Minnesota Sports Forum

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:10 pm An article with input from someone who covered the Lakers last year.


https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/7/4/23 ... y-brown-jr

I was a bit of a fan of Brown coming out of that draft and I’ve kinda paid a bit of attention to his career over the years checking in on his stats etc. I’m a little biased towards him but also he hasn’t exactly lit the league on fire and I knew that before we signed him. I’m a Wolves homer but I also have the voice of Q in the back of my head reminding us of failed FAs and depth in the past. However there is some things to consider about this signing that could make me feel like is a pretty solid get.

I think everyone on this board even the ones that point out the port advanced stats for Prince believes he was reasonably valuable for the Wolves last season when he played. In a league that values shooting he does that well and is fairly competent at other things. Let’s compare Prince to Brown last season and see what we can come up with in comparing their value.

Prince played 1192 minutes last year for the Wolves in the regular season in 54 games starting 4. Brown played 1860 minutes in 76 games including 45 starts. Availability matters and Brown was available for more impact than Prince.

The Lakers and Wolves both were underwhelming at times but for the Lakers they went on a pretty nice run there in March and April. What did Brown do then? Well he started 13 of 20 games and shot 38-86 from 3. It seems like he probably did some good/decent stuff last season. Again the Lakers weren’t great last year but we added a guy that started over half the games for a .500ish team and we are looking for that guy to be depth. We need someone solid behind McDaniels when he sits gets into foul trouble or misses games due to injury. Brown seems solid.

Now it’s worth mentioning Brown has struggled shooting the 3 in the playoffs. Still when he played this year he rebounded at a solid rate had 11 assists and zero turnovers in 124 playoff minutes. Ideally you don’t need him much in the playoffs.

Prince has a more solid resume but his age and injury history could mean his value could actually go down while Brown’s age suggest he could be getting more valuable. I’m still not saying Brown is some awesome signing or he is for sure gonna be solid when he plays…because bench players have bad games but I think there is some reason to be like, hey I can feel pretty good about Brown being worthwhile most of the games he plays for the Wolves next season. That would be great as that’s a role Prince filled and Brown with better rebounding more availability be just as valuable (or near it) as Prince has been the past couple years. That would make the Brown signing a very solid success. It could go wrong though as we saw from Forbes who seemed to forget how to make 3’s.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:35 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:10 pm An article with input from someone who covered the Lakers last year.


https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/7/4/23 ... y-brown-jr

I was a bit of a fan of Brown coming out of that draft and I’ve kinda paid a bit of attention to his career over the years checking in on his stats etc. I’m a little biased towards him but also he hasn’t exactly lit the league on fire and I knew that before we signed him. I’m a Wolves homer but I also have the voice of Q in the back of my head reminding us of failed FAs and depth in the past. However there is some things to consider about this signing that could make me feel like is a pretty solid get.

I think everyone on this board even the ones that point out the port advanced stats for Prince believes he was reasonably valuable for the Wolves last season when he played. In a league that values shooting he does that well and is fairly competent at other things. Let’s compare Prince to Brown last season and see what we can come up with in comparing their value.

Prince played 1192 minutes last year for the Wolves in the regular season in 54 games starting 4. Brown played 1860 minutes in 76 games including 45 starts. Availability matters and Brown was available for more impact than Prince.

The Lakers and Wolves both were underwhelming at times but for the Lakers they went on a pretty nice run there in March and April. What did Brown do then? Well he started 13 of 20 games and shot 38-86 from 3. It seems like he probably did some good/decent stuff last season. Again the Lakers weren’t great last year but we added a guy that started over half the games for a .500ish team and we are looking for that guy to be depth. We need someone solid behind McDaniels when he sits gets into foul trouble or misses games due to injury. Brown seems solid.

Now it’s worth mentioning Brown has struggled shooting the 3 in the playoffs. Still when he played this year he rebounded at a solid rate had 11 assists and zero turnovers in 124 playoff minutes. Ideally you don’t need him much in the playoffs.

Prince has a more solid resume but his age and injury history could mean his value could actually go down while Brown’s age suggest he could be getting more valuable. I’m still not saying Brown is some awesome signing or he is for sure gonna be solid when he plays…because bench players have bad games but I think there is some reason to be like, hey I can feel pretty good about Brown being worthwhile most of the games he plays for the Wolves next season. That would be great as that’s a role Prince filled and Brown with better rebounding more availability be just as valuable (or near it) as Prince has been the past couple years. That would make the Brown signing a very solid success. It could go wrong though as we saw from Forbes who seemed to forget how to make 3’s.

He gives me a little bit of that Jeff Green or Austin Rivers vibe - guys that just somehow get regular playing time every year, and often on really good teams. One hint might be the following: Jeff Green had 9 turnovers in 20 playoff games. First rule of thumb for bench guys playing with stars - DO NO HARM.

My thinking is that unless you have a Manu Ginobilli type 6th man OR you are playing a bunch of rookies and 2-way guys off the bench, your team's depth is mostly defined by how good your starters are and especially your main stars. The better your starting 5, the less you need to do as a bench guy and you can just focus on doing one or two things well.

My guess is that if Christian Braun and Jeff Green came off our bench last season, we would have thought of them as pretty "meh" overall. Yet both are wearing a ring right now. Why? Because Jokic and Murray made everyone else's job a hell of a lot easier.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 12:58 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:35 pm

Monster wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 5:10 pm An article with input from someone who covered the Lakers last year.


https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/7/4/23 ... y-brown-jr

I was a bit of a fan of Brown coming out of that draft and I’ve kinda paid a bit of attention to his career over the years checking in on his stats etc. I’m a little biased towards him but also he hasn’t exactly lit the league on fire and I knew that before we signed him. I’m a Wolves homer but I also have the voice of Q in the back of my head reminding us of failed FAs and depth in the past. However there is some things to consider about this signing that could make me feel like is a pretty solid get.

I think everyone on this board even the ones that point out the port advanced stats for Prince believes he was reasonably valuable for the Wolves last season when he played. In a league that values shooting he does that well and is fairly competent at other things. Let’s compare Prince to Brown last season and see what we can come up with in comparing their value.

Prince played 1192 minutes last year for the Wolves in the regular season in 54 games starting 4. Brown played 1860 minutes in 76 games including 45 starts. Availability matters and Brown was available for more impact than Prince.

The Lakers and Wolves both were underwhelming at times but for the Lakers they went on a pretty nice run there in March and April. What did Brown do then? Well he started 13 of 20 games and shot 38-86 from 3. It seems like he probably did some good/decent stuff last season. Again the Lakers weren’t great last year but we added a guy that started over half the games for a .500ish team and we are looking for that guy to be depth. We need someone solid behind McDaniels when he sits gets into foul trouble or misses games due to injury. Brown seems solid.

Now it’s worth mentioning Brown has struggled shooting the 3 in the playoffs. Still when he played this year he rebounded at a solid rate had 11 assists and zero turnovers in 124 playoff minutes. Ideally you don’t need him much in the playoffs.

Prince has a more solid resume but his age and injury history could mean his value could actually go down while Brown’s age suggest he could be getting more valuable. I’m still not saying Brown is some awesome signing or he is for sure gonna be solid when he plays…because bench players have bad games but I think there is some reason to be like, hey I can feel pretty good about Brown being worthwhile most of the games he plays for the Wolves next season. That would be great as that’s a role Prince filled and Brown with better rebounding more availability be just as valuable (or near it) as Prince has been the past couple years. That would make the Brown signing a very solid success. It could go wrong though as we saw from Forbes who seemed to forget how to make 3’s.

He gives me a little bit of that Jeff Green or Austin Rivers vibe - guys that just somehow get regular playing time every year, and often on really good teams. One hint might be the following: Jeff Green had 9 turnovers in 20 playoff games. First rule of thumb for bench guys playing with stars - DO NO HARM.

My thinking is that unless you have a Manu Ginobilli type 6th man OR you are playing a bunch of rookies and 2-way guys off the bench, your team's depth is mostly defined by how good your starters are and especially your main stars. The better your starting 5, the less you need to do as a bench guy and you can just focus on doing one or two things well.

My guess is that if Christian Braun and Jeff Green came off our bench last season, we would have thought of them as pretty "meh" overall. Yet both are wearing a ring right now. Why? Because Jokic and Murray made everyone else's job a hell of a lot easier.

I just read the article. Maybe the most telling line was that Troy can be a “solid 9th or 10th guy.”

Sundog wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 9:03 am Well, sure — Kyle, Naz, NAW are 6-8 on the depth chart, right? Milton, Young (9 and 10) start off behind them in the rotation. I think we’re saying the same thing.