The name of the game this season for the Brooklyn Nets is going to be “make it to the playoffs with a healthy roster.” As such, I expect Steve Nash to use a deep, ten player rotation. It's difficult to carve out true “breakout” candidates on a team whose top-end talent has all been established superstars for the better part of ten years. During Media day Kevin Durant poked fun at the idea that people were wondering if he'd even be able to play two summers ago, then anointing him the league's best player one summer later. We should know what KD brings to the table by now. His message was that nobody has to do much projecting or forecasting for him.
But the team isn't especially young and doesn't have piles of developmental minutes to go around either. Players like New York Knicks' forward Julius Randle, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, and Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant recently enjoyed breakouts, but their path was not blocked by true superstars. Furthermore, players like Randle and Sexton boasted lofty draft capital. The Nets don't have say a Michael Porter Jr., a former lottery pick, they might reasonably expect to emerge as a star off their bench while vying for a title.
So who does that leave as our breakout candidate here?
Enter the Swiss Army Knife Bruce Brown
One thing we can be sure of here is that the Nets are light on tenacious defenders. They relied last season on players like Bruce Brown and Nic Claxton to come in and change a game defensively. When head coach Steve Nash looks at his squad and decides he wants to limit a big triple-threat wing like a Jimmy Butler, a Khris Middleton, or a Devin Booker, that's when he'll need to turn to a stalwart perimeter pitbull like Brown.
Last season, the 6-foot-4 guard from Massachusetts selected 42nd overall in the 2018 NBA Draft, averaged 8.8 points, 0.9 steals, 0.4 blocks, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. I'm not necessarily forecasting an offensive explosion in 2022, but I think Brown represents that jack-of-all-trades baller that Coach Nash is going to consider a luxury this year.
Nash had this to say, courtesy of Marie Schulte-Bockum, New York Times:
Nets coach Steve Nash told reporters earlier this month that Brown is “a solution for us. He’s a Swiss Army knife, so to speak. He can guard multiple positions. He does the dirty work.”
That kind of high praise Brown generated last season will certainly not be forgotten. If the Nets happen to have a Kyrie Irving sized void in their lineup for home games, due to his vaccination status, the door will open even further for Brown to earn some guard minutes.
ESPN's Zach Lowe, described Brown's game last season:
“Brown was almost inventing a new position: “rover,” or “center fielder.”
“It was really my only way to score,” he says. “The guy guarding me is trying to muck up the paint. Once I hit a few floaters, they gotta keep an eye on me.”
None of this surprises Brown's coaches at the University of Miami. “He's a glue guy,” Jim Larranaga says. “He's an amoeba. He changes form. He's the best rebounding guard I've ever coached.”
Last season Nash also said this, per Lowe's piece: “Bruce plays his ass off. He defends on a team without a lot of guys like that. How do we keep him off the floor?”
The team asked Brown to defend stars and he impressed them. They asked him to learn to play some roll-man (since they didn't have many options there) and he impressed them. In many ways, Brown is a coach's dream. He's a quick study, he plays with heart, and he doesn't need a quota of isolations on offense fulfilled in order to stay upbeat. How indeed do you keep a guy like that off the floor?
There isn't quite the same positional log jam, (which a young player like Nic Claxton may be facing) blocking Brown. While Claxton will have to compete for minutes with the likes of Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, or Paul Millsap, Brown doesn't have a ton of competition on the wing. At least not given what he does well.
Of course, the big three are there, but it doesn't seem likely they'll all be in the lineup every night. New arrival Patty Mills will certainly absorb a chunk of guard minutes for his shooting as will Jevon Carter for his on-ball defense, but Mills isn't as willing to get grimy on the glass or on defense. Brown is an excellent rebounder for a guard, an area the Nets struggled with at times last season.
Patty Mills certainly hasn't developed his short-roll game. That short-roll chemistry Brown was able to develop with James Harden and KD last season may be key here. And that gives him a leg up on a few newbies. He knows this system and won't have any learning curve. He also played with Blake Griffin in Detroit so he's familiar with most of the team.
Bruce Brown over Giannis 🔨 pic.twitter.com/gauZ6YSTd0
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 20, 2021
There's another element here as well. It's not impossible that Brown, just a career 29.8 percent 3 point shooter can improve from beyond the arc. Per NBA.com's Tom Dowd:
“In the two months that have passed since the end of the season, Brown said he’s been hard at work on his shooting, particularly from 3-point range, where he shot 28.8 percent last season.
“Straight threes,” said Brown. “Catch and shoot threes. No mid-range. Leave that to KD and Kyrie.”
If Brown can just crack 32 percent on wide-open triples, he'll quickly make himself an indispensable member of the rotation. If he can crack 35 percent he'll guarantee himself a playoff rotation spot and a big contract next summer. Brown is not someone who will always make you say “wow” when you read a box score. But he is the type of guy that makes his teammates and coaches say wow at a moment when you were looking down at your popcorn.
The synergies are all there. The team may suddenly need a guard to step in if Irving misses home games. They're already lacking tough-minded defenders and rebounders. He's one of a few players who can guard multiple positions so if they want to play a switch-heavy defense, they'll need him on the floor. There are a lot of new faces so they may lack chemistry. That's not an issue for Brown. Pretty much everything we might say is a weakness for Brooklyn (e.g. toughness on the interior, defense at the rim and on the wings, rebounding) Bruce Brown makes better. Plus there's that outside chance he improves his jump shot enough to take another big step.
There are definite elements of “big man” in Brown's game, despite his stature. I'm still not quite sure what position Brown plays. But something tells me that's just how coach Nash likes it. If there are moments during the NBA Finals next spring where Brown impresses, just know he started laying the groundwork for that moment long before the season started by putting in the work and improving at everything the Nets have asked him to do.
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