This season has been a wild one for the Phoenix Suns as they look to embrace this new identity under head coach Jordan Ott. Even with key injuries, they have had a successful start to the season and have shocked
many fans by exceeding expectations. One of their infectious leaders on this front is Dillon ‘The Villain” Brooks, and he has been getting a lot of heat recently.
As we all know, dating back to his Memphis Grizzlies days, Brooks has always been one to play with toughness or an edge. He is scrappy on defense, always trying to force turnovers. Not only that, but he is going to let you hear it on the court by chirping you out and getting under your skin. The ultimate definition of Brooks is the guy you want on your team, but you hate going against, and it’s totally understandable.
That being said, having this reputation leads people to associate you with a bad or “dirty” player, which Brooks is not. Yes, he plays with a fire lit underneath him 24/7, but that type of aggressiveness is what gets him hot and is also a great motivator for his teammates. Unfortunately, this reputation continues to follow Brooks to the Valley this year.
This season, he has received 14 technical fouls, and we are a little over halfway through. To me, this is just utterly absurd. Some are definitely technical, but looking at the one that was called yesterday, it is clear that some targeting of Brooks is occurring. If anything looks controversial, they immediately call it on Brooks, and then the league rescinds it the following day, just like last night.
This type of behavior is utterly disrespectful to Brooks and the Suns in many different ways. For starters, it just shows the referee’s incompetence toward a particular player. As we can see here, the league has rescinded eight technical fouls this year, three of which have belonged to Brooks.
Even the flagrant Brooks received yesterday was outright ridiculous, as he was clearly trying to get a loose ball and showed no intent to hit Nic Claxton in the groin, but that is a completely different story.
Not only that, but two of those rescinded technical fouls have been called by the same referee. That man would be Curis Blair, who clearly either has an issue with Brooks or does not want to deal with his antics. When one player receives multiple techs and is called back numerous times, it clearly shows this is an officiating issue with the Suns.
Even Brooks himself had some words following the game on the tech he received from Blair. He knew it would be rescinded; as he said, the following two he got called on from him were also. If that is not a clear issue where the player knows he is being targeted, then what is?
This team’s whole identity is physical play, and it’s outright wrong to watch it get punished for playing with effort and heart. We see it every night, even when the Suns had their scuffle at the end. Brooks was not involved, so luckily, he was not given anything, but Grayson Allen received a technical foul for also doing nothing. His reputation as a “dirty” player has died down since he arrived in Phoenix, but that still lingers in the refereeing world, I guess.
These technical fouls also cost the Suns points they do not deserve to lose, and can shift the momentum of a run or a late-game scenario.
Brooks is also in a scary situation, resulting in receiving so many technical fouls. Under league rules, if he were to receive 16 technical fouls, he would be suspended for 1 game. With the latest one rescinded, this leaves him with two get-out-of-jail-free cards before he has to pay the price.
Unfortunately, I think Brooks will get this suspension, as we have seen the referees not care about him. It would be nice now that the league has taken back three of his technical fouls to approach refereeing Suns games differently. Especially if the man himself knows the call is getting rescinded, don’t call a pity foul just because of his name.
