Dillon Brooks has been an especially prickly thorn in the side of Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors, especially after the tenacious Memphis Grizzlies wing “broke the code” by crashing recklessly into Gary Payton II in their playoff matchup last year.

Since then, Brooks hasn't let his foot off the gas pedal, continuing to jaw at Green and cementing himself as (basketball) public enemy number one in San Francisco in the process.

It's hard to imagine now, but Dillon Brooks didn't always look at the Warriors forward with such vitriol. In fact, seven years ago, back when the Grizzlies wing was still in his collegiate days playing for the Oregon Ducks, Brooks had a Draymond Green-sized role he was looking to fill for his beloved university.

“You know I'd never thought at the beginning I'd get here, you know, sitting at coach's house, tell him that ‘I wanna be like Draymond Green for this team,'” Brooks said, per Hayden Kim of Bleacher Report. “I would never think that I would be in this position now. It's great. I can't take it for granted. I got to keep going and my team knows that, I know that.”

Of course, a lot can change in six to seven years; while it's interesting to witness Dillon Brooks' perception of Draymond Green change from a role model to emulate to a nemesis he can't wait to talk trash towards, it's clear that their similarities in temperament made a collision course between them, for better or for worse, an inevitability.

These comments from Brooks in 2016 interestingly mirrors some of the Warriors forward's comments as well. In one of Green's retorts towards the Grizzlies wing on his podcast, the Warriors forward interestingly called Brooks a “fan” who should feel “lucky” that he got to witness the Dubs go on a tear while the 27-year old wing was still in high school.

Perhaps Green remembered this interview; after all, this is the same guy who memorized the names of all 34 players that were drafted ahead of him.

Nevertheless, as the saying goes, “work hard until your idols become your rivals.” Perhaps that's the school of thought Brooks subscribes to.