For much of Mississauga, Ont.’s Dillon Brooks’ rookie season in the NBA, everything that could go wrong for his team, in fact, did.

Decimated by injuries, a bright start for the Memphis Grizzlies quickly turned sour. By the middle of November, the club was reeling out of control and popular head coach David Fizdale was dismissed by the end of the month after an eight-game losing streak.

The end of January brought with it a 19-game losing streak. When that was finally mercifully over, the Grizz were beaten 140-79 by the Charlotte Hornets in the worst loss in franchise history. They finished the season at 22-60, missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

While much of last season was a disaster for the Grizzlies, it wasn’t all bad for the 22-year-old product of Father Henry Carr Secondary School. Thanks to the rash of injuries, Brooks sprung up as a key figure for the Grizzlies, starting 74 games and emerging as a playmaking wing capable of creating his own shot. His ability to hit from three at a decent clip (.356) was also a hopeful sign that Brooks could develop into a consistent shooter from long range.

Though he and his team took their lumps last season, Brooks says that there were a number of lessons gleaned from a trying campaign.

“Keeping my head and keep on playing and not losing my love for the game and not getting caught up in all the losses and what’s going on with the organization and all that or was going on with the team,” Brooks said of what he learned. “Just focusing on myself and getting better every single game and completing goals that I have for myself.”

When you’re a rookie and things go south quickly, playing against the world’s best can be a baptism by fire. Brooks remembers the exact minute it dawned on him that he was now playing amongst men.

“When I played James Harden in the preseason,” Brooks told TSN.ca.  “He’s a tough cover and coach said, ‘Put him on. You’ve got to go guard him.’ That’s when I became one of the leading defenders on the team and realized that I am in the NBA.”

J.B. Bickerstaff took over the Grizzlies on an interim basis after Fizdale was fired, and had the label removed in May, something that Brooks believes was well-deserved.

“We all feel good about him,” Brooks said of Bickerstaff, the son of longtime NBA coach Bernie Bickerstaff. “He’s a players’ coach…he wants to win just as bad as us and we went through the same struggle that he went through when he was interim coach last year. We’re just trying to get wins and listen to J.B.’s philosophies and try to make a whole different change for the Memphis Grizzlies.”

Brooks says he was able to enter training camp ahead of his second season with a level of poise that wasn’t there last year thanks to an understanding of his surroundings, coaching staff and teammates.

“I feel like I’m a lot more confident and I know more of the plays,” Brooks said. “I understand what coach wants and now I’m familiar with all the guys that are around me and what they’re capable of, so it makes it a lot easier to come into training camp and work.”

Finishing the season averaging 11.0 points a night on .440 shooting with 3.1 boards and 1.9 assists, Brooks showed he’s capable of handling a starter’s workload and did enough to warrant keeping his place on the floor, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be competition for his role.

Among the additions made this offseason by the Grizzlies was fourth-year swingman Kyle Anderson, signed to a four-year, $37.2 million offer sheet that the San Antonio Spurs declined to match. Considering the financial commitment, Anderson was not brought aboard to sit on the bench, but Brooks isn’t worried about a little bit of competition.

“I don’t approach it in any way, really,” Brooks said about threats to his minutes. “I just want to play my game.  I play hard. I try to play unselfishly. I try to get up shots, as well.  This game is about competition against the opponent, but there’s competition against your other teammates, as well; getting spots or minutes or whatever. But I just go in there and work as hard as I can, try to make shots and try not to make so many mistakes.”

If there was one thing that Brooks struggled with at times a season ago it was his propensity for fouling. Brooks fouled out on three occasions and picked up five in a game 11 other times. Brooks averaged 2.84 fouls a night, 24th most among all qualified players.

Brooks says there’s a plan in place to help remedy the foul trouble going into this season.

“I’m playing without my hands and trying to get the technique right,” Brooks said. “And closing out. Guys are really good at creating fouls and getting to your body and making the ref see your arm in there. But I am just trying to play without my hands, getting into the body and just getting the routine down right.”

What has been routine for the Grizzlies over the past several seasons is the sterling play of point guard Mike Conley. The Memphis offensive engine incurred an Achilles injury that limited him to just 12 games last season – a major contributing factor to the team’s freefall. Now back to health, Brooks believes Conley won’t miss a beat back in the Grizzlies lineup.

“Mike is the conductor of our whole offence,” Brooks said. “You could see it at the beginning of the year. With a 75 per-cent Mike, we were 5-0, 6-0 and then 7-2, so he is vital and he’s 100 per cent right now.  Any injury down the line to any one of us is going to be detrimental to what we’re try to succeed in and we’re really stressing being high energy, taking care of your body, getting enough fuelling you need and being professional about it, so all our guys can play at least 80 or 70 games and we can stay in the hunt.”

One of the only upsides to a down year is a lottery pick and the Grizzlies used their fourth-overall selection to take promising big Jaren Jackson Jr. out of Michigan State. Brooks is already impressed by last year’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

“He’s an amazing talent,” Brooks said of Jackson Jr. “He’s one of a kind.  He shoots threes, he can block shots and he’s so young.  He’s a sponge out there, trying to learn from everybody. He’s the first one in the gym, trying to get any work possible in and that’s what you want to see out of a rookie who’s only 19 – his birthday was  a couple of weeks ago.”

In a top-heavy Western Conference, there appears to be a way for last year’s non-playoff teams to find their way back in, but most prognosticators aren’t rating the Grizzlies’ chances to be among them particularly high. Brooks says that he and his teammates haven’t given any thought to that.

“I don’t really care about that,” Brooks said. “I just go out there and try to play as hard as I can and I think everyone is. I think everyone knows that most of the NBA is discounting Memphis. I don’t think the fans are. The fans are ready to cheer us on and ready for a great year and for us to just bounce back, to go to our winning ways and to make the playoffs.  We don’t worry about that. We just worry about what’s in-house and get our philosophies right, get everything right so that when we go out there we can outwork our opponents and win.”

Outworking his opponents is something that Brooks spent part of his summer doing with the national team as Canada looks to qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. Roy Rana’s Canada currently sits atop Group F with a 7-1 mark and Brooks believes the sky is the limit for this group.

“We only have one loss in pool play and now we switch pools twice, I think, so, this is a golden age,” Brooks said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent, a lot of talent in the NBA and everyone is playing for Team Canada.  So it’s going well; it’s going great.”

Along with Brooks, Canada features Kelly Olynyk of the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson, Dwight Powell of the Dallas Mavericks and Duke freshman sensation R.J. Barrett. While in the past it’s been difficult to get Canada’s top NBA talent to commit to international play, Brooks says it’s always a privilege when asked.

“It’s always good playing for your country and playing against other countries and trying to win,” Brooks said. “Growing up, I’ve been playing [internationally] since I was at least 16.  I’ve been cut from Team Ontario when I was U-14 and cut from Team Canada at U-15 and I still always wanted to play.  I wanted to represent my country.  It’s an honour, honestly.  You don’t get paid for it. You don’t really get that big of an accolade for playing for your country, but that’s when you know that guys really love the game of basketball and really love the country that they live in.”

Being among the (relatively) small number of Canadians playing in the NBA creates camaraderie amongst the players and fosters a bond, Brooks explains.

“It was the same way in college, too,” Brooks said. “You always try to watch your Canadian boys playing.  It’s a tight group. There are not a lot of us, but we’re growing. We all look out for each other.  If we’re in the same city or someone comes to your city, we try to look out for them and see what’s up and there’s always love.”

For Brooks, this season will be about living up to early promise and proving himself capable of shouldering a heavy workload on a team with a full complement. Brooks believes that a return to the playoffs for the Grizzlies is not only possible, but a realistic goal.

“We’re trying to make the playoffs and we’re trying to make something special happen one game at a time,” Brooks said. “Honestly, we’re just trying to work our defence, be in the best shape as possible so we can last for 48 minutes - not play 30 or play 32, but try to play all 48.”

Key to that process, Brooks says, will be better ball movement, something to which the team should have no problem making adjustments.

“We’ll just try to do better than last year and play with a certain chemistry and ball flow and stuff like that,” Brooks said. “Last year, we were very stagnant and played with a lot of iso-ball. We’ve got a lot of high-character guys and guys who understand the game and guys who just want to win at all cost, whether they play for 30 minutes or play for 10 minutes.  It’s all about being unselfish and going out there and trying to win. But overall, we are trying to make the playoffs and trying to go back to our winning ways.”

Whether or not Memphis missing the playoffs last season was just a blip or the sign of more growing pains ahead remains to be seen, but the road to redemption for Brooks and the Grizzlies begins on Oct. 17 when they visit the Indiana Pacers.