Nets guard Bruce Brown has proven to be a key role player for a stacked Brooklyn club, write Alex Schiffer and Seth Partnow of The Athletic in a detailed examination. Brown is hitting his stride just in time for him to reach restricted free agency this summer.
Brown has proven invaluable as the starting shooting guard in the stead of the injured James Harden during Brooklyn’s series against the Bucks so far. On the floor, Brown has flashed significant positional versatility for the Nets, beyond just functioning as a shooting guard. His help as a short-rolling center in the pick-and-roll has unlocked a variety of offensive opportunities for his teammates.
“It kind of evolved in front of us,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said of Brown’s transition from defensive-oriented wing to frequent pick-and-roll center. “We asked him to pick at times because he can bring up a defender that was more favorable, and then he became surprisingly such a good roller and adept at it that we encouraged it and pushed for it.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- With new Celtics team president Brad Stevens now in charge of finding his own replacement as head coach, there are several possible internal hires he could consider, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Assistant coaches Jay Larranaga, Jerome Allen, Scott Morrison and Joe Mazzulla have all interviewed for the vacant head coaching gig so far, prompting Weiss to take a closer look at Boston’s in-house options.
- This summer, there will be a variety of free agents who could serve as quality fits with the Raptors, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Shoring up the club’s frontcourt appears to be a top priority for Koreen, as big men Richaun Holmes, Jarrett Allen, and John Collins, Nerlens Noel and Daniel Theis rank highly on Koreen’s list of candidates.
- After an encouraging return to the playoffs this season, the Knicks could be in the market for a point guard upgrade. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic considers whether Trail Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard could be a realistic trade target for New York. Whether or not Portland would even be interested in dealing their All-NBA point guard for a trade package from the Knicks is another matter.
Stevens: “What would you do to take us to the next level?”
Internal interview: “Well, first I’d…. “
Stevens: “Oh really? Great idea! Why didn’t you mention that when you were assisting ME?”
New head coach will come from outside of the organization… one front of the bench holdover to the new staff (JL).
After the Bucks barely pulled out a win tonight the announcer says they’re right back in the series, what a joke. All they did was avoid an insurmountable 3-0 deficit.
Wins are about gaining confidence and your last sentence agrees with what the announcer said. 3-0 insurmountable…2-1 surmountable.
don’t kid yourself. they lost by 3 with KD, Kyrie and especially Joe Harris having uncharacteristically poot shooting nights. this is all without Harden and Jeff Green mind you. this series is already over
It is not humanely possible for a series to be any closer than 2-1
You only hope your players don’t read this crap in the moment (ofc they do) .
Its a game at a time for Mil, do they plan to win all 4 ugly, prolly Not, do they care they got #1 Ugly, not in the slightest
Trade idea
Knicks get Lillard
Blazers get RJ and 2 Mavs Firsts and 2 Blazers Firsts
Trying to get Lillard is Knicks smartest idea
Portland should get a better offer than that.
Can Celtics build an offer around brown?
The Blazers get two of their own firsts? How generous of you.
They would get much better offers than that. I don’t get the hype around all these picks gms like to accrue. Like the Harden trade. They got all these firsts that probably aren’t going to be that good, I’d rather have the asset. Give me Simmons over what they got any day of the week. (Although as a Sixers fan I’m glad the trade never happened)
Yeah, there must be a typo there. He probably means that they get Barrett, the two Mavs picks the Knicks own (2021 and 2023), plus two of the *Knicks* first rounders. So four 1sts and RJ Barrett. All of the firsts figure to be mid-rounders/non-lottery (unless either the Knicks or Mavs take a big step back), so the overall package is a little underwhelming.
As much as I like Lillard, not sure as a Knicks fan if I’d make the deal. Moving RJ and his currently low cost contract opens up SG, lower cap availability, and future assets – whether they are kept or traded, for a player who will improve the team, but not certain enough to get out of the Eastern Conference that has a huge contract and is about to turn 31.
The Knicks have gone down this road before (ex: Melo) and it didn’t work out. Continue to build through the draft and sign FAs without giving up anything would be my suggestion. Sure, Lillard and Randle would be a nice pair, but once Randle is resigned, cap is pretty much gone and while the team is good, not good enough.
I agree with this. I wonder if RJ is actually too much, given NY’s talent deficit.
He’s the second best player and 21. He’s the only guy on the roster with All NBA potential beside Randle.
I think the best NY should offer is Quickley, Toppin, plus every pick known to man. They’ll need a big 3 to have a chance to compete for a title, even with Lillard.
Here’s why it could work: Harden just got traded for LeVert plus every pick. Is Quickley’s ceiling as high as LeVert? Probably. Add in Toppin as a sweetener.
Then there’s this. IF Portland were to trade Dame it would A) be to a place Dame wanted to go (you can’t trade AND alienate a guy a Lillard’s caliber) and B) 99% would not be to a WC team.
So who does that leave? Who in the East as assets and a decent chance to contend with Lillard?
Boston, NYK, Miami — Philly but only if they want to part with Big Ben.
NYK’s offer can at least match Miami’s best offer which leaves Boston. If they offered Brown that’s probably a trump card. But do they want to break up that 20 something All Star pair for a 31 year old guard?
TL;DR Lillard to NY isn’t as outrageous as it may seem at first glance.
I agree that the multiple future firsts is kind of fool’s gold but that seems to be the going rate for the disgruntled star.
Harden, AD, even Jrue Holiday – all essentially got traded for picks plus stuff.
Is Barrett plus every pick that much worse than Ingram plus every pick? Ingram isn’t exactly an All NBA candidate in NO. And the picks are lottery balls – it’s almost impossible to value them individually.
Someone tell Bruce at the end of games he needs to know his role
RJ should be the only untouchable. Ob1, IQ, Frank, Knox, and 4 Number ones for Lillard. Lillard, DeRozan, RJ, Randle, and Robinson is a good starting 5.
Frank and Knox have negative value (and I believe would need to be a sign and trade).
His high price aside, Schroder seems to be the kind of 2-way starting PG that Thibs would like.
Dame is a far-off dream – there’s no way in hell that the BLAZERS trade Dame, who’s still very much in his prime.
Knicks can’t be trading their 1st round picks unprotected (or even lightly protected) for Lillard or anyone else that might be available. They are still as likely as not to be in the lottery the next couple of years (regardless of who they get in the trade). History is clear on this, and equally clear that teams don’t become contenders by trading for established stars, unless they already have established stars. Rose was hired to rebuild the team, not to explore the outer boundaries of what assets might be given up in a single trade. Mills could have done that at least as well.
One yr. it’s been one year. And now we have to get Dame. Why ???? Why ???? Please don’t worry about Knicks. You’ve trashed them for yrs. Only trade Knicks should make. Is trade up the draft for Kuminga or Mitchell. Either can start for us next yr. And fit Thibs kind of player. Knicks can sign n trade Noel. They have Toppin and Quickly they can move. We can sign a solid FA. Dinwiddie, Powell, Fournier. We don’t need Dame. It would take too much. We are better off rebuilding. Go the youth route. Sign Dinwiddie and trade up for Kuminga. That gets us closer to contending. And still a young team growing. Portland is not moving Dame. They will move CJ first.