NBA Draft 2021: Evaluating how different team context’s affected NBA prospects

Texas Longhorns

Greg Brown came to Texas as one of, if not the best, run-and-jump athletes in his class. In the Nike EYBL, Brown thrived as a pick-and-roll partner and lob threat for Cade Cunningham. With Texas returning three veteran guards and a traditional lob threat center in Jericho Sims, Brown was forced to play on the wing in Shaka Smart’s four out, one in scheme.

This experiment yielded interesting and mostly negative results for Brown. Brown was not shy about shooting threes, taking 6.8 per 40 minutes which is a big number for someone who wasn’t viewed as a shooter. He struggled in non-conference, but seemed to find his stroke in conference, hitting at just under 37.9%.

The willingness to shoot is probably good for his long-term development, but the other aspects of turning Brown into a full-time wing were not great. He posted a disastrous 10 assists to 60 turnovers. While Brown certainly needs to improve his feel, I don’t think he was necessarily put in the best position to succeed.

Brown projects best as a rim-running lob threat, who will need to make reads on the short roll. Given Sims filled that void for Texas, Brown finished just 12 possessions as the role man. But in that spot, he netted 1.17 points per possession. For context, Brown finished 132 possessions out of a spot up and netted 0.78 points per possession.

Playing on the wing did help another Texas prospect, as Kai Jones got to showcase his unique skillset there. While Jones didn’t take nearly as many threes as Brown, he used his handle, stride length, and flexibility to attack defenders off the catch. Jones scored 1.0 points per possession off of his spot-ups.

Ultimately, these reps on the wing helped Brown develop there and he marginally improved as a passer as the season progressed. It did sink his draft stock a bit, but Brown is clearly a project, and getting drafted lower may relieve some of the pressure and expectations on him.