Asking Detroit Pistons fans to say something nice about Bruce Brown

We asked Detroit Pistons fans to give one of their young guards a compliment or two.

In a time where hope feels uncertain an unstable for fans of the Detroit Pistons, one area where we find solace is in our young core. Sure, there are some issues that may arise in the future, but we’ll address those when we get there.

As it stands, there’s been optimism instilled in the guys that we do have. Bruce Brown was a second round pick in 2018 and very quickly became one of Detroit’s fiercest on-ball defenders. When Stanley Johnson was traded away, it became safe to declare Brown as the Pistons best.

His tenacity on the defensive end and his ability to improve offensively has given us hope that he can be a key piece to whatever success the Pistons find in the future.

So with that in mind, we wanted to see if you felt the same way. We took to Twitter to ask our followers to say something genuinely nice about Bruce.

All jokes aside; yes. Brown re-joined Detroit’s Summer League squad in 2019 and primarily adopted the role of point guard. A position that he played in college at Miami, but at the time hadn’t seen much (or any) time there in the NBA.

Following his success, he saw some minutes running point this last season for the Pistons after the plethora of injuries they endured more or less forced Dwane Casey’s hand.

Although his shooting certainly improved this year, it’s still not his strong suit. Alternatively, he’s got pretty solid court vision and his play making ability is an ever improving facet of his game.

On July 10th, 2019, Brown posted just the second ever triple double in the Summer League’s relatively brief history. The only other player to do it was Lonzo Ball. Brown recorded 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

In a league where seemingly every successful team has an “enforcer”, it would appear that if the Pistons have anyone claiming that title, it’s Bruce.

He’s not afraid to go toe to toe with the league’s best offensive talents, including Trae Young, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. The aforementioned ferocity with which he plays defensively feel contagious. You’re never going to question his effort.

He won’t back down from any challenge.

This sort of recaps everything that we’ve said about him so far. This year he essentially doubled all of his statistics from his rookie year, from field goals attempted, to three-point percentage, to points per game.

Essentially everything about his game was better this season, and while one could argue that it’s because everyone else was hurt, I’d counter saying that it doesn’t mean he’d be due to double every conceivable metric. He’s clearly showing improvement.

The most notable bump for him was raising his three-point percentage from 25.8 percent to 34.4 percent this year on more or less the same volume.

There were a few comments similar to this one, but this seemed to best encapsulate the general feeling. If you were to compile a roster of players that best fit the “identity” of Detroit basketball, you’d think Marcus Smart, maybe JaVale McGee, and you could certainly throw Bruce in there.

The grittiness, the mentality, and the defensive mindset. He’s more or less the quintessential embodiment of what the Pistons have historically been about.

He’s not a flashy scorer and he likely never will be, but that’s okay. That’s not what we expect from him and that’s not what he like about him. He’s all about hustle, and he’s all about doing whatever he can to help his team out.