Former Vipers Brooks, Dorsey in different places

McALLEN – It’s no wonder Aaron Brooks has such fond memories of his two-game stint with the Vipers in December of 2007. Since then, his role with the Rockets has grown from rarely-used rookie to one of the team’s most important players.

In February, the Rockets traded veteran Rafer Alston to clear the way for Brooks, who responded by averaging 14.0 points and cementing a reputation as one of the NBA’s rising young guards.  

“He’s the starting point guard and he’s grown a lot,” coach Rick Adelman said. “We’re hoping he’s going to grow even more.”

Fellow former Vipers player Joey Dorsey, however, isn’t quite at Brooks’ level. Dorsey, now in his second year, played seven games for the Vipers last winter, averaging 9.7 points, 9.0 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game. During his rookie season in Houston, he appeared in only three games, scoring two points and grabbing one rebound in six minutes. Judging by those statistics and the players in front of him, Dorsey could be heading back to the Valley again this season. If that happens, both Adelman and Dorsey hope he benefits from that stint.

“When I came down here it was a cool place to be at. The fans loved me,” said Dorsey, a second-round pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. “It was a good thing. I wouldn’t mind coming back here.”

His preference, obviously, would not to be come back to the Valley but to break camp with the Rockets. The chances of Dorsey doing that, however, might be 50-50 at best. He is behind forwards Luis Scola, Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes and competing for a spot against David Andersen, Brian Cook and Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

But as a second-year player, Dorsey is eligible to be sent down to the Vipers with the Rockets keeping his rights. If both are lucky, that second trip might have the same effect on his career that Brooks’ lone D-League stint had on his.

“It gave me a different identity,” Brooks said. “It gave me a chance to play and re-sharpen my tools. It was a good test for me and now I’m up here and being successful in the NBA and I owe it to the Vipers.”

If Dorsey does indeed end up in the Valley, he would be one of the first test-cases for the new so-called “hybrid” affiliation between the Rockets and Vipers. Now that the Rockets control all aspects of the Vipers’ basketball operations, he would be able to gain playing time in a system based on Houston’s, maybe one that could even be tweaked for him to get the most out of his time back in the D-League.

“If they send me down here to get better on defense and put a couple plays in down here so I can learn them, that’s fine,” Dorsey said.

“For a rookie or a second-year player, you’re not getting that much time in the NBA because there’s so many veterans,” he added. “I think it would give you a chance to come down here and play a lot more minutes and learn the game more.”

Clearly, that’s something Brooks has done, and something Dorsey is hoping to do.   

Brian Sandalow covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.