Bruce Brown is playing in the Summer League again ahead of his sophomore season. What should the Detroit Pistons be watching for from Brown?
The Detroit Pistons Summer League season is set to begin, featuring rookies, second-year players, and everything in between.
While many Piston’s fans eyes will be on rookies Sekou Doumbouya and Deividas Syrvidis, there’s another player that should be watched just as closely.
Bruce Brown started in 56 games last season, while also appearing in 74 games. The Pistons second-round pick made his name on defense, where he gained Pistons fans respect much like former Piston Stanley Johnson did in the playoffs by guarding LeBron James.
Brown is looking to have a different outcome than Johnson, however.
While Johnson was a fan favorite early on for his toughness, and his lack of respect towards James in the playoffs in 2015, he quickly faded from fan-favorite to accepted bust.
Brown is very similar to Johnson in this way. Brown excels on defense, and has the same type of “who are you, exactly?” type attitude Johnson had towards his opponents early on in their careers.
Also like Johnson, Brown struggles to shoot the ball from anywhere; shooting a putrid 25 percent from downtown last year. That was ultimately what got Johnson traded out of Detroit last season, something Brown is looking to be different from.
The Pistons have worked with Brown all off-season on his jump-shot, and Brown did an interview with James Edwards of The Athletic about his shooting. In this interview, Brown talked about how they’ve changed his mechanics and such throughout this off-season, and we will all get a real look at the new jumper in the Summer League.
Brown is one of the most intriguing prospects on the roster. He’s insanely athletic and possesses the ball-handling ability that has many thinking point guard will be in his future. He exhibited vision and the passing ability last season that you don’t expect from a second-round rookie.
In an article by Rod Beard for the Detroit News, Brown acknowledged he would be starting and playing point guard in the Summer League.
While improving his ball-handling would help Brown get to the basket more, his jump-shot is his biggest weakness and need to improve.
He understands that.
In what may be the most self-aware and great quotes of the off-season, Brown had this to say about him needing to improve his shooting in the article from the Detroit News:
"If I come back next year shooting the ball well — better than last year — it’s going to make the game easier for Blake and they’re not going to double him as much,” Brown said. “They left me (open) all year last year, so I want to come back shooting the ball well and it’ll be good.”"
Brown is an absolute freak of an athlete and an exceptional on-ball and pick-and-roll defender. He has the tools to play point guard, and his first step allows him to beat just about anyone to the rim.
If he’s able to improve his outside shot and become respectable from long-distance, that changes everything. Like Brown said above, teams will not be able to double Blake Griffin with no worry in the world about Brown.
This will also open up more opportunities for Brown to successfully run pick-and-rolls, without having defenders go under the screen with no care to recover.
Doumbouya will have all the attention on him.
But, Brown will be just as fascinating to watch.