BIG 3, PLUS 1
As KD, Kyrie and Harden take over NBA, Brown quietly makes his mark with Nets
Bruce Brown’s rise through the Nets ranks, much like the team’s rise to the top of the NBA’s power rankings, should come as no surprise. The only surprise is how long it took for Brown to get his flowers.
Brown was the biggest steal of the Nets’ offseason. It was GM Sean Marks’ shrewdest move in packaging a depreciating asset in Dzanan Musa and a 2021 second-round pick for a legitimate starter and impact player.
Brown is now playing starter minutes on a championship team while Musa is playing in the Turkish league. That’s the difference between an impact player and a developmental piece. And that impact player tallied a career-high 29 points in the Nets’ 127-118 victory over the Sacramento Kings, their seventh straight win. He is making the same impact he made as a twoyear starter in Detroit, now averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, but his impact hits harder than any box score stat or metric.
“Bruce is remarkable,” coach Steve Nash said after the victory over the Kings. “For me, it’s all the other stuff; it’s the activity, the defense, the deflections, all those other things. You add it all up, and you had a big impact on the game before you even get to the points. So fantastic effort from Bruce.”
Good teams take on pieces of their players’ identities. The Nets are beginning to exhibit the poise associated with Kevin Durant, the offensive aggression intrinsically tied to Kyrie Irving, and a threepoint spacing, drive-and-kick look that’s floated about James Harden’s teams since he ran the show in Houston.
The Nets are also starting to take on Brown’s level of effort and intensity. The Nets’ guard, err center, err, utility player, has defended all five positions dating back to college and has brought that versatility to a Nets team that sorely needed it.
“He’s obviously done an unbelievable job in that role. Tonight he gave us a lot offensively but he always does the little stuff,” Joe Harris said. “He is always in the right position defensively, active, makes things tough on that end, and he does a lot of the little stuff people don’t realize: screening situation, being in the right position offensively, and tonight he was able to capitalize on the offensive looks that he had. He is also doing a good job distributing the ball as well. I thought he’s done a really good job the whole season.”
Remember: Brown was buried
at the end of the bench to start the season. He did not play meaningful minutes in any of the team’s first seven games, including four “Did Not Play — Coach’s Decision” designations despite the team having a clear need for an energy guy in the rotation.
That energy has been contagious, with Nets stars and role players taking note of his impact.
“He does a little bit of everything. He’s a guy that just goes out there and competes his butt off every single night and great things happen for him,” Harden said.
“So he does it all he works his butt off and when you work your tail off and keep grinding and pushing, good things happen for you and I’m so happy for him and I’m proud of him.”
Another thing to remember: Brown was one of the players who worked out with Durant and Irving in Los Angeles during the offseason. If they didn’t think he was capable of playing at this level, he wouldn’t have been in Brooklyn to begin with.