Dillon Brooks 'Didn't Like' How Grizzlies Tenure Ended: 'I'm the Scapegoat of It All'

Dillon Brooks spent the first six seasons of his NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies before he joined the Houston Rockets this offseason, but he still isn't happy with how things ended with his first team.

"What I didn't like about Memphis was they allowed that so they can get out of the woodwork, and then I'm the scapegoat of it all," he told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. "That's what I didn't appreciate. And then ultimately they'll come to me on the low, as men, one on one and tell me something, but then not defend me when everything went down."

While Brooks was always a solid secondary option on the offensive end and someone who didn't hesitate to go after players defensively, he became more of a household name among NBA fans during the Grizzlies' loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs last season.

He went back and forth with LeBron James on multiple occasions, both on the court and through trash talk. He was also ejected from one of the games because of a flagrant-2 foul he committed on LeBron and was largely outplayed by the future Hall of Famer.

James defeating Brooks became the dominant storyline of the series.

"There were definitely some self-created distractions in the series and along the way," general manager Zach Kleiman told reporters after the loss. "We are going to take a different approach (next season)."

That approach included watching Brooks head elsewhere in free agency.

"The whole season was not what I wanted," Brooks told Mannix. "I feel like we did better when I was a focal point in that organization. They chose a different route. But I'm happy that through all the bulls--t was able to get what I always deserved."

A four-year, $86 million contract with the Rockets isn't a bad consolation prize even if he still isn't pleased with the Grizzlies.