PHOENIX — Fresh off getting six stiches above his right eye after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face Friday, Dillon Brooks was back at it with the same intensity during Saturday’s scrimmage.

“He came out and dapped the guys up after yesterday,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said. “If you watch any practice we have, he comes with it. It’s not just in games. I’ve been around some of those guys that just bring it out in the games. He brings it out every day in practice.

“I think he’s dragged a couple of people with him. Some guys that probably wouldn’t, I would assume, practice that intense every single day. He raises everyone’s level.”

Now entering his ninth year in the league and his first with the Suns, Brooks has made a name for himself through his defensive prowess, and now he has the opportunity to take what he’s learned in Memphis and Houston and lead by example on a new team in Phoenix.

Brooks said it was former Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale who taught him the importance of defense early on during his rookie season, and since then he’s “never looked back.”

“‘You want to play, you’ve got to play defense first,’” Brooks said Fizdale told him. “And I just, really put that as a priority and then 10 games in, I was starting.”

Brooks brings his 492 games of NBA experience to a Suns team that finished 27th in the league in defensive rating last season, allowing 117.7 points per 100 possessions.

Brooks acknowledged Phoenix’s past struggles on defense and said he’s tried to be a helpful voice while providing his “tricks of the trade” to the other wings to help on the defensive end.

“I think it’s just contagious,” Brooks said. “I think guys wanted to get better from the past two years. The young guys are obviously sponges, so they’re going to follow suit.”

One way Brooks has led by example is by bringing his infectious energy to the younger players each morning. He said he talks to second-year forward Oso Ighodaro at 7 a.m. to get “his engine revving.”

“We play and you just see me climbing up and see everybody climbing up,” Brooks said. “You just want to do the same and it’s just fun.”

When Brooks does drills with the coaches at practice, he said Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn will come over and try to guard him with the same type of physicality Brooks is known for, and the two second-year players don’t hold back, either.

“I try to do my little bullying, but they just don’t back down,” Brooks said. “They keep going.”

Dunn said Brooks takes it to another level and is “a little crazy,” but added Brooks’ competitiveness has helped him and his own mindset.

“He tries. He goes 110% every time,” Dunn said about Brooks. “It’s the way he plays.”

Brooks’ competitive spirit has also rubbed off on the younger players in more ways than one. His tendency of trash talking has also influenced the Suns’ sophomore players.

Brooks and Ighodaro have been going at it the whole summer by way of talking smack, Dunn said.

“Everyone has been physical, pressing up, making each other better,” Dunn said. “I think we all need that because once when we get into the fire, it’s going to be the same thing and we’re going to be by ourselves on the road sometimes. Having that atmosphere here, talking smack to each other. It’s all love but just competing at a high level.”

Dunn said Brooks has also taught him how to be physical and get away with fouls when the referees aren’t watching. Dunn added he’s upset he had a couple of “ticky-tack” fouls called against him in preseason he shouldn’t have.

“It’s just growing pains and (Brooks) said he had that when he was young too, my age, and it’s only Year 2 so just him helping me guard one of the best players and how to be physical and really get into their stuff and play great defense,” Dunn said.

Another way Brooks has led is with his voice, often speaking up and providing coaching moments to the younger players.

“If one of us is not doing it, he’s going to speak up and tell us to lock in and do our jobs,” Dunn said.

Ott said when Brooks is talking at practice, he’s usually speaking at someone, and oftentimes it’s Ighodaro who responds.

“Some of those guys will go back and forth with him, but again once Dillon goes up a level, then someone else has to answer and it raises their level,” Ott said.

While Brooks has gone back and forth with everyone, Ott said that’s just part of the process.

“You just have to sit there and smile because knowing at the end of the day how much he cares for his teammates, how much they respect him,” Ott said. “What Dillon does on the day-to-day basis. It just helps our group. It just helps everything. So we’re in a good place when he’s chirping back and forth with someone.”