DraftExpress Jonathan Givony
Derrick Brown is a big-time athlete. 6-9 PF who can face-up, defend, and is great in transition. If he can make shots, he'll be very good.

alanhahn Alan Hahn
Knicks claim F Derrick Brown off waivers from CHA. D'Antoni likes his talent, Felton highly recommended. #fb

russbengtson Russ Bengtson
From newest Knick Derrick Brown's NBA.com bio: "Enjoys magic in his spare time." YES.

NBA Summer League Review 2010: Orlando Player Profiles

August 10, 2010

Derrick Brown wasn't quite as productive as some of the other players we're covering here, but he was impressive in his own right in four games in Orlando. Brown saw a little under 10 minutes per-game for Larry Brown's Bobcats last season, posting respectable numbers for a spot player and flashing an occasional sign of perimeter skill. Playing most of his minutes at the four spot, Brown struggled to compete with bigger and stronger players, but his athleticism allowed him to show flashes of promise on the few occasions that he did get a chance to operate offensively.

Gerald Henderson did quite a bit of the scoring for the Bobcats Summer League team, but Derrick Brown relished his opportunities to operate in one-on-one situation and constantly scrapped for easy looks around the basket. The most impressive facet of Brown's campaign in Orlando was the frequency with which he was able to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim off the dribble, something we almost never saw from him in college. Brown has always been a tremendous athlete, but is beginning to develop the tools that will allow him to exploit his physical profile on the NBA level. While he still isn't comfortable changing direction at full speed with the ball, he looked comfortable using his body to shield the ball as he exploited slower defenders and used his leaping ability to finish at the rim.

In order to set up his drives, Brown frequently relied on simple shot fakes, and while he hit a few jumpers throughout the week, his shot is still a major work in progress. He needs to improve his mechanics and confidence in spot up situations, but seemed comfortable and in rhythm when attempting one-dribble pull ups when driving right. The development of his jump shot will likely dictate the scope of his role on the offensive end in coming seasons, as it will help open up his budding floor game.

In addition to attacking well from the perimeter and when facing up from the midrange, Brown crashed the rim aggressively, and was very active moving without the ball as his teammates tried to get to the rim off the dribble. The Xavier product showed the same energy on the defensive end and as a rebounder. Brown has the tools to be a very nice role-player, but was clearly still getting comfortable defending the perimeter in Orlando.

With the depth Charlotte has returning at both forward positions, Brown isn't in position to receive much playing time this season, but the improvement he showed in Orlando leave room for cautious optimism. He's developed some things in practice and if he can develop his jump shot by this time next year, he could be an intriguing player to keep tabs on.

On a side note, ain't that a swift firm kick to the mangos? Trade away Felton and then get the guy he recommends?

FistOfOakley wrote:derrick brown was such a great move by donnie....

this guy hopefully plays more than jeffries....

I honestly don't get it --- not saying Derrick Brown is worthless, he's a good athlete and he's still got some promise, but what he is is a smallish PF (basically another wing) that doesn't address the rebounding issue. And to me they just competely overrate Jared Jeffries and what he brings to the table---they think of Jeffries as some monster defensive guru and he's not. Can he attempt to guard PGs and centers? Yeah, but he guards neither well enough to justify playing him big mins....I just don't get it...We either needed a legit C or a PF that plays big & rebounds where we're OK moving STAT over to the 5 (which I never had a problem with as long as we got a big enough dirty-work type PF). Jeffries stinks, end of story -- at least Brown's got some ability but these are two suspect moves here. I think we could've done much better.

Finestrg wrote:

FistOfOakley wrote:derrick brown was such a great move by donnie....

this guy hopefully plays more than jeffries....

I honestly don't get it --- not saying Derrick Brown is worthless, he's a good athlete and he's still got some promise, but what he is is a smallish PF (basically another wing) that doesn't address the rebounding issue. And to me they just competely overrate Jared Jeffries and what he brings to the table---they think of Jeffries as some monster defensive guru and he's not. Can he attempt to guard PGs and centers? Yeah, but he guards neither well enough to justify playing him big mins....I just don't get it...We either needed a legit C or a PF that plays big & rebounds where we're OK moving STAT over to the 5 (which I never had a problem with as long as we got a big enough dirty-work type PF). Jeffries stinks, end of story -- at least Brown's got some ability but these are two suspect moves here. I think we could've done much better.

Well said.

Finestrg wrote:We either needed a legit C or a PF that plays big & rebounds where we're OK moving STAT over to the 5 I think we could've done much better.

Dude, it's the waiver wire, filled with the league's cast-offs of guys who haven't played or haven't played well.

The fantasy of addressing a need with a quality player is just that, a fantasy.

crzymdups wrote:

Knickoftime wrote:Hollinger, in a recent "Under the radar players to trade for" article:

"Derrick Brown, Bobcats
I have no idea why Paul Silas has kept Brown on the pine while rolling out mediocrities such as Dominic McGuire and Matt Carroll to take his minutes. I do know this: He has NBA athleticism, can shoot well enough to get by and, as a second-year pro, can still improve. That combination of attributes is the type you like to take a chance on, and although Brown's upside isn't huge (he's 24 and has had PERs in the 12s his first two seasons), I'm fairly sure he can be a rotation player if he gets half a chance."

Now that he's a Knick, Hollinger will probably start trashing him.

So true.