Dillon Brooks has undeniably become one of the most villainous players in the NBA today. Does he deserve it? He doesn’t seem so convinced. As he stated after Sunday’s training session, the Grizzlies player believes that the media narrative has contributed to his being perceived that way, and he also believes that said perception was what caused him to be sent off in Game 3.
“The press has turned me into a villain and the fans have turned me into a villain,” he commented. “And that has generated a completely different image of me, making everyone now believe that I hit LeBron on parts of him on purpose. I was just playing basketball, and if you think I did a flagrant type 2 on purpose, it’s because you think I’m that kind of person.
On the one hand, it’s worth giving Brooks credit that in the action with LeBron in particular it might seem like he’s just going for the ball and unlucky enough to hit a sensitive area, and perhaps it’s true that his bad reputation has influenced his the way the play is perceived. Without going any further, the NBA recently recognized that Draymond Green’s troubled past had a bearing on the decision to sanction him for Game 3 of the series against Sacramento. But for another, if you have that perception of Dillon, it’s not for free.
The one of the Grizzlies has a history of plays excessive relatively extensive, and in many of them it does not exist the possibility to think that it was trying to reach the balloon of fair form. This same season he was already expelled for an attack on Donovan Mitchell, and in the past playoffs he was also the author of a very ugly foul on Gary Payton that not only cost him an expulsion, but also made the Warriors miss 10 games due to injury. That the press has the power to put more or less the focus on depending on what situations and guide the narratives? It’s obvious. But of course no one can earn the fame that Brooks has just by being influenced by the media.
(Cover photo: Harry How/Getty Images)
2023-04-24 18:00:00
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