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Dillon Brooks<\/a> has quickly become the emotional engine behind a surprising start for the Phoenix Suns<\/a>, and the veteran wing is not shying away from discussing how his past stops shaped that impact.<\/p>\n During a recent appearance on the \u201cSports Brothers\u201d podcast, Charles Barkley praised Brooks for transforming expectations around Phoenix<\/a> this season, AZ Central reports. Barkley pointed to the Suns\u2019 overlooked preseason outlook and credited Brooks for helping flip the narrative.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me tell you something, that boy Dillon Brooks in Phoenix, we were supposed to be in last place in the West,\u201d Barkley said. \u201cThat boy Dillon Brooks, man, he got us balling.\u201d<\/p>\n The Suns entered the season facing skepticism across the league. ESPN projected Phoenix near the bottom of the conference, and NBA<\/a>.com slotted the team outside the top tier in early power rankings. Instead, Phoenix has stayed firmly in the playoff mix, driven in large part by Brooks\u2019 best offensive stretch as a pro and his relentless defensive tone.<\/p>\n A Cultural Reset in Phoenix<\/p>\n Phoenix\u2019s front office spent the offseason reshaping its identity after two disappointing years under owner Mat Ishbia. The organization pivoted away from a star-heavy approach, trading Kevin Durant<\/a> and waiving Bradley Beal<\/a> in favor of toughness, accountability, and energy.<\/p>\n Brooks fit that vision immediately. Acquired from the Houston Rockets as part of the Durant deal, Brooks arrived with a reputation for edge and intensity<\/a>, traits the Suns felt they lacked, ESPN reports.<\/p>\n Ishbia told ESPN that Brooks embodied everything the franchise wanted to become. He highlighted Brooks\u2019 pre-practice work ethic, leadership, and willingness to defend top scorers nightly. Ishbia added that Brooks exceeded expectations from both a cultural and on-court perspective.<\/p>\n That approach has resonated in the locker room. Phoenix has leaned into a blue-collar mindset, and Brooks\u2019 presence has helped define it. The veteran wing is averaging a career-high scoring mark while serving as the tone-setter defensively.<\/p>\n Devin Booker<\/a> acknowledged that Brooks\u2019 edge can frustrate opponents but strengthens teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody that matches up with him and gets annoyed by him, you understand already that that\u2019s somebody you would love to be a teammate with,\u201d Booker said. \u201cHe guards other teams\u2019 stars, and he brings it every night.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks Reflects on Houston and Memphis<\/p>\n Brooks\u2019 confidence in Phoenix comes with perspective from his previous stops. Weeks after the trade, Brooks visited Houston\u2019s summer league squad at UNLV, reconnecting with executives and staff. The interaction reflected mutual respect rather than tension.<\/p>\n Brooks said Rockets general manager Rafael Stone initially hoped to keep him as part of Houston\u2019s rebuild. Still, Brooks understood the logic behind moving him for a superstar.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted to keep me to build more and more to that franchise,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cBut overall, when you got a guy like Kevin Durant, you cannot pass up on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Brooks then drew a pointed comparison to his earlier tenure with the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, which ended in 2023. While praising Houston\u2019s stability after the deal, Brooks did not mince words about Memphis\u2019 trajectory.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re doing well,\u201d Brooks said of the Rockets. \u201cThey haven\u2019t fell off, like Memphis did.\u201d<\/p>\n Dillon Brooks says Memphis \u2018fell off\u2019 after trading him and credits Houston for remaining relevant<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted to keep me to build more and more to that franchise. But overall, when you got a guy like Kevin Durant, you cannot pass up on it. And they\u2019re doing well. They haven\u2019t <\/p>\n Barkley later likened Brooks to hard-nosed role players from his own career, stressing the importance of teammates who demand effort and accountability.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need some guys on your team like that,\u201d Barkley said.<\/p>\n For Phoenix, Brooks has become exactly that voice. The Suns may not dominate headlines, but midway through the season, they have reestablished relevance, with Brooks at the center of that turnaround.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBurtland Dixon<\/a> Burtland Dixon is a sports journalist covering the NBA and athlete culture for Heavy.com. A former Division II athlete turned journalist, he offers a unique blend of locker room perspective and storytelling expertise. He has more than eight years of experience in digital media and previously served as an Associate Editor at ClutchPoints, with additional bylines at Idolator, Trend Chaser, and Buzznet. Burtland is based between California and New York. Instagram: @showmi_more More about Burtland Dixon<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Grizzlies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Dillon Brooks has quickly become the emotional engine behind a surprising start for the Phoenix Suns, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-240271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}