June 16, 2014

Muscles.

Possibly my favourite player on this list, Brown ranked third in the nation in blocked shots last year, behind only Jordan Bachynski (4.1 bpg) and Khem Birch (3.8 bpg), both of whom played considerably more minutes. Per 40 minutes, he led the nation at 6.1 per 40, slightly ahead of UC Irvine's Mamadou N'Diaye at 6.0. And yet Brown, at 6'7, is almost a foot shorter than the 7'6 N'Diaye. It is pretty immense. And so is Brown.

Brown's build is extremely unique. With the height of a small forward, Brown nevertheless has a wide frame, a bit of fat, and plenty of muscle. He is huge, a monster of a man, and yet he is also a good athlete and leaper. He would be small for a power forward, and is especially small for a centre, but with the way he plays, it is hard to call him anything else. Brown can be slightly flat footed at times, his lateral quickness not equalling his vertical leap, but he is tough, is aggressive, competes, contests, and fears no one. Conversely, opponents fear him.

A multiple time Defensive Player of the Year award in his conference, Brown's main virtue are his weak side rotations, which are timely, well timed, and incessant. In the post he can be shot over, and on the perimeter he can be beaten rather easily, yet Brown's determined style of play sees him always compete and try to recover when this happens. The same story is true of his rebounding - taller players can grab boards over him, and Brown could stand to remember to box out every trip (his offensive rebounding rate is far better than his defensive one), yet his aggressive pursuit of the ball is more aggressive than everyone else's aggressive pursuit of the ball. And with that upper body strength, he can rip away boards he didn't get to first.

Offensively, Brown is a bit more limited. He will occasionally play the pick and roll, he will occasionally drive across the lane to a right handed hook, he will occasionally sell a fake to create a bit of space, and he will occasionally spin baseline and finish with a reverse. But it is opportunistic scoring rather than consistent threats. Brown makes no shot outside of five feet, is one of the worst foul shooters going, cannot drive the ball, and has few post moves other than the obvious straight-up-and-finish (which in fairness he does with both hands).

What he does at least do is attack defenders, take contact, throw down powerfully off of set-up passes by team mates, and, with his explosive finishing ability, draw defensive attention and get to the line. If he can develop his pick and roll game and foul stroke to the point that he can punish those who hack him, he could be an effective offensive player in the Brandon Hunter mold.

Hunter never had Brown's shot block knack, though. Few do. And being a rim protector of this calibre is a valuable commodity, no matter how tall he isn't.

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