Chicago Bulls, Aaron Brooks Agree To 1-Year Deal, Report

By James D. Tillman III | Jul 8, 2015

May 6, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Aaron Brooks (0) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova (8) in game two of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 106-91. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

A week after reaching agreements with Jimmy Butler and sharpshooter Mike Dunleavy, the Chicago Bulls were limited in how they would proceed to filling out their roster. Taking that into consideration, the team came to terms on a one-year deal with Aaron Brooks, per ESPN Chicago’s Mark Stein.

And with Brooks back in the fold, the Bulls will essentially have the same roster from last season with the exception of Bobby Portis, who the team selected with the No. 22 pick in this year’s draft. While this move may not appear to be much on the surface, the one positive is that Brooks was a productive role player for the Bulls during the 2014-15 campaign.

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Not only did he play in all 82 games while topping the 20-point plateau seven times, he also posted respectable averages of 11.6 points and 3.2 assists per game and converted nearly 39 percent of his attempts from three-point range.

And when the Bulls needed someone to step up and run the offense when Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich were sidelined with injuries, Brooks did not disappoint.

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In 21 games as the starting point guard, his averages include 14.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per outing. On the flip side of the coin, however, Brooks did not have the same level of success during Chicago’s playoff run.

And much like the players who held down the backup point guard position before him, Brooks struggled, to say the least, against opposing teams with size in the backcourt. In fact, during the six-game set against the Milwaukee Bucks, he averaged a pedestrian 5.5 points and 1.0 assists in just 12 minutes per game.

Furthermore, he didn’t fare much better against the injury-riddled Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round. In that series, Brooks averaged a forgettable 3.5 points and 0.8 assists while playing just 10.3 minutes per contest. And overall, Brooks shot a frigid 34 percent from the floor, including a 30 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc.

Based on those numbers, this move will not do much to instill confidence in Bulls fans with regards to the team’s chances of beating LeBron James and the Cavaliers in a playoff series.

But thanks to limited cap flexibility along with a shortage of players on the market that could effectively fill the backup point guard role, the decision to bring Brooks back was an easy one for a team that is expecting much of its growth to come from within heading into the next season.

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