Dillon Brooks Rightfully Earned Suns' Fans Respect

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns just wrapped up their first year of the Dillon Brooks experience, and what a ride it was.

Brooks arrived to the desert via trade from the Houston Rockets and found a whole new level of scoring, reaching a career high in points per game and helping re-define the terms "culture" and "hustle" for a Suns team that didn't have much of that in recent years.

Brooks wasn't squeaky clean during his first year with Phoenix, as the Suns' star forward often found himself in technical foul shenanigans mixed in with a late season DUI incident that made national headlines.

It was after that moment, however, Brooks felt the love from Suns fans.

"Maybe after the DUI, they were with me throughout," said Brooks when asked when he knew Phoenix was behind him.

"The meet and greet. During the games, all the support, and even after the last game, we got swept, a lot of fans were saying, 'Thank you. Thank you for bringing us back.' So I'm greatly appreciative and there's more to come. That's the foundation to our team, to our success. Now we got to match it and do more."

Brooks' "Villain" mantra takes some adjusting, surely. Though as the season went on and Phoenix fans saw how vital Brooks' on-court presence was, he quickly turned to a fan-favorite.

Jalen Green, who arrived from Houston alongside Brooks this summer, says he's incredibly proud of the work Brooks put in this season.

"I'm super proud of him, for sure. I don't expect nothing less from him. At the end of the day, he's someone that is in the gym and works no matter what time it is," Green said.

"He comes early in the morning, get shots of at night, three days, four days, whatever it may be, he stays in that gym. So just to see all the work he put in, showing out on the court is big time. So yeah, I'm proud of him for sure."

Suns fans haven't been shy about making their feelings known towards some of their biggest players. Names in the likes of Deandre Ayton can attest to that. Though Brooks sometimes was hit or miss on the court (who isn't over the course of an 82-game season?) his effort was on display consistently.

For a Suns fan base that didn't see much care or effort through the last couple of seasons, that stuck out. That meant a lot.

Brooks' fan-fare here was certainly earned.