A professional worker, Di Long fell out when he hugged his former teammates during an interview, and his pride was palpable.

Dillon Brookfield is definitely one of the players who has contributed the most to the Rockets' success in rebuilding this year. This well-known "evil guy" in the league helped the Rockets crawl out of the quagmire. He was sent to Phoenix in the trade between the Rockets and the Suns this summer. Not long ago, during the regular season between the Rockets and the Suns, he once again met his teammates of 2 years.

In the summer of 2023, in order to quickly replenish the player lineup, the Rockets offered a number of huge contracts at the time, including players such as VanVleet and Landale. They were all believed to be attracted by the Rockets at high prices, except for Dillon Brooks. His situation was different.

As a player who was only selected with the 15th pick in the second round of 2017, Dillon was already 21 years old when he entered the league. However, fortunately, he met the Grizzlies, which was in its trough. In his rookie season, Dillon played 82 games for the team and started 74 games. He averaged 11 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.9 steals per game. His performance was quite impressive.

After four seasons, Dillon has increased his scoring average to 18.4 points per game, with 3.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals. However, his status in the team has declined instead of rising. At that time, Morant, who was very popular, has become the Grizzlies and even the league's largest traffic intake. As Bane has grown up, his importance at the tactical level has surpassed Dillon.

Although Dillon won the honor of the league's best defensive second team the following season, his scoring average had dropped to 14.3 points per game, which also made him decide not to renew his contract with the Grizzlies after completing the last year of his contract. Instead, he signed a four-year, $86 million contract with the Rockets, including $4 million as an incentive clause.

This undoubtedly angered some Grizzlies fans. Facing the loss of a starting backcourt, the fans regarded Dillon Brooks' behavior as a "betrayal." This is why in the two years of the Rockets, Dillon Brooks was booed by many fans every time he was at home in Memphis last year.

However, this meeting with the Rockets was completely different from before. Looking up, Dillon Brooks was facing juniors such as Shen Jing and Xiao Jia who he had coached, and even newcomers like Amen Thompson and Reed Shepard. Brooks watched them step into the rotation.

So in the first meeting with the Rockets after joining the Suns, Dillon was full of fighting spirit from the beginning of the game. At the end of the game, Dillon, who had 5 fouls, used 22 shots and scored a team-high 29 points, and also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Although on the court, he still has the image of a "bad guy" who competes for every ball, but after the game, when hugging many former teammates, Dillon was all smiles and was not as speechless as when he met his Grizzlies teammates.

But what’s interesting is that such brotherhood did not last long. Dillon “turned away” during an interview at the press conference. He said that the Rockets had too many jersey pulls and tough physical confrontations throughout the game, but the referee did not make any indication, but when they made the slightest move, the referee would blow the whistle.

Although Dillon was wearing sunglasses and had a cool expression when he said this, no dissatisfaction with his former teammates could be heard in his words. Even facing such a group of teammates who had fought side by side, his tone was a bit proud. After all, the Rockets officially had Udoka, VanVleet and his guidance and training, and the team got rid of the soft playing style during the Silas period.

So far this season, Dillon has averaged 22 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game, shooting 45.9% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range. His scoring average has set a career high, precisely because Dillon's outstanding form has helped the Suns achieve a current record of 11 wins and 7 losses, temporarily ranking sixth in the Western Conference. This shows that after the end of this season, Dillon can also get a valuable contract extension. Perhaps this is a real win-win outcome for him and the Rockets!