How Bruce Brown can improve for the Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons will head into next season with a majority of their younger players leading the charge, including Bruce Brown.

In his second season with the Detroit Pistons, Bruce Brown emerged as a jack-of-all trades type of player. He’s arguably their back court’s best rebounder, he’s one of, if not the, team’s best on-ball defender, and he’s become a semi-reliable scoring option.

As a former second round pick, his production for the Pistons has been a tremendous success.

While he doesn’t necessarily excel in too many areas, he does just about everything at a level that’s quality enough for him to see nearly 30 minutes per game. He’s also one of Detroit’s most durable options on the entire roster.

Comparing his rookie year numbers to his sophomore year numbers, it’s clear that he’s improved as an all around product.

• Field goal percentage increased by 4.5 percent
• three-point percentage increased by 8.6 percent
• He’s grabbing 2.2 more rebounds per game
• He’s dishing out 2.8 more assists per game
• He’s scoring 4.6 more points per game

While it’s easy to look at these numbers and correlate it to the fact that he’s also playing significantly more minutes, his role is also different.

Brown was given far more opportunities this season to make a play with the ball in his hands than he was last season, and he took advantage of it.

What started as a Summer League project, he was given the chance to play point guard this season and it was the true turning point in his potential. After becoming just the second player to ever record a triple double in the Summer League, the Pistons knew they had something.

With so many of Detroit’s initial point guard options dealing with injuries to open the season, Brown finally got his chance.

He was unselfish with the basketball and did a tremendous job of locating shooters.

The fact that he was able to develop any sort of an offensive game this season went a long way. During his rookie season it was difficult to ever feel comfortable with him taking a shot, but this year that fear slowly started to fade.

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Although he did improve, his perimeter shot still struggled from time to time. His consistency isn’t always there, and unless he’s shooting it from the corner it’s likely not going to fall.

This season Brown shot just 23.5 percent from the perimeter on shots that weren’t from either corner.

Developing the ability to hit shots from other places on the floor with more regularity will be critical for him moving forward.

As it stands, when he’s used off the ball on offense he’s always set up in the corner. If he’s on the ball, he’s able to put the ball on the floor and go down hill if he needs to but he’s best in pick and rolls.

The predictability with Brown can sometimes be an issue. He’s able to finish through contact, but sometimes when he’s met at the rim he lacks the presence of mind to pass out of a bad situation.

Instead, he forces the shot at the rim and it’s either blocked or too heavily contested. His court vision has shown glimpses of greatness, but he’ll need to improve on his decision making.

Brown’s ability to create his own shot is certainly on the right track, but he’s not fast enough to blow by every single defender he’s up against, and not strong enough to power through most bigs at the rim.

He’s too often relegated into a role where he’s off the ball, and it’s just not where he’s best utilized. Putting the ball in Brown’s hands and letting him either facilitate or take it to the basket is a marginally better option than setting him up in the corner.

Developing a game outside of the paint, and outside of the corner would benefit him as well.

He only attempted 15 shots outside of the paint this season (not including three-pointers) and connected on 33 percent of them.

Hitting another gear on offense and adding more versatility opens Brown up as a legitimate weapon for Detroit. He already took a mirco-leap for them offensively this season, and he could take it to the next level next season.

Defensively he’s on a course that most fans are going to be okay with. There isn’t all that much to tweak there, he’s capable of defending multiple positions and can hold his own.

What his future holds with the Pistons depends entirely on how he develops as an offensive player.