I was 100% born like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You know that game you play when you\u2019re a kid, where you have your dad throw you way up in the air and then he catches you? Do they still do that, or is that illegal now? Because when I was like 3 or 4, I used to have my dad launching my ass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain. Let\u2019s go! Higher!\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be wearing him out. His arms would be so tired. But I was already playing mind games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain! Come on, old man. Launch me!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be pretending I was Spider-Man or whatever. I loved it. Then one day I was with my uncles at a family party, and I was having them toss me in the living room. I wore my one uncle down. He tapped out. Then I subbed in my other uncle, but I guess he was inexperienced with the baby-launching game, and he miscalculated. He launched me so high that I smacked my head on the ceiling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whap.<\/p>\n
He was so shocked that he missed me on the way down, too. I\u2019m laying there in a heap. Sprawled out on the carpet. Everybody is dead silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And you know how when little kids fall you gotta wait like 5 seconds to see how they\u2019re gonna react?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m laying there looking at all my uncles and aunts, and everybody\u2019s like, \u201cOh my God, is he hurt? Is he concussed?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m like \u201c……………………..\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDillon, speak to us!!!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then I just started cracking up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain. Again. Launch me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
True story. You can ask my grandma. I was different.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Dillon Brooks<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not from Canada, I don\u2019t know what you picture about Canada. But it\u2019s probably not my story. I grew up in Mississauga. My mom\u2019s side of the family is from New Brunswick \u2014 real country. And then my dad\u2019s side is from a small town in Nova Scotia \u2014 real, real country, but also like 80% Black. Quick history lesson \u2014 my dad and my uncles were born in East Preston, which is a pretty interesting place if you\u2019ve never heard of it. It was founded like 200 years ago, mostly by former slaves and refugees after the Revolutionary War. It\u2019s still less than 1,000 people in the whole town, and there\u2019s a lot of farmers out there. But my dad and my uncles were all in the concrete business \u2014 doing driveways and sidewalks and stuff like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Every summer, I used to go up there, and that\u2019s where my love of basketball really started. That was when Vince Carter was going crazy, shining a light on Canada. When I\u2019d go to Nova Scotia, all my uncles weren\u2019t talking about the Leafs. They were talking about Vince. Every day, me and my cousins were outside playing ball. I mean, it started as pickup. But after like 2 minutes, it was basically tackle basketball. Somebody would take an elbow, and then it was basically just WWE. Picture like 12 cousins, full-on Royal Rumble in the grass. You know when you\u2019re a kid and you been wrestling so long that you gotta stop because everybody is itching too bad?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019d come inside and everybody was green.<\/p>\n
My grandma would be crossing herself\u2026. \u201cOh my Lord. Are you serious? Somebody get some soap.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was the youngest of all the cousins, too. So my only way to move up in the hierarchy was to show that I was a dog. I think that\u2019s really where a lot of my personality came from \u2014 just fighting for my life up there. To me, that\u2019s what was cool. Just the way they moved, and how tough they were. I didn\u2019t wanna be this soft city boy, you know? Toronto \u2026 that just wasn\u2019t cool to me. I wanted to be country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I probably took it too far. I remember one summer coming back home and for a whole month, my shoulder was messed up. I think I was like 6. Finally, my mom noticed something was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She took me to the doctor, and in 5 seconds he was like, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s a separated shoulder. How many days has he been like this?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cDays? It\u2019s been like a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was just laughing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The doctor was looking at my mom like, \u201cYo, this kid is nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Dillon Brooks<\/p>\n
I think without that grit, I never would have made it. I mean, there\u2019s no way. Coming from Mississauga, at that time, people didn\u2019t take you seriously. Now, with SGA and Jamal and Wiggins and everybody, it\u2019s a whole different world. But when I was coming up, everybody rolled their eyes when you said you were from Canada. I don\u2019t know why, but I just had this unshakable belief that I was going to play in the NBA. Ever since I was 10. When I saw Vince, I said, \u201cThat\u2019s gonna be me. Whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it took a whole lot\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n
Pretty much from the jump, I was a shit-talker. But I actually don\u2019t think that really does it justice. Everybody can talk shit. That\u2019s nothing. You go to the Mississauga YMCA, and everybody is talking trash. That\u2019s basic. What I learned to do is different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I call it the dark arts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not really about what I\u2019m saying to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about what I got you saying to yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re playing at the Y, you\u2019re seeing the same guys all the time. Half of them are your boys. So you learn exactly what pisses them off. It\u2019s like you got a little playbook on them, right? All you have to do is press that button at the right time, and they\u2019re going to lose their focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t even have to say much. Just a name. Just the first name of ol\u2019 girl\u2026.<\/p>\n
Right as they\u2019re about to take a jumper. You can say it real soft, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMikayla.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s a brick.<\/p>\n
Just that little subconscious thought planted in their mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you just say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHuh? Nothing. What are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n
Next time down the floor, you wait until he gets the ball again\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cMikayla.\u201d<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t even need to elaborate. He might not hit a shot the rest of the game. There\u2019s a million different weak points you can find. Everybody is different.<\/p>\n
Derrick Spencer for The Players’ Tribune<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t just come up with all this on my own. I learned from a master. One of my boys at the Y was one of the most sinister trash talkers I\u2019ve ever met. Dude was devious. Real subtle, too. He\u2019d be preying on your deepest insecurities. I remember when I first started to get some shine, I was playing AAU and I had some colleges looking at me, right? So we\u2019d be playing pickup, and I\u2019d miss a shot, and he\u2019d be just squinting at me\u2026.<\/p>\n
Like\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cD1, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d miss another shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s shaking his head\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cOregon? Man, I don\u2019t see it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019m pissed. I\u2019m trying too hard. I\u2019m already in my head. But he\u2019s just setting me up. He\u2019s laying the groundwork. Next time down the floor, he hits me with it\u2026.<\/p>\n
Sheridan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
See, we got this college in Canada called Sheridan. And this is no disrespect to anybody, but Sheridan is one of those places where guys go to play ball who can\u2019t quite make it to the States. It\u2019s for the dudes who stay home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I hit a shot, and he\u2019s squinting at me, and he goes\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I think you could probably play at Sheridan. I dunno.\u201d<\/p>\n
Man\u2026\u2026 When I tell you I went crazy\u2026\u2026 I took the ball and I just booted that shit into the rafters. He had me so f***** up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And this is my boy, mind you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I still think about that to this day, and I wanna fight him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how you know he won. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the dark arts. That\u2019s what I learned just from playing every day at the Y, and really from my whole journey all the way up. Being my size, and playing the role I do, I had to look for every little edge. Over the years, I kind of developed it into a science. I remember when I was on the Grizzlies, I had little dossiers on everybody. I knew what pissed you off. Before the refs really knew me, everything was working. I had everybody tweaked out. Obviously, now the refs got me under the microscope, so I gotta be really subtle with it, but back then, I was an artist. The only guy that never reacted was Kawhi. He was my white whale.<\/p>\n
Nothing ever worked. He paid it no mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think I tried pinching Kawhi one time, for real.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019d just look at you, like, \u201cPlay basketball, bro.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be thinking, Alright, damn. You might be right. What\u2019s the point?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously it\u2019s a fine line. It doesn\u2019t always work. Like anything in life, sometimes it tips over and it works against you. That series against LA defined me for a few years, especially for people who weren\u2019t watching us week in and week out, seeing everything I put into this. Two years ago, you had people going on TV saying that I was going to be out of the league, playing in China. I didn\u2019t bat an eye, honestly. But I was still kind of immature in the way I was seeing the league. I\u2019ll never forget, after I got traded to Houston, when the villain stuff was kind of at its height, I got thrown out 5 minutes into my first preseason game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I got tangled up on a screen with Daniel Theis, and I gave him a nutshot. Can\u2019t sugar coat it. I crossed the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in the locker room after the game, just feeling like s***, beating myself up, and one of our assistant coaches comes over to me with a phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He says, \u201cHey, Joe wants to talk to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m like, \u201cJoe who?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe Dumars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a crazy feeling because when I was a kid my aunt gave me these VHS tapes of all the best old-school NBA players, and I immediately gravitated to guys like Joe and Vin Baker and Dennis Rodman. Now I got the legend calling me, and part of me is so excited just to say what\u2019s up to him, but another part of me knows I\u2019m getting called into the principal\u2019s office. He was the head of basketball ops for the league at the time, so I\u2019m thinking I\u2019m about to be chewed out by the Hall of Famer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I answered the phone with my tail between my legs, like\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello? Mr. Dumars?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And he just immediately flipped the script.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He basically said, \u201cMan, I don\u2019t get it. Why do you think you have to fight all the time? You don\u2019t have to always be the agitator. You can really play basketball. You got game. I see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think Joe was the first guy of that stature who ever told me that I was good at basketball and not just a villain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That was a huge wake-up call. I took a really hard look in the mirror. And listen, I probably messed up 100 times since then. I\u2019m not saying that I\u2019m perfect. But growth is about learning from your mistakes, and I think you can see that I\u2019ve evolved a lot the past few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I know that if you just met me, or if you\u2019re playing against me, you probably just think I\u2019m a troll or an asshole or whatever. But there\u2019s a method to the madness. You can ask any teammate I\u2019ve ever played with, and I\u2019m pretty sure they\u2019d tell you, \u201cThat motherf***** drove me crazy sometimes, but I loved playing with him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For me, the highest compliment you can give a basketball player is the pickup test. Like, if we\u2019re picking teams at the Y, are you pointing at me, like: \u201cHim. I want him. I\u2019m not trying to play against this dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
I feel like if you actually know me for real, the thing that I bring to every team I\u2019m on is that infectiousness. I feel like my main role on every team I\u2019ve ever been on is getting guys to play harder. In an 82-game season, when you\u2019re flying for back-to-backs, you gotta remember how much you love this shit. I try to be the reminder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I feel like you can see that this season in Phoenix. We weren\u2019t supposed to be a threat. Now we\u2019re your worst nightmare. Before the game, we\u2019re bouncing off the walls. And that\u2019s when we\u2019re in your building. Literally, I hear the arena announcer from the locker room, and I start doing my Mike Tyson. I start bouncing from side to side like Mike. When the announcer says \u201cthe Phoenix Suns\u201d and the whole crowd starts booing, we all start going from rope to rope. Bouncing off the ropes like a fighter, shadowboxing. There\u2019s nothing better than being on the road and just knowing, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna make your lives a living hell tonight. These kids are gonna be crying in their popcorn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny, when I got word that I was traded to Phoenix, I was in the weirdest place. I guess it was fitting, in retrospect. I was at the spa, in this Himalayan salt cave, just trying to do my breath work and trying to be chill. I had about a week\u2019s notice that Houston was working on a deal to bring in KD, and the word was that Phoenix was only going to do it if I was in the package.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right away, that told me something about the franchise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I\u2019m in the cave, and my phone starts blowing up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Done deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to Phoenix. I saw what people around the league were saying. The Suns are blowing it up. They\u2019re gonna be rebuilding for years. They want picks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My mentality was: F*** that. Let\u2019s win.<\/p>\n
Christian Petersen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
My first call was to Book, and I asked him straight up, \u201cTell me what we gotta do to flip this thing. How do we win?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny because Book is one of those guys who I\u2019ve targeted for years, and he\u2019s got icewater in his veins. Even now, if you ask him about our matchups, he won\u2019t even give you anything either way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He just says, \u201cWe\u2019ve had our battles.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I just knew right away, after talking to him: Yo, this can work. We can complement each other really well as leaders. He can be the stonecold killer and I can bring the energy. Book is not trying to lose. Book is way too good to be tanking. He\u2019s gonna do whatever it takes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When guys get traded, they always say, \u201cThis is the perfect fit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be bullshitting if I said I knew it at the time. But I damn sure know it now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Phoenix is my spot. I want to set the culture here for 20 years. I want to retire a Sun.<\/p>\n
Christian Petersen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
I think I\u2019m showing the world what I can be \u2014 and what Joe saw in me. When I dropped 40 on Detroit this year, I know people were shocked. But if you really know ball, and not just look at memes all day, there\u2019s nothing to be shocked about. I\u2019m not that guy from 2018. I\u2019m not that guy from 2023. I\u2019m a different dude, with a whole different bag, and a whole lot of confidence, and a whole lot of life lessons under my belt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny because when you drop 40 on somebody, it\u2019s a whole different energy compared to the dark arts. When you drop 40, you see them looking away. They don\u2019t even want to engage with you. You see the shoulders slumping. The head is drooping.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019re playing Detroit. No Book. No JG. I\u2019m thinking they\u2019re gonna be fighting until the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it was crickets. Where the Bad Boys at?<\/p>\n
There was nobody to even talk to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And yeah, I was still talking my shit of course. I had to turn to their bench to find somebody to engage with me. So I was talking to coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember me??\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you score 40, that\u2019s when they give you the real humble hug after the game like, \u201cAlright, good game. Keep it going, bro.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when you know you really broke them, when instead of trying to meet you outside, they\u2019re watering your flowers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t trust that energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even now, we hear everything. It\u2019s almost like the vibe is like, \u201cOh, they\u2019re a nice story. That\u2019s cool. The Suns did their thing this year\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
But this season ain\u2019t over. We\u2019re still lurking. The monster is still under the bed, bro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost like the whole NBA wants us to go away. It\u2019s like they respect us, but they want somebody else to play us. Anybody else, bro.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a testament to what we\u2019re building here in the desert.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I got here, they were talking lottery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now what they talking about?\u00a0<\/p>\n
We got everybody in the league looking down, staring at their shoes.<\/p>\n
Honestly, answer me\u2026. Who in their right mind wants to see the Phoenix Suns right now?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 DB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was 100% born like this.\u00a0 You know that game you play when you\u2019re a kid, where you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-591752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}