Stacey King goes to bat for Dillon Brooks - "Give me dogs and he's a dog, and he's a guy that can defend"

Stacey King says Dillon Brooks just may be what the doctor ordered for the Bulls.

© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

For most of this season, the Chicago Bulls looked sluggish and unable to summon the toughness needed to put fear in the hearts of their opponents. However, that all changed with the arrival of feisty guard Pat Beverley, who sparked the team down the stretch to help them get into the Play-in tournament. With Beverley now a free agent and wanting a hefty deal, the Bulls might have to replace his defensive intensity. Enter soon-to-be-former Memphis Grizzlies wingman Dillon Brooks.

As controversial as he is, Brooks may be just what the Bulls need to bolster their top-five defense and provide the on-court presence that Beverley brought. The Bulls' longtime color analyst Stacey King favors the idea of bringing Brooks—an unrestricted free agent—over to Chicago.

"Give me dogs, and he's a dog, and he's a guy that can defend," said King, a former NBA champion with the Bulls.

Brooks will quickly find a new team

According to reports, Brooks was recently told by the Grizzlies that he wasn't going to be offered a new deal, so now the 27-year-old will have to look elsewhere for his next opportunity. Still, there appears to be a long list of teams interested in signing him, which includes the Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons. King said that if it were up to him, he'd scoop Brooks up in a heartbeat.

"I'd take him in a second," King said. "Hell to the yes, I would take him. Listen, the kid is a two-way player, okay? He may not be the best shooter. But he's a bigger version of Patrick Beverly. I mean Patrick Beverly's antics are worse than Dillon Brooks'. I mean, if you really think about it. And I love Patrick. But Brooks is the type of guy that, if you're going into a street fight, you want him – you want guys like Patrick Beverly, you want guys like Ron Artest on your side."

Blown out of proportion

King went on to say that Brooks has a lot of skill that is highly valuable in today's NBA. Unfortunately, it's overshadowed by his antics, which came back to bite him in the Grizzlies' first-round loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. In that series, Brooks antagonized LeBron James, which did nothing but fire up the superstar and give the Lakers an extra spark.

"I think people have blown it out of proportion with the trash talk," shared King. "He can defend his position, and he can knock down shots. I just think that he got himself so much into his own head after what he did backfired that not talking to the media, you know that killed him."