signed with the Chicago Bulls.

On July 14, 2015, Brooks re-signed with the Bulls.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2007–08	Houston	51	0	11.9	.413	.330	.857	1.1	1.7	0.3	0.1	5.2
2008–09	Houston	80	35	25.0	.404	.366	.866	2.0	3.0	0.6	0.1	11.2
2009–10	Houston	82	82	35.6	.432	.398	.822	2.6	5.3	0.8	0.2	19.6
2010–11	Houston	34	7	23.9	.346	.284	.940	1.5	3.8	0.6	0.1	11.6
2010–11	Phoenix	25	5	18.9	.430	.328	.807	1.1	4.2	0.5	0.0	9.6
2012–13	Sacramento	46	20	20.8	.459	.378	.769	1.7	2.3	0.6	0.2	8.0
2012–13	Houston	7	0	5.4	.308	.286	.000	0.3	0.9	0.1	0.4	1.4
2013–14	Houston	43	0	16.7	.395	.409	.841	1.4	1.9	0.6	0.1	7.0
2013–14	Denver	29	12	29.0	.406	.362	.902	2.7	5.2	0.9	0.2	11.9
2014–15	Chicago	82	21	23.0	.421	.387	.833	2.0	3.2	0.7	0.2	11.6
Career		479	182	23.5	.415	.371	.845	1.9	3.3	0.6	0.1	11.2

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2008	Houston	6	0	8.3	.320	.000	.818	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	4.2
2009	Houston	13	13	34.2	.453	.422	.804	2.6	3.4	0.4	0.2	16.8
2013	Houston	6	0	11.2	.382	.111	.600	1.5	1.8	0.2	0.2	5.0
2015	Chicago	12	0	11.0	.344	.308	.571	1.5	0.9	0.3	0.1	4.5
Career		37	13	18.7	.410	.330	.768	1.8	1.9	0.2	0.1	8.8

Personal life

Brooks grew up in Seattle, Washington and was childhood friends with fellow NBA point guard, Nate Robinson.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• Career statistics and player information from WNBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
• ESPN.com Profile
• Oregon bio
• NBADraft.net Profile
• ClutchFans.net Profile