PLAYER PROFILE

BORN: 9/07/01

HEIGHT: 6’9

WINGSPAN: 6’10

WEIGHT: 190 lbs

NATIONALITY: American

HIGH SCHOOL: Vandegrift HS (TX)

AAU: Texas Titans (EYBL)

COLLEGE: Texas

OFFENSIVE ROLE:
Lead Ballhandler

DEFENSIVE ROLE:
Versatile Three-Position Wing Defender with Offball Roaming Freedom

HIGH OUTCOME:
Primary Initiator with Three-Level Scoring

LOW OUTCOME:
Two-Way-Wing with Two-Level Scoring

ATHLETICISM / INTANGIBLES

  • Rather slow processor on defense. He reacts late too often, but is able to see what he has to do. Could grow with experience, film study and overall better understanding on defense.
  • Question: Is his baseline of feel enough to make enough use of his tools? His margin of error is quite big, and he doesn’t have to become a prolific processor, but even the best hardware needs solid software to run on. Because GB III can guard both wing positions and maybe smaller bigs, I guess it will be ok overall with a trimmed down offensive usage.
  • Great tools with his overall size and athleticism. Impressive vertical leaper and open court athlete. His skill level is subpar to his overall athletic level.
  • AAU teammate of Cade Cunningham’s for the Texas Titans. Played alongside Kai Jones for the Texas Longhorns.
  • Overall not the best hands. Has his fair share of turnovers because of his inability to control the ball at times. Shouldn’t be a big concern with a lesser offensive role going forward.
  • Lacks positional strength. Won’t be able to guard up in the NBA short term.

OFFENSE

  • High volume on threes with a 3PAr of 47.5 % in college. We can say for certain that he is really comfortable taking this shot without hesitation. His overall 3P% is the same as in highschool with 33.3 %. The combination of a 6’9 player, making and taking threes at that rate is quite intriguing. In my database, he has a big sample of 730 3PA overall; which is a more than a decent sample size pre-NBA to buy the shot falling at a solid rate despite his overall FT% of 67.4 % and wonky form.
  • Ballhandling about average at best for his size. Not a big grab-and-go threat or from catch-and-drive situations. His burst with the ball isn’t special either. Tends to loose the ball to easily when he tries to dribble faster. Can’t really recover from slight bumps or go through contact.
  • Crashes the glass and is a constant putback threat.
  • No real pull-up threat due to his slow shooting form and mechanical issues.
  • Below average passer. His AST/TO ratio in college is at a historically bad level with 0.1. Some of that results from the Shaka Smart 5 out offense Texas runs. Brown wasn’t a good passer or playmaker at any level, but not historically bad. With a bigger sample, including AAU and HS stats, the picture looks much more neutral with an 0.7 AST/TO rate.
  • Not much upside as an on-ball creator due to his lack of self creation and playmaking for others. His usage to efficiency chart on barttorvik speaks volumes to this. His offensive rating decreases drastically when he takes on a higher usage role.

dEFENSE

  • His defensive positioning is lackluster at times. This can easily be developed with tape study and growing understanding. His margin of error is relatively big because of his physical tools.
  • Texas did switch a lot off-ball with Brown on the court. It plays into his strengths and overshadows his awareness issues off the ball.
  • Has problems making himself small in ball screen situations. In the NBA, he probably won’t face that many matchups where he has to chase smaller players around screens.
  • Flashes of perimeter defense and switchability. Does a good job most of the time by sinking enough to not get beaten on drives but is in position to contest shots. His overall wingspan isn’t elite, but combined with his explosiveness, he can get off the ground fast to contest even in rather awkward situations. With growing understanding and feel, this part of his game could develop further. He has to develop a better footwork and understanding on angles to be more consistent here.
  • Impressive high point rebounder due to his vertical. He is a willing rebounder and does a solid job boxing out. Even when his position isn’t the best, he can still reach over his opponent to get the ball.
  • As of now, he is quite jumpy on closeouts and block attempts.
  • Rushes on closeouts. Isn’t always in control when closing out. He takes relatively big steps towards his opponent with his body weight dragging him forward. That makes it difficult for him to stop on a dime and react to movements this way.
  • Could become a solid helpside rim protector as soon as his processing speed develops a bit.

BOTTOM LINE

Greg Brown is an interesting case of a bigger wing prospect. His blend of fluidity, size, vertical and willingness to take threes at volume are the main selling points of his; so what’s the downside risk here? Processing, feel and decision-making are super important in the fast-paced NBA. Teams are playing systems based off of quick reactions and decisions on both offense and defense. The best tools in the basketball world don’t get you anywhere if you don’t know how and where to use them. The history of low feel wings with elite tools is a mixed bag with tons of examples pointing in every direction possible. It isn’t out of the roam of possibility that Brown will be absolutely fine or fine enough in these areas to provide some value as a lengthy, explosive wing with clear strengths and weaknesses.

His offensive profile on the next level will be clear: provide vertical spacing, shoot and run pick and rolls as the rollman. You get the best value out of him right now if you cut down his usage into simple finishing acts. His decision-making and lack of playmaking for others is just not in the right place right now to expand his role.

For his own development, it would be good to be picked in the late lottery or just outside it to have some leverage when it comes to playing time, but land on a team in more of a rebuilding situation to get more repetitions in decision-making without getting benched for making bad decisions.

AS OF: 04/01/2021