Backup starting point centre

Bruce Brown can do anything

It’s fair to say Bruce Brown has had a strange career arc to date. Drafted by the Pistons in the second round in 2018 out of the University of Miami, Brown came into the league as a pure defensive specialist with little discernible skill on the ball as a shooter or playmaker.

A ball of energy, Brown would earn minutes on a Pistons team battling for the playoffs through his energy and athleticism, a defensive presence on a team sorely lacking any grit on that end of the floor, as evidenced by the Pistons eventual spectacular demise in the first round of the playoffs to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Brown would end up starting 56 games in his rookie season, playing a hair under 20 minutes a game, averaging 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting under 40% from the field, and just over 25% from three.

Bruce played an important role on the Pistons, it’s just no one was quite sure what that role should be.

Athletic, sure, but an anachronistic skill set for his size. Too small to be a true wing, shooting percentages that wouldn’t even make it onto an opposing scouting report, and a lack of nuance as a playmaker outside of straight line drives that made his place as a primary ball handler tenable only in short bursts.

Despite all that, those in league circles knew there was a place for Bruce Brown. While his raw statistical output in Detroit was unimpressive, he was an advanced stats darling, contributing positively in win shares, defensive box plus minus and value over replacement player, especially in his second season on a Pistons squad devoid of any talent whose best player was…Christian Wood?

Brown was traded following the 19-20 season to Brooklyn, as part of a team-wide fire sale by incoming general manager Troy Weaver. The fact Detroit felt the need to attach four second round picks to sell off Brown (and Luke Kennard) in a three team deal with Brooklyn and the LA Clippers where the grand jewel in the return was Saddiq Bey divided the fanbase.

It’s a move that hasn’t aged well with hindsight.

Brown’s second season with the Pistons saw significant statistical and developmental growth, on a team that had been gutted, pivoting from misguided playoff hopes to a hardcore rebuild, not only improving his points and assists per game, to 8.9 and 4.0 respectively, but dragging his three point percentage into the mid 30s (albeit on low volume). All this despite ranking 17th (!!!) on the team in usage rate.

Brown’s sophomore season showed how effective he could be in a “less is more” hybrid role, using his athleticism and driving ability to make plays on the bounce while maintaining enough of a three point threat to remain semi-dangerous should he be left alone behind the arc.

It’s a shame the Pistons went through such a transition after Brown’s second season that they dumped him for peanuts, but I’m not bitter.

Upon arriving in Brooklyn, the expectations changed for Brown, joining a team with far greater depth and more serious title aspirations. With that though, came more uncertainty in his role again. Despite proving his effectiveness as an ancilliary playmaker on a struggling team, that skillset became redundant on a Brooklyn team possessing Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and later, James Harden.

Brown was too good to sit nailed to the bench, but with such a crowded guard/wing rotation in Brooklyn, a new development emerged.

Big man Bruce.

According to Basketball Reference, the most common five man lineup with Bruce Brown that Brooklyn ran that season also featured Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Joe Harris and Deandre Jordan, at 191 minutes together.

Basketball Reference is somewhat unsophisticated when it comes to positional breakdowns, but we can infer from that data that Bruce was the nominal power forward in this lineup, which was +2.3 points per 100 possessions. Hardly elite, but getting positive minutes in what is effectively a four guard lineup without KD is only positive news.

For that lineup to work, gang rebounding is obviously one pillar, and that lineup had a positive net total rebounding percentage (4.2%), helped in no small part by Bruce averaging a career high 5.4 rebounds.

More importantly though, is how that small man defends, and Bruce’s ability to guard up 1-2 positions, even spending pockets of time in the mixer as a super small backup centre. Despite spending the majority of the season outmatched against larger forwards, Brown was still a positive contributor in defensive metrics.

After spending two seasons in Detroit as a de facto point guard due to injuries to Reggie Jackson, and two seasons in Brooklyn as a faux big man due to a glut of guards and wings, Brown entered free agency this past offseason as a prototypical jack of all trades, master of none.

In a vacuum, each of Brown’s personalities were a dime a dozen.

There are plenty of athletic guards in the league who can make the occasional play off the dribble.

There are plenty of defensive minded wing stoppers that can hit an open three when ignored.

There are some, not many, but some wings that can provide respectable spot minutes as emergency reserve big men.

There’s not many, if any players, that can do all three of those things.

Versatility is often the enemy of consistency. There are cautionary tales littered throughout a multitude of sports of players being burned by their own ability to do lots of things well but nothing great. It can lead to a lack of comfort, an inability to settle into a defined routine and role, shifting from night to night.

In the 2022 free agency period, Brown sat patiently by the phone. Brooklyn’s cap situation meant a return to the Big Apple was unlikely, but his body of work over four years meant he should’ve expected calls.

For a week, the phone remained silent.

The rumors coming into free agency last year was that I was getting a lot offers which I wasn't. Nobody really wanted me. They didn't know if I could be a guard or not.

Bruce Brown

Finally, Brown agreed a deal with Denver, joining a team possessing the reigning back to back MVP in Nikola Jokic, the returning star guard Jamal Murray, and a swathe of athletic big wings in Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the ageless Jeff Green.

Brown was walking into a team with a defined role for him for the first time in his career. That role? Just do whatever you need to win.

His role in Denver more closely mirrors his time in Detroit, as an athletic guard capable of making plays and acting as a connector in the offense, taking the open shots and moving the ball, running the occasional pick and roll and as always, playing elite defence.

Brown averaged a career high 11.5 points per game, to go along with 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals during the regular season, while shooting nearly 36% from three, all in a career high 28.5 minutes per game.

His contributions in the playoffs have been invaluable, often the first man off the bench, and regularly closing out games instead of either Michael Porter Jr or Aaron Gordon.

Brown is coming off a stellar Game 4 performance that sees the Nuggets one win off their first NBA title in franchise history. In 30 minutes, Brown poured in 21 points (8-11 FG, 3-5 3PT), with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Along with Aaron Gordon (27 points), he helped bridge the gap from subpar shooting games for both Porter Jr and Jamal Murray.

Along with Christian Braun, Bruce Brown has become a vital cog in the Denver playoff machine, helping maintain offensive fluidity and defensive intensity in the rare yet ultra-important Jokic-less minutes. Denver’s ability to stay afloat while their MVP sits is a big reason they’re one win away.

It’s been reported ad nauseum, but when Michael Malone asked Bruce Brown why no one had signed him back in July, here was Bruce’s answer.

“No one knows how to use me.”

I think it’s fair to say that the team on the precipice of a championship has solved that formula.