The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Conn. Sun rookie, Lexie Brown, comes full circle
UNCASVILLE — By the time Dee Brown was finished, it was a miracle somebody didn’t jump up and yell, “This interview has been brought to you by Dunkin’ Donuts!”
That’s how New England it was.
Brown played for the Celtics for eight seasons. His wife Tammy played at American International College in Springfield. His daughter, who stood 15 feet away while he spoke on this rainy Friday, was born in Boston and family remains in the area.
Dee Brown would coach this WNBA franchise the season before the Orlando Miracle set and rose as the Sun in Connecticut. He returned to the region to coach the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League from 2009 to 2011.
And now his pride and joy, picked ninth overall in front of UConn’s Kia Nurse at the WNBA Draft on April 12, was joining the Connecticut Sun for her first pro training camp.
“When we sat down and thought about it, it’s incredible,” Lexie Brown said.
“It’s full circle and a great place for her to land,” Dee Brown said. “For all this to happen, having gone through this 28 years ago, being drafted in the first round, to hear Red Auerbach call your name and to
— all of a sudden — to be in New York and her name called. It was a very touching moment.”
Brown said he was far more nervous sitting, waiting at the WNBA Draft than he ever was for himself drafted out of Jacksonville in 1990. Thinking about the history, his and his family, got to him that night. He’s the rookie who stunned everybody by winning the 1991 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, covering his eyes for the seminal no-look dunk. New England doesn’t forget.
“Oh my goodness, he was a mess,” Lexie said. “Me and my mom are like, can you calm down please. Everything is going to fall into place. He was the most nervous and he definitely was the happiest. He had a smile that wouldn’t leave. He had the [Sun] hat on before I had the hat on. To make your parents proud like that, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Brown played two years at Maryland, sat out a year, finished with two seasons at Duke. No matter how much a player loves a program, she says, everybody should consider transferring. She said it stimulated her academically and socially. She completed a master’s degree in the process. What makes Dee proudest is his daughter won the Kay Yow ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year two years in a row.
“No. 1, what stands out on the court, is her defense,” Dee said. “And she can shoot the ball as good as anybody.”
“I had a meeting with coach [Curt Miller] this morning and he said I turn the ball over too much,” said Lexie, when asked what she needs to work on most. “So definitely taking care of the ball.”
Dee insists that his daughter was a terrible player when she started.
“He might be exaggerating a little bit,” Lexie said.
“Terrible, God’s honest trust,” Dee said. “I was like you should play tennis or an individual sport, because your team sports skills are not really good. She kept at it. She worked on her body. She worked on her mind. She followed me everywhere I went, NBA as a coach or player development stuff around the world. She was a WNBA baby. See watched me coach Pee Wee Johnson and Nykesha Sales.
“DNA had a little bit to do with it, but it was a lot of blood sweat, tears and frustration. She made herself into a really good basketball player. She’s way better than me as a college player.”
Lexie was good at tennis. She had fun. The isolation once a tournament started, she said, ultimately was not for her. She liked being part of a team and being around people.
“Once she got into ballet, she got her footwork down,” Dee said. “She had big feet, she was goofy. My wife helped her out. She understood how her body was going to change. Lexie told me at age 11, ‘Dad I’m going to be the best basketball player in the world.’ When she said that I knew she was serious. I didn’t force her. She wanted to do it. I built a training facility in Orlando for her and her friends, her teammates, to get better.”
Lexie disagrees with her dad on that point. She said he built the training facility for himself. He loves to train players and it makes her happy to see him fulfill his dream.
“But he’s right I was never that gifted athlete,” she said. “The mental side, I think that’s what grew the most. I was around the game a lot, not even realizing how much I was absorbing. Me not being good, forced me to be in the gym all the time. Not many 11- and 12-year olds are there for hours and hours.
“That was with my mom. If I had a bad workout with her, if she wasn’t satisfied, I didn’t even make to the court with my dad. When I finally embraced the game, he finally embraced it. He never forced me to come to the gym. He was the one saying she’s tired, just let her relax. A lot of people probably think it comes from dad, but 90 percent it’s from mom. She pushes both of us. She’s the unsung hero of this story.”
Once Lexie got to be 12 or 13, Dee said, he stopped being her coach and became dad.
“It was a smooth transition,” Lexie said. “He doesn’t yell. He’s a teacher. We never clashed. It never interrupted our relationship.”
“She’s a gym rat,” Dee said. “She prides herself on being the best conditioned athlete.”
Brown said he’s disappointed the WNBA has shrunk from 16 to 12 teams. He coached the San Antonio WNBA team in 2004 and Lexie is amazed players she watched when she was 8 will be on the same court with her. And overseas, too. To make the money she deserves she’ll need to play two seasons.
“I’m not concerned,” Dee Brown said. “Lexie is an adventurer. She said, ‘Dad, I want to see the world.’ I’ve been to 30 different countries because of basketball.”
“Someone in my business school at Duke, he graduated and took a couple of years and just traveled,” Lexie said. “I want to see the world. I can do that and get paid to play basketball, why not? I’m young. Right now I want to experience as much as possible.”
Especially New England.