Time to show a physical nature
Brown in good spot in Detroit
LAS VEGAS — One rather nervous journey ended for Bruce Brown when he signed a multiple-year contract with the Detroit Pistons last weekend.
As a second-round pick who played in his first game last week for the Pistons’ summer league team since having left foot surgery last January, the Boston native and former Wakefield High player had become a little too accustomed to uncertainty.
After missing the last 12 games at the University of Miami, and not taking part in the scrimmaging portion of the Chicago draft combine, Brown jumped into a rigorous workout schedule. He auditioned twice for the Celtics, including the day before the draft.
“I did think they were going to take me,” he said. “But I’m happy where I’m at. I watched the (Detroit) Bad Boys a lot.”
Brown also has the kind of rough-and-tumble game that Detroit’s best teams were known for, something the Pistons crowd will surely latch onto.
And the signing ended some anxiety while proving that the foot is healthy.
“I was trying to prove that I’m healthy,” Brown said of the pre-draft process. “I didn’t have much feel after January, so it was tough at the beginning, but I got the hang of it. Things have gone very smoothly. I just signed, very happy.”
More to the point, he signed with a team that has some opportunity for a guard taken with the 42nd pick of the draft.
And from what Leo Papile can see, the Celtics wouldn’t have necessarily been a good destination for Brown, who played for Papile’s BABC AAU program.
“He was definitely in their ballpark,” said Papile, the former Celtics scout. “But they have a lot of young, athletic perimeter guys, so that was not necessarily the best place for him. Detroit is much better, because the line is shorter.”
Though Papile, now an advisor for the Clippers in addition to still running the BABC program, is not on hand in Las Vegas, associates in the NBA scouting community have sent back reports about Brown’s first competition since January.
“Their reviews have been glowing,” said Papile.
Not surprisingly, those reviews have focused on the 6-foot-5 guard’s physicality. That showed itself in his first two games — a nine-point, eight-rebound performance against Milwaukee, followed by 12 points and seven boards against Memphis.
“Always,” Brown said of the physical nature of his game. “I’ve done that my whole career and that’s what I’m known for — defense and rebounding. I love physicality. I played football most of my life and in AAU and high school I played the four, so I’m used to it.”
According to Papile, Brown could just as easily have been recruited as a receiver and defensive back, save for one issue. When he transferred from Wakefield to Vermont Academy for his junior year, the prep school dropped football.
“He’s really physical. He’s going to be a big combo guard,” said Papile. “He has an NFL look to him. He’s always been a physicality kind of guy.”
And now with NBA security in hand thanks to that contract, Brown can put some early worries to rest.
“That surgery was a tough thing,” said Papile. “Even though teams have plenty of analysis of everyone, it’s always cloudy for a 21-year-old guy with a foot injury. But he’s at the point now where it’s not a matter of where you’re drafted. Once you get to summer league and get a contract, your draft position doesn’t