<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Salt Lake City, (Aug. 29, 2006): Utah Jazz Sr. Vice President of Basketball Operations, Kevin O?Connor, announced today that the team has signed Dee Brown. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not released. Brown played in six games (four starts) during the 2006 Rocky Mountain Revue and averaged 6.0 points, 3.0 assists in 20.5 minutes per game. The 6-0 guard out of Illinois was named the 2005 National Player of the Year by The Sporting News and was a consensus First Team All-American as a junior. He finished his four-year college career as the third all-time leading scorer in Illinois history with 1,812 points and ranks second in three-point field goals with 299, assists with 674 and steals with 231. </div> Utahjazz.com
About time all the rumors about Dee going to play overseas were completely ridiculous. I have to admit I was disappointed when the Jazz drafted him due to the point guard situation in Utah being all but decided already. I believe Dee has the ability to be an excellent future starter in this league. However, not with the Jazz…
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Best Kept Secret:</div><div class="quote_post">About time all the rumors about Dee going to play overseas were completely ridiculous. I have to admit I was disappointed when the Jazz drafted him due to the point guard situation in Utah being all but decided already. I believe Dee has the ability to be an excellent future starter in this league. However, not with the Jazz…</div> Meh it's not all bad as he gets to be a legit backup; McLeod got traded to assure that. Plus, no team would draft him and plug him in as a starter. The Jazz always have the option to play him with former teammate Deron in the backcourt at the same time like in Illinois.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting P.A.P.:</div><div class="quote_post">Meh it's not all bad as he gets to be a legit backup; McLeod got traded to assure that. Plus, no team would draft him and plug him in as a starter. The Jazz always have the option to play him with former teammate Deron in the backcourt at the same time like in Illinois.</div> True the backup role is something he likely would have played on whatever team he was drafted, but what I feel makes it a tough spot for him is that the Jazz already have their future point guard in Deron Williams there for he doesn?t really have the chance to compete for a starting spot should he stay in Utah. Although, there is always the chance could play him and Deron in the backcourt in a Illinois style offense. The chances of that happening are slim with Girieck, Harpring, and Brewer all competition at the swing man spot. Not to mention Dee might not even be the backup with veteran point guard Derek Fisher on the roster.
Good news for the Jazz. And personally, I don't know if he's ever going to be a starter in this league. He's too small and his jump shot just isn't consistent enough. If he ever wants to be a starter in this league, he's going to have to leave Utah and develop a better jump shot. Right now, his is just too streaky, and if you have a streaky jumper, you better be able to get to the lane when it's off, and because of his size, I think he's going to have issues with that. Also, I foresee defensive issues for him as well based on his size. I don't care if he's quick enough to stay in front of anyone, he's not strong enough to stop them.
It'd only be awesome if they're producing. If that's not happening, I don't care what kind of chemistry they may have together, one of them would be going to the bench.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">Good news for the Jazz. And personally, I don't know if he's ever going to be a starter in this league. He's too small and his jump shot just isn't consistent enough. If he ever wants to be a starter in this league, he's going to have to leave Utah and develop a better jump shot. Right now, his is just too streaky, and if you have a streaky jumper, you better be able to get to the lane when it's off, and because of his size, I think he's going to have issues with that. Also, I foresee defensive issues for him as well based on his size. I don't care if he's quick enough to stay in front of anyone, he's not strong enough to stop them.</div> Dee is not that bad a defender, nor that bad a shooter. Last season his percentage dropped below 40% because he was really the Illini?s only offensive option. Teams were game planning to stop Dee Brown because he was the key to the Illinois offense. The year prior when he actually had some talent around him with Williams and Head his percentages were respectable. In addition, Illinois was a very tough-minded defensive team, and Brown exemplifies that I don?t see him having a problem on the defensive end of the court. What he lacks in height he makes up for with desire and strength. He is built well due to playing football for a majority of his high school years so I don?t think he will be backed down easily.
Last I knew, 41% and 43% weren't that great, and 36% is just awful. He had one really good shooting year at Illinois, and that was his junior year. And what's this lack of scoring and talent around him you speak of? Augustine averaged 14/9 last year while shooting 62% from the floor, Brian Randle averaged a decent 9/5, Pruitt gave em 6/5 in just 19mpg, and McBride gave them 10ppg as well. That's a decent supporting cast. That's not mentioning that Jamar Smith was good for 8ppg off the bench each night and Warren Carter was giving them 5/3 in just over 12mpg. That's not a bad supporting cast at all. In fact, that's a really balanced attack if you ask me. Dee Brown was just simply bad last year when it came to shooting the ball. He only had 4 games where his FG% was better than .500. 4 of the 5 times he scored above 20, he followed with a game where he scored less than 10. At one point, he had a game in which he had 34, the next he had 6, he then had 26 in the game after that, and the next night he went for 5. After that stretch, he went and scored in double figures in 9 straight games. If that's not inconsistency, I don't know what is. And his inconsistency was due to his streakiness. In the games where he was doing nothing, he was still jacking up a ton of shots. Looking through his ESPN bio, he had games of 4/16, 1/9, 2/13, 3/12, 2/12, 2/10, 5/18, you get the point. He was not shooting well at any point last year. AT all. And, if you look, he was still taking a lot of shots. He was inconsistent beyond any belief last year, and it was usually due to his streakiness. He better hope those issues don't carry over to the NBA, otherwise he'll be like another former Illini alum in Frank Williams, that being completely out of the league in about 4 years. Also, for his size, I don't care how strong you are, but when you're only 180lbs and a generous 6', you're going to have issues guarding people, especially in the post.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Moo2K4:</div><div class="quote_post">Last I knew, 41% and 43% weren't that great, and 36% is just awful. He had one really good shooting year at Illinois, and that was his junior year. And what's this lack of scoring and talent around him you speak of? Augustine averaged 14/9 last year while shooting 62% from the floor, Brian Randle averaged a decent 9/5, Pruitt gave em 6/5 in just 19mpg, and McBride gave them 10ppg as well. That's a decent supporting cast. That's not mentioning that Jamar Smith was good for 8ppg off the bench each night and Warren Carter was giving them 5/3 in just over 12mpg. That's not a bad supporting cast at all. In fact, that's a really balanced attack if you ask me. Dee Brown was just simply bad last year when it came to shooting the ball. He only had 4 games where his FG% was better than .500. 4 of the 5 times he scored above 20, he followed with a game where he scored less than 10. At one point, he had a game in which he had 34, the next he had 6, he then had 26 in the game after that, and the next night he went for 5. After that stretch, he went and scored in double figures in 9 straight games. If that's not inconsistency, I don't know what is. And his inconsistency was due to his streakiness. In the games where he was doing nothing, he was still jacking up a ton of shots. Looking through his ESPN bio, he had games of 4/16, 1/9, 2/13, 3/12, 2/12, 2/10, 5/18, you get the point. He was not shooting well at any point last year. AT all. And, if you look, he was still taking a lot of shots. He was inconsistent beyond any belief last year, and it was usually due to his streakiness. He better hope those issues don't carry over to the NBA, otherwise he'll be like another former Illini alum in Frank Williams, that being completely out of the league in about 4 years. Also, for his size, I don't care how strong you are, but when you're only 180lbs and a generous 6', you're going to have issues guarding people, especially in the post.</div> The lack of a supporting cast was obvious for those who watched the Illini team Dee played on as a Junior compared to the one h played on as a Senior. Augustine was the only other player that could be considered a threat, and even then he was strictly a post presence with a decent shorts to mid range game. He could not create his own shot and relied heavily upon Dee to do that for him. Same with a majority of the guys you mentioned Jamar Smith got most of his points off of open jumpers created by the fact that the defense had collapsed down on Dee when he was penetrating. Dee was a marked man his senior year teams knew all you had to do to stop Illinois was contain Dee Brown and without another legitimate playmaker by his side (Randle was decent not spectacular) Dee’s percentage took a hit. I never claimed that his 43-44% was great I said it was respectable especially for a guard his size. Dee Brown can knock down a jumper when he is open, or it when it is needed of him. If you don’t believe that check the game tape off the first game against MSU last year. Pruitt was another guy who was solid, but nothing spectacular he depend heavily upon the players around him to get him shots and was often in foul trouble (why he averaged few minutes). No matter what way you put it the pressure last year to run the Illini team (win or lose) was on Dee Brown and everyone knew it. Teams were game planning strictly for him. While in his Junior year being surrounded with guys like Head and Williams it was basically pick your poison. Without Dee last season the Illini don't win 10 games let alone make the NCAA tournament.
