Shannon Brown Finds Home With the Lakers

Lost One · Apr 21, 2009

With every three-pointer he hits and minute he plays in these playoffs, Shannon Brown raises the question of how many more of him there are in the NBA, forgotten players on benches and inactive lists from Memphis to Milwaukee.

It took being given up by three teams -- Cleveland, Chicago and Charlotte -- for the former first-round pick from Michigan State to find his way to Staples Center for Game 1 against the Jazz.

"Some situations work out different," Brown said. "With the other teams, I might not fit in what they were trying to do or whatever the case might be. But I'm blessed to be in this position right now and I want to take advantage of every opportunity."

Brown came to the Lakers as the third player in a February trade that sent Vladimir Radmanovic to Charlotte and brought former No. 3 overall pick Adam Morrison to Los Angeles. Needless to say, Brown's wasn't exactly a household name.

He had played only 44 games in his first two seasons and seen time with three NBA Development League teams. But Brown filled a need with the Lakers and went on to hit three three-pointers and play 22 minutes Sunday.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Brown's story reminded him of Eric Snow, who played behind Gary Payton in Seattle before helping lead Philadelphia to the NBA Finals.

"There have been a number of players like that that need that opportunity," Jackson
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said of Brown, "but now it's how far he develops and how we use him as a player."

Jackson added that he wasn't surprised three teams gave up on Brown, who is not a classic point guard capable of delivering the ball and too small at 6-foot-4 to play off guard. The triangle offense, however, does not require Brown to be a primary ball handler.

His shooting and defense make him a valuable contributor off the bench. Kobe Bryant said he told Brown in no uncertain terms from his very first day not to be afraid to shoot. "Once you take the shackles off a player, the sky's the limit," Bryant said.

Brown, a high school teammate of former Jazz guard Dee Brown, said he's not playing just for the similarly forgotten around the NBA but in all of basketball.

"There's a lot of guys that's not in the NBA that can really play basketball," Brown said, "and have a dedication and a passion for it, but for one reason or another, they're not in the NBA."

Brown said he never worried about sticking in the NBA-- "I knew it was going to take hard work and dedication for me to prosper in this league," he said -- but adjusting to the stardom that comes with playing for the Lakers in Los Angeles will take some time.

"I try to stay out of the way," Brown said to laughs. "Sometimes they might say something, sometimes they might just look and stare. But I appreciate all the love that they show me."
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http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_12187371

I love Shannon

Jordan's gone next year.

Shannon reminds me of Von Wafer. Sometimes, players have to bounce around a bit before they find their footing in the league. Wafer was gone after playing one season with us. I believe he later went on to Portland and Denver, and didn't amount to anything. This year, he is one of the best players off the bench for Houston. I think Shannon has been put in a similar situation.

huevonkiller · Apr 21, 2009

I don't know but when Shannon is on the court I just trust his defensive instincts for the most part, certainly compared to Farmar. I think with that alone he deserved Farmar's minutes but he is such an athletic beast, and can hit a J at a respectable clip.

bbwtrench · Apr 21, 2009

100 times better than Smush!

Lost One · Apr 21, 2009

Trench said: ↑

100 times better than Farmar!
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fixed

huevonkiller · Apr 21, 2009

He's better than Fisher.

EHL · Apr 21, 2009

He's better than Jesus.

huevonkiller · Apr 21, 2009

Brown needs to steal some of Sasha's minutes too.

Mamba · Apr 21, 2009

Ariza 2.0

huevonkiller · Apr 21, 2009

Mitch hits another strike. :O

Flow · Apr 22, 2009

Lakers are getting pretty notorious for steals in the NBA as I can see... But yeah, I don't know anyone who is a fan of the Lakers and doesn't like Shannon at the same time.

Crue24Ball · Apr 22, 2009

Flow said: ↑

But yeah, I don't know anyone who is a fan of the Lakers and doesn't like Shannon at the same time.
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He's contributing surprisingly well, why should Laker fans dislike him?

huevonkiller · Apr 22, 2009

Another good article I discovered. :]

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The mojo of Lakers' guard Shannon Brown
Ding column: He's raising hopes for a bright present and future in Los Angeles.

EL SEGUNDO Shannon Brown surely doesn’t need any more hype right now, but here goes.

This is no fluke.

Six years ago at Michael Jordan’s prep all-star game, LeBron James ended his illustrious high-school career with a loss because Chris Paul told Brown at halftime in the other locker room just to let it loose and take over the game … and Brown did with 24 second-half points.

James was still named game MVP … except James was so impressed by Brown’s winning performance that he insisted on sharing MVP honors with Brown and even joked about following Brown to Michigan State.

(Maybe James also remembered a few weeks prior how many boos cascaded down from the stands at the McDonald’s All-American dunk contest – in Cleveland, near James’ Akron hometown, no less – when it sure looked as if Brown had outdunked James, but James was still announced as the winner.)

That’s how much magic has always been in Brown’s bag – although frankly LeBron and CP3 can only dream of Brown’s current 3-point shooting streak that features eight makes in nine attempts.

The Lakers knew all about Brown’s past – and therefore potential – when they chose him to be included in that Feb. 7 Vladimir Radmanovic salary dump. Mitch Kupchak said back then that Brown was more likely to contribute this season than Adam Morrison given the Lakers’ need for a strong, defensively gifted guard.

But none of this Shannon Brown frenzy would’ve come to pass if not for four simple words thrown out by Phil Jackson at one of Brown’s first Lakers practices.

“Get your mojo back,” Jackson hollered at a tentative Brown.

Something about the word choice resonated with Brown. He did have some serious mojo back in the day, didn’t he?

“When I heard him say that, it opened up a lot of things for me,” Brown said, smiling big at the recollection of how big he smiled that day he heard it.

Jackson noted Monday how Brown is neither a pure ball-handling point guard nor a classically tall shooting guard, but that’s just the sort of hybrid player who can work great in the triangle offense’s two-guard front.

And fast-building is the case that the only reason Brown has had a fledgling NBA career is because he is stuck between those two positions, where there are so many guys who’ve gotten really great at one or the other.

The thing is, Brown otherwise has it all.

• He works very hard. Brown, who studied footage of NBA players while still in high school, is the son of a disciplinarian father who was a police sergeant. Brown has actually asked to get sent from the high-class NBA life to the D-League to get him more game experience. Ask him where he was a year ago when he wasn’t in the NBA playoffs and was in between NBA teams, and he’ll say: “In the gym, working out.” With the Lakers, he is on the court both before practice and after practice, which Kobe Bryant has definitely noticed.

• He is an athletic marvel. The muscular Brown, listed at 6-foot-4, has a reported vertical leap of 45 inches, which he showcased on those garbage-time highlight plays that initially got everyone’s attention after his trade from Charlotte. Even more remarkable are his hands, which if he ever forgets his gloves on a crisp fall day will require legal-sized envelopes to keep warm. Lakers team doctor Steve Lombardo approached Brown after practice Monday to put his hand up against Brown’s – and then gasp in awe that Brown was a “higher level of being” and note how there is a medical theory about larger hands meaning larger brains.

• He is, in fact, quite smart. Brown did very well in school and is now using his head in the triangle, which the academic-oriented Pau Gasol thrived in so soon last season because he was able to pick it up faster than anyone Jackson has ever coached. Brown noted that “the triangle is a thinking man’s game,” and when asked about Radmanovic’s complaint that role players are limited by the offense, Brown said: “I don’t know how they say they didn’t get opportunities, because they are there. They are there in abundance.”

• He is a good-hearted dude. He wrote a poem back in 2001 and recited it daily – and wore a headband on the court as a dedication – after his cousin, a week before her 15th birthday, was shot in the chest and killed by a classmate playing Russian roulette with a gun found his parents’ closet. (She believed the gun wasn’t loaded.) People just seem to like Brown, which might be why he’s one of the few who can be on a short-named basis with both “Bron” and “Kob.”

Still in periodic contact with James, whose MVP-sharing gesture Brown says was “really a stand-up thing he did,” Brown might be seeing his former Cleveland teammate again real soon. Bryant, in fact, has already joked with Brown about the subplot of Brown taking down James and Cleveland in the seemingly inevitable Cavaliers-Lakers NBA Finals.

Bryant has played a part in Brown going back to the future, too, telling him at his first Lakers practice to “shoot the (expletive) ball” and forget all that he’d been told he couldn’t do in previous stops. Bryant speaks of Brown’s emergence now by citing the wonders that can come with “taking the shackles off a player.”

All this context is to say that it is indeed not far-fetched for fans to dream that Brown could become the new, better Derek Fisher, with less guile but far more gifts. Brown said he hopes to re-sign this summer with the Lakers, who likewise have designs on extending Brown’s competition with Jordan Farmar for minutes and for a future without Fisher into next season.

Bryant loves Fisher and likes Farmar, and Bryant calls Brown “a much, much better player than anybody ever expected” and “an added bonus.” It wasn’t just coincidence that after answering a stream of questions about Brown on Monday, Bryant brought up someone with whom he used to share the Lakers’ backcourt.

Asked to compare how tough it is now for Utah guard Deron Williams and how tough it was for Bryant two years ago in trying to carry the Lakers with an inadequate supporting cast, Bryant scoffed.

“It’s not even close,” Bryant said. “They don’t even have Smush Parker on their team.”

Parker took a shot at Bryant last summer, saying in an interview: “The problems with that team start with him and end with him.” That didn’t, however, prevent Parker from plummeting from alongside Bryant into total obscurity.

Brown is going the other way – fast.

His swim is the upstream one, yet he’s not headed anywhere he hasn’t been before.
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Source: OC Register

Moo2K4 · Apr 23, 2009

I love the kid. I was a fan of his when he was at MSU and always thought he had great potential, and he has finally gotten a chance to show those flashes of brilliance in LA. I hope to god the Lakers retain him this offseason, because I think he's got a very, very bright future ahead of him.

Lost One · Apr 23, 2009

Yeah he'll be back.

I remember when VC used to hype him up a lot when he was with Cleveland. lol

He's right. Shannon is a player. :]

huevonkiller · Apr 23, 2009

VC was always talking about him, lol. :]

He'd ask why Shannon was getting buried on the bench various times. :O

¹²³ · Apr 23, 2009

EHL said: ↑

He's better than Jesus.
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BasX · Apr 24, 2009

Fuck 123 beat me to it.

Run BJM · Apr 24, 2009

LOL right when I saw this I thought of VC. VC wasn't the only one though, a lot of people knew this kid was good. He actually did play pretty good in games when he got playing time, he just didn't get playing time bery often for whatever reason. He's a good fit for the L's and a triangle offense though.

Shapecity · Apr 25, 2009

This is the right system for Brown to be in and I hope he returns next season. Lakers have a lot of personnel moves to deal with this summer and limited cap room.

He'd be the perfect replacement once Fisher hangs it up. Brown has the wide frame Fisher has and he's improved his range since his Spartan days. If he could develop a mid-range game and some back to the basket moves he'd be a handful.

illmatic · Apr 25, 2009

Yeah Shape's right, Tri does fit Brown perfectly.

I've been reaally surprised by his uber shooting skills, very nice to see.

ShanWOW is here to stay, boys.

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