Markel Brown

Markel Brown
SG – 6’3, 180lbs - 26 years old - 3 years of experience

Cycling through so many end-of-the-bench options all season, particularly at the guard spots, saw Markel Brown eventually stick with the team for half the season. Starting the season in the Thunder’s organisation and playing for their G-League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue, Brown had averaged 17.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Not bad from a player who is supposed to best be a defender.

Pressure defence is Brown’s main billing, and although the Rockets brought him in without expectations of much in the way of immediate contributions, that remains what they hope to get out of him in the future. In lieu of immediate contributions, Brown instead played nine games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, for whom he averaged a further 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists. A G-League scoring specialist posting those numbers would underwhelm, but from a defensive player….OK, I’m interested.

The drawback to Brown previously from an NBA perspective has been excessive inefficiencies at scoring without the ball. He is not built to score with the ball in his hands, and nor will the Rockets want him to, so no worries there; instead, he simply needs to be able to hit open threes well enough. In his previous NBA stint with the Nets, he didn’t. As for those two G-League stints this season? 82/230 across the pair, or 35.7%. Pretty much NBA average, but in the G-League.

Considering the Rockets’ constant end-of-the-bench shuffling, Brown is probably going to at least initially lose his job. But if he sticks around in the G-League and puts a few more on that percentage, he might be back.

Player Plan: Expiring two-way salary. Another one if you like him, I guess, but better candidates should be available.

[...] He was certainly given the opportunity to be that Tony Allen clone by the Nets last year, recording 781 minutes and 29 starts in the regular season, although barely featuring in the playoffs. Brown gave some youth, athleticism and dynamicism to a team that sorely lacked for those qualities, and has plenty of moments defensively. He was extremely tough to place offensively, however, passing up jump shots, missing many others, driving to nowhere and losing the handle too regularly. Brown's athleticism is elite and his defense pretty good, but pretty good will have to become elite for him to break out. The Nets really need the exact type of player Brown could be, and a pairing of him and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson could be a spectacular wing defensive pairing. But it will also be a terribly spaced unit unless Brown can improve his catch-and-shoot game.

Unsuccessful attempt at the People's Eyebrow

Brown's athleticism is as good as anybody's. He is a cannon in transition, a seriously dynamic player who absolutely flies down the court and who isn't afraid of contact. Brown runs the court at every opportunity and has learnt how to use this athleticism - by leaking out, cutting off the ball and playing defense, rather than by trying to do everything with the ball.

This is important, because in terms of ball skills, Brown is lacking. Despite all the athleticism, he doesn't have the greatest first step when driving with the ball, in large part because his handle is not good enough to keep up with his feet. He lacks advanced ball handling skills in terms of hesitation dribbles, changes of direction and the like, and although he is developing in this area, Brown lacks the handle that a 6'3 guard would ideally have. At that size, one would expect a guard to be able to play some point, but Brown rarely does - forced into doing so in the absence of Marcus Smart, Brown was not especially reliable at getting the ball over half court, and showed little in the way of playmaking ability other than to start the endless series of perimeter passes.

Brown's abilities and upside lie elsewhere. As a defensive player, he has every physical tool required; recovery speed, strength, long wingspan and, pleasingly, a penchant for blocks. These tools also allow him at times to be able to get to the basket without using a pick, and he has developed over the years an understanding of the timing and angles involved in when to make such attacks. He also has some projectable ability as a shooter. Utilising a good shot fake and with an incredibly high leap on his shot, Brown has improved his catch-and-shoot jumper to being perfectly adequate, and is already a good mid-range shooter. He rarely shoots off of curls or screens (despite often using both for getting to the basket), which if developed would be a new string to his bow.

At times, Brown drifts and gets lazy on defense, undermining his physical prowess. And at times, despite his increased offensive IQ and skills, he forgets the fact that he's the kind of player who can split double teams, dive off the ball, attack the basket and finish through contact, and instead tries to shoot through everything. But on his game, Brown is an NBA player. And if he can develop the defense to an elite level, whilst also developing enough of a handle to fill in at point or enough of a shot to be a capable higher volume shooter - or both - he might stick around for a while. He hasn't the ideal size for Tony Allen's job, but then many of these same things were once said about Tony Allen, too. Allen learnt his role and embraced it. So must Brown.