Welcome to another Preview the Picks! If you missed part one, don’t worry, it’s right here. Today, we’re going to look at the defensive ace out of UCLA, Jaylen Brown.
But first:
MEASURABLES:
Height: 6’6.75
Weight: 223 lbs
Wingspan: 6’11.75
14.6 pts, 5.4 boards, 2.0 assists, 3.1 turnovers per game
Projected Draft Range: 3-10
Brown will have just turned 20 by the start of the NBA season, but he’s had a grown man body for years. He’s made in the Stanley Johnson/Jimmy Butler/Justise Winslow mold, and will make his money in this league as a defense first athlete who will eventually have to learn how to shoot if he wants to take the next step.
The Good:
The former Bruin feasts in the paint, where he was the most prolific and by far the most effective. He’s a monster in transition and on line drives to the bucket. With a full head of steam, he’s skilled enough to either get to the rim and score or pick up a foul.
He shot 60% in the paint and 66.7% on the left baseline. The problem was everywhere else, where his shot chart put Josh Smith’s to shame.
But this is The Good section, so we’ll stick to that. Brown is an above-average rebounder for a wing. He’s hard-nosed with good timing and he seems to relish physical contact. That tenacity and toughness will serve him well when he eventually gets time as a small-ball four.
But of course when we talk about Jaylen Brown, we’re talking about defense. Brown has the size, speed, and wingspan to eventually guard the 2-4 positions effectively, and could even spend some time switching onto the point or small-ball centers. He is exactly the kind of player that most teams are looking for right now.
The Bad:
For all the immense physical attributes Brown possesses, he struggles with the finer parts of the game. He doesn’t seem to have best basketball IQ, and he struggled mightily during March Madness when teams sagged off him and dared him to shoot.
His jumper isn’t broken but it definitely needs work. His form varies from shot to shot and he often shoots on the way down. He shot worse than Winslow or Johnson during their lone years in school, and neither of them exactly lit the NBA on fire from deep during their rookie years. Optimists will point to Kawhi Leonard’s college shooting numbers, but not many teams can develop players like the Spurs.
Final Thoughts:
Brown is a good prospect, but I don’t love his fit on our Wolves. I’m sure some part of Thibodeau is looking at Brown and envisioning creating a new Jimmy Butler, but I’m worried that his talents overlap with Wiggins’ without complementing them much. His lack of a jumper will cramp a lineup that needs all the space it can get, and I’m just not sure an NBA team in 2016 can survive with two non-shooters at the wing/guard positions, though playing him at power forward could mitigate that problem somewhat.
The Wolves had a terrible defense last year, but I’m banking on internal improvement, as well as one of the best defensive minds in the game, turning that around the way Milwaukee did in Kidd’s first season.
So while I’m not opposed to the idea of drafting Brown, I think there are better fits out there.
Coming up next on Preview the Picks: Jamal Murray!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
