LAS VEGAS, NV – The Los Angeles Clippers selected forward Kobe Brown with the 30th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. This year's class was a deep one, featuring some very high-upside players as far as the early second round. Paul George and Tyronn Lue are already excited about the potential for Brown.
Cam Whitmore, who won Summer League MVP, was drafted 20th overall. The Timberwolves selected Leonard Miller with the 33rd overall pick and the Cavs drafted Emoni Bates with the 49th overall pick. While all of those players have significant upside, the Clippers feel they may have gotten a draft steal of their own in Kobe Brown with pick No. 30.
Brown was a four-year college player at the University of Missouri and was among the four oldest players to selected on Draft night. He has 123 games of college experience under his belt, and improved with each passing year.
The Huntsville, Alabama native started 26 of 30 games as a freshman while playing 18.1 minutes per game averaging 5.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.0 steal per game on 40 percent shooting from the field and 25.3 percent from three.
By his senior year, Kobe Brown started 92 of 93 games in his next three seasons. As a senior, Brown played 29.6 minutes per game averaging 15.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 steals on 55.3 percent shooting from the field and 45.5 percent from three.
Many look at Brown's age and immediately express concerns about his ceiling and how much time he has or needs to grow. Brown, however, sees his age as one of his strengths given he's coming to a veteran laden team.
“Just because of the experience, the maturity on and off-the-court,” Kobe Brown told ClutchPoints why he thinks the age works in his favor. “I hear some guys you gotta kind of worry about off-the-court and if they'll catch onto stuff faster, but me being older, I've kind of already lived a lot, not a whole lot, but a little bit more than some of the younger guys in the league so I understand a lot of off-the-court stuff a lot better.”
At 6-foot-8 and 250 lbs, Kobe Brown is the perfect tweener who can play the small forward and power forward spots while being able to defend up or down a position.
“He's a kid that is not focused on scoring to put his imprint on the basketball game,” Summer League coach Dahntay Jones explained to ClutchPoints in Las Vegas. “He's doing a lot of things defensively. He's switching, he's guarding one through five, he's guarding five men for different periods of time. He's not afraid to get in there and get on the floor and get steals and be aggressive. He's been super aggressive with his nudges, trying to switch out and execute our gameplan, shrinking the floor. He's broken some of his old college habits, which I thought would take more time. He's done all this in about a week and a half.”
Brown played well in his first four Summer League appearances, averaging 17.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.3 steals on 43.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent from three. He played just six minutes in the final game, spraining his ankle six minutes into the contest having registered six points and two assists.
A finalist for an All-Summer League Team spot, Kobe Brown got better the deeper the Clippers went into Summer League. In his fourth game, Brown finished with 35 points, eight rebounds, three assists, four steals, and two blocks on 13-of-19 shooting from the field and 7-of-10 from three. His previous career-high for points was 31 points during his senior year, and he'd reached 30 points three total times on the collegiate level.
“He's ready for the NBA level because he has a unique skillet,” added Dahntay Jones. “He can do a lot of things without having the ball in his hands. He can guard, he can protect the rim, he can guard fives. He's not gonna be posted up because of his size and his weight. He can shoot the ball and he can handle the ball. You saw him push the ball on a lot of sets, turning defense to offense, push it, he can finish at the rim.
“He can do a bunch of different things to complement our cast that we have already and he knows that he's a basketball player first. He doesn't hang his hat on scoring, he hangs his hat on having a positive effect on the game of basketball and that's something you always can use.”
Clippers star Paul George was in Las Vegas to record some Podcast P specials, and also came out to watch the Summer League squad. He was very complimentary of Kobe Brown during an live TV interview.
“I love Kobe Brown,” Paul George told NBA TV. “Big talent. I definitely think a steal. A ton of upside, he just does all the hard work, the dirty work. He plays hard, and he’s one of those young guys I think we need with that energy and that passion that he plays with.”
“Oh wow, I didn’t even know that,” Brown responded when told of George's comments. “That’s definitely big. Means a lot. PG’s a great dude. It means a lot. He’s gonna go down in the hall of fame so that’s big time.
“Like I say all the time, I'm not here to score 20 or 30 points. I just want to win, whether that's zero points and 10 rebounds, whatever they need me to do is what I'm here to do. I don't get caught up in all the extra stuff. I'm here to win.”
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, who lives in Las Vegas in the offseason, was in attendance for all five Summer League games. He told ClutchPoints that Kobe Brown looks more NBA-ready that most rookies.
“I thought he was mature, especially for a rookie,” Lue told ClutchPoints in an interview after Summer League. “Just being mature, being about business and working. The way he played, I thought he got better each game. Just understanding the NBA game and everything he did was hard. He was able to guard defensively, switching pick-and-rolls, one through four, one through five. His shot, he has a really good shot, but I thought just reading the game and understanding double teams and everything. I thought he just got better and better each game. The last game he played, having 35 points, the most he's ever had in his career so on the big stage, he's able to play big.”
Tyronn Lue also believes the Mizzou forward has the perfect combination of size, speed, strength, and skillset to be a legitimate player in the league.
“Oh, it's perfect. I mean you've got a guy who can stretch the floor with his three-point shot, but not only be able to stretch the floor, he's able to put the ball on the floor when teams are closing out trying to run him off the three-point line and make a play as well. That's the NBA game.”
The Clippers traded for KJ Martin earlier this summer and he's expected to step into a potentially significant role for the team that named, ‘athleticism,' as one of their key improvement points for the offseason. At 22 years of age, Martin is younger than Kobe Brown and has already played three seasons in the league. On top of that, the Clippers still have Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, and Moussa Diabate on the roster.
That's not going to deter Tyronn Lue, who views Kobe Brown as a small forward and power forward, from seeing what he has in the Missouri product.
“Yeah, I think he'll get an opportunity,” Lue told ClutchPoints. “I can't say for sure right now, because we don't know exactly what's going on, but he's one of those guys that is ready and played four years of college basketball so if you throw him into the game, I think he'll be ready to play right away.
“If he's gonna play a little bit of three, he's gonna have to play pick and roll and make plays and make passes and stuff like that. The biggest thing is just continuing to keep working on his three-point shots and be able to drive closeouts or make a play once he drives the closeout.”
Moussa Diabate only played two Summer League games for the Clippers before being shut down due to back pain and discomfort. He was never close to suiting up for the final three games, and a source told ClutchPoints that Diabate was expected to see a doctor once the exhibition tournament was over to assess next steps.
Tyronn Lue likes to use training camp as an opportunity for players to compete for spots and see who fits well with who. Depending on what happens over the next few months, Kobe Brown's number could be called upon early. If it is, he expects to be ready for the moment.
“My main goal every game is to come out and play hard as I can and let everything else take care of itself. I don't hunt points or anything, I just want to be that one guy who can be a force on defense, on the boards, and everything else will just fall into place, truthfully.”
Paul George and the LA Clippers will open training camp on October 3rd with the regular season expected to start on October 24th.