Memphis Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks, who picked up his league-leading 16th technical foul on Friday night and will now be suspended for his team’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, is one of the toughest defenders and most controversial figures in the league. He ensured the latter would not change in a new interview with ESPN, in which he made his feelings for the Golden State Warriors and forward Draymond Green crystal clear.
“I don’t like Draymond at all,” Brooks said. “I just don’t like Golden State. I don’t like anything to do with them. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too. His game is cool — with Golden State — but if you put him anywhere else, you’re not going to know who Draymond is. He plays with heart, plays hard, knows the ins and outs of their defense. I guess that’s why they like him over there.”
Green, for his part, chose not to respond when told of Brooks’ comments.
Whether Green could succeed to this degree outside of the Golden State environment is an interesting debate, but that’s neither here nor there. The most interesting aspect of this latest chapter is that in an era when players are friendlier with their opponents seemingly more than any other time in the history of the league, comments like these really stick out. And they were said on the record.
The fact that Brooks was the one to go there is perhaps not a surprise. This is the type of mindset he’s always had, both on and off the floor. It’s why he’s beloved in Memphis and has grown into one of the league’s most feared perimeter defenders. It’s also why he draws the ire of countless fanbases, and is viewed as a player among those most likely to cross the line.
He may be most disliked in the Bay Area, and not without reason. During the second round of the playoffs last season, Brooks delivered a flagrant foul to Warriors guard Gary Payton II that left Payton with a fractured elbow and kept him out of the team’s next 10 postseason games.
Earlier this season, when the two teams met again on Christmas, Green and Klay Thompson showed they hadn’t forgotten, and both went out of their way to taunt Brooks during the Warriors’ 123-109 win.
The Grizzlies and Warriors will meet twice this month — March 9 and 18 — both in Memphis. Based on how chippy things have been between these clubs of late, it will be nothing less than a minor miracle if Brooks and Green escape both of these matchups without a picking up a technical foul.
