Oregon's Dillon Brooks, the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year, has decided to forgo his senior season, announcing Wednesday that he is entering the 2017 NBA Draft and will hire an agent.
"I've done so much here and everything has been great. I wouldn't be here right now without the coaching staff, believing in me," Brooks said on a video posted on Positionless.com. "I was not highly recruited and they believed in me from the jump. I just feel like now I'm going to take my talents to the next level and enter in the draft. What we've done here at Oregon, making an Elite Eight my sophomore year and making the Final Four where coach [Dana] Altman and none of the coaches have been, or none of my teammates, this journey wouldn't be possible without the coaching staff, my teammates and you all fans."
Brooks averaged 16.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a junior -- numbers that were down a smidge across the board from his sophomore season.
Oregon was a preseason top-five team because of Brooks' decision to return to school after testing the NBA waters. Oregon was 30-5 in 2016-17 when Brooks played.
Brooks joins teammate Tyler Dorsey among Ducks turning pro and signing with agents, stripping Oregon of its two leading scorers from the team that advanced to the Final Four before losing to eventual champion North Carolina.
For Oregon though, the immediate future is far from grim. Despite losing two integral pieces, Dana Altman and his staff have put together next season's No. 11 recruiting class and, although replacing Brooks will be the most difficult task, the talent will be there. Five-star small forward Troy Brown appears to be the most obvious candidate to step in and contribute from Oregon's class, and at 6-feet-7 with the talent to match his frame, the immediate outlook for Oregon remains bright.
