Notice Blazers draft Greg Brown!

Here is what the "average scout" said about Brown before the draft:

Greg Brown, 6-9 freshman forward, Texas. “He’s sexy, but I just can’t tell you what he does. He shoots 3s or dunks, that’s it. No skill, no feel for the game. His interview was very disappointing. If he buys into being defensive-minded and using his athleticism as a shot-blocker, he could wind up having a place in our league. He gets too caught up in being a wing. He rebounds a little bit. I’m guessing he goes second round but there’s a lot of buyer beware with him. You’ve got to have a really strong assistant or player development guy to work with him.”

Having watched him in SL, I think that's about right. Good thing we hired all those development coaches.

 

you missed the point. Contrary to Terrys philosophy, young players don’t necessarily need to wait three years to produce in the NBA. I’d say more times than not it’s just about opportunity. Unfortunately under Stotts those opportunities primarily came through necessity. For example when Hood got injured and Trent had to play. If that hadn’t happened Trent would’ve never seen the floor. Guy didn’t even play a minute in the rotation his rookie year, even though it was obvious to anyone that watched him in the g league that he could help. There are other examples (Wes/CJ) and missed opportunities (Barton) but that shirt is all in the past, just gotta hope Billups is a different story.

 

Sorry, but I think you guys are repainting history to fit a narrative. He was a 2-way player for the Blazers, he played 30 games in the G-League, and was recalled to the Blazers after Skal was injured in game 33 of a a 74 games season - so he was available for 41 games (a little less reasonably, as you expect him to practice with the team for some days before playing) and played in 9 of them. Seems more than reasonable in a short season for a 2-way player when the team was fighting to make the playoffs.

 

I thought so as well, but as I recall not everyone that watched him that first year thought he would stick. "Blackhole" was just one negative description that was used on this board.

But to be fair he did improve quite a bit from year 1 to year 2. Shocking how that happens with young players.

 

but you did piggy-back onto Scalma's posts blaming Stotts for lack of player-development

* I was curious so I looked at Trent's rookie year, using your gauge of 6 minutes. Trent had 5 games of over 6 minutes that season. In those 5 games, Trent went 2-16 on FG's, 1-8 on three's, had 1 assist, 1 rebound, and 2 turnovers. Nothing he did in those games said 'play me more'

* Simons was similar in those 'more-than-6-minutes' opportunities (6 games). He didn't shoot as poorly as Trent, but he didn't shoot that well either. Both of those guys played all 48 minutes in that weird final game of the season, but I didn't add those numbers.

In the case of Trent & Simons, I can't tell if those game were consecutive minutes but that was kind of the way Stotts would roll

* Nassir got opportunity as a rookie. He started 5 games; had 29 games of over 10 minutes and 11 games over 15 minutes

* Jake Layman had 11 games of over 8 minutes as a rookie

* Will Barton had 50 games of over 6 minutes as a rookie when he also started 5 games; 23 games of over 15 minutes, and 13 games of over 20 minutes.

I think the 'narrative' that Stotts didn't play rookies is really a narrative of 'Stotts didn't play the rookies I want to see as much as I wanted to see them'. And the feeling seems to have made the memory foggy of past rookies. I thought Trent looked shitty as a rookie and Simons wasn't much better. Same for Layman. Barton and Little looked a lot better in my view and surprise! those are the two rookies who got a lot more burn. Moses looked lost

I'd also think we should credit a coaching staff for basing some of their rotation choices for rookies on practice, and that's something we don't see

 

I hope when people on here are making their win predictions, they realize this kid is getting on the court for 8 minutes a game!

 

Didn’t Brown only have a good “week” in the league?

 

The real action is, does he start any games due to injuries?

 

I don't think this gives the full picture. These guys are rookies so most of us are expecting them to be rough out the gate. But to sacrifice their development for the likes of Anthony Tolliver and Mario Hezonja is horseshit and tells you why Stotts was so awful in his rotation making.

 

I wonder what they thought was so bad about his interview. I watched several interviews with him and always found him to be fairly grounded and well-spoken. Seemed like he had a lot of relatives who were successful athletes who helped develop his mindset.

The other thing about that scouting report is that he gets too caught up in being a wing. I didn't see that in summer league. It almost seems like a guy evaluating on a 10-year-old formula that he's 6-9 so he should be playing close to the basket. I thought his shot looked a lot better in Vegas than it did at Texas. But we don't criticize Jerami Grant and Michael Porter Jr. for being 6-9 and haven't a lot of their offense predicated on their perimeter game. I don't even think Brown was nearly as pigeon-holed at playing the wing than those guys.

 

His basketball IQ seems really good for someone who is supposed to be such a project. I expect him to be a major contributor in the league.

 

I've seen guys who turned out to be really good players ... even really good rookies ... who were nowhere near at his level in their first summer league.

TBF, probably a lot of little things he needs to learn that I wasn't watching, but he never looked overmatched or like he wasn't sure he belonged. Took good shots. Didn't commit bad turnovers. Didn't commit stupid fouls. Hustled. Helped defensively. I don't know what's not to like.

 

I feel like you just described Simons..... except for the dunking part. He never dunks in games. His development hasn't gone so well so that's concerning for Brown.

 

That scout that said he had no feel for the game is an absolute moron. His defensive instincts were evident from the first game. Doubt that just developed out of nowhere.

 

Yep. I remember Batum being a disaster in the Summer league. SL is no indication of a players prospectus. It’s rat ball

 

* Trent averaged 22 minutes over 61 games; Simons averaged 21 minutes over 70 games

* Tolliver averaged 17 minutes over 33 games; Hezonja averaged 16 minutes over 53 games

* Trent & Simons totaled 2781 minutes; Hezonja and Tolliver totaled 1425 minutes

* Trent & Simons are guards; Hezonja and Tolliver were forwards pressed into extra duty when Zach went down in the 3rd game

I don't see anything there indicating that Hezonja and Tolliver took any development minutes from Trent & Simons. That notion looks fictitious. If anybody took any minutes away it was Bazemore. However, Bazemore, Hezonja, and Tolliver were all added to the team by Olshey, and he actually talked about how valuable they would be as veterans.