NBA Draft Diary: Bobby Brown (Part One)
The wait for Bobby Brown is over; well sort of. The former Cal-State Fullerton guard recently received his invitation to the NBAs pre-draft camp in Orlando, where hell have the opportunity to show his stuff against other top college players from around the country in front of an audience of NBA scouts. While Brown had a poor showing in Orlando last year, he figures to have a leg up on a lot of the competition this year with his experience in the workings of the camp.
I know what to expect now, Brown said. I went through the process last year, got all the jitters out. Last year I didnt have a great showing, but this year Im going to be more aware of what goes on, what you need to do right from the start. Im going to take every game personal. I mean its cool to meet people, but youve got to have the attitude that you dont want to make any friends. Its a business trip.
In preparation for his business trip Brown has been working with former UCLA great Don MacLean, who spent nine seasons in the NBA. Brown says that he has already gained a lot from his time with MacLean.
Its been real good, Brown said. He makes a lot of great points, he knows the game, and he really helps you out. Hes real positive, if you do something well hell tell you great job and clap it up for you, and if you make a mistake hell just correct you and tell you what you need to do.
Training days for Brown begin at 8:30, when he wakes up and eats breakfast before hitting the court at 10. Warm-ups consist of ball-handling drills and full court passing drills, after which follows shooting drills. Its been a month since we talked to Brown, but the specific focuses of his training have not changed in that time.
Basically Im working on finishing with contact, going up against bigger players and bigger guards. Im trying to get my shot off quicker and not be lazy going into my shot.
Conditioning has also been a major part of Browns training. He stated that he has been participating in a lot of 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 full court drills to increase his endurance, which will be key when jumping to an 82 game season in the NBA after never playing more than 35 games at the college level.
Since he began individual training when Cal-State Fullertons season ended several weeks ago, Brown states he has noticed a definite difference between the types of coaching he received while still in school as opposed to his training now.
In college it wasnt individual stuff where they could tell you everything in practice; it was more of a team oriented practice, Brown said. Now its more individual; we can sit down and discuss different areas of my game that I need to improve on and tune up. They cleaned up all the things I was rusty on and that I needed help with.
According to reports, the individual work has been paying off. Brown recently scrimmaged with several other college players and a handful of NBA players at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, and put on quite a performance. When asked about his strong showing, Brown remained rather modest, choosing to focus on the fun of just playing the sport he loves.
It was fun, he said. I needed to get up and down the court. Just that whole experience was fun; going up against those guys from different colleges and people that are in the draft this year. It was a fun experience.
One of the NBA players running against Brown at the Home Depot Center was Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers, who has turned into a great contact for Brown as he works towards the pro level himself.
Danny Granger is a great player; hes with the same agency as me, Priority Sports, and weve been talking the last few days, Brown said. Hes been telling me about NBA life, and playing an 82 game season, and Ive been able to find out what goes on. Just going up against him everyday and learning new stuff from him, its been good. Hes been a real good resource for me.
While Brown has been hard at work preparing for draft day, he has been able to enjoy the fact that he has completed his academic career.
Its been fun; not having to wake up to go to class, and just being able to wakeup every day and go do something you love to do everyday has been fun, he said. Its been nice not having to stress about papers, tests, or sitting in long classes. Its great to not have to worry about that stuff anymore.
In the stay of traditional school work, Brown has been in the process of arranging workouts with NBA teams. At the present time he said that he has definite dates with only a couple of franchises, but that he has already confirmed with seven teams that he will be working out for them. Brown will be hoping for strong performances at both the private workouts as well as the pre-draft camp to help his stock as much as possible. Currently though, Brown states he has almost no clue where he is going to land come draft day.
Different people with the draft have guys in all different places, but that can all change depending on what goes on at a camp or a workout, he said. So you really just have to wait until June 28th to see where youre going to go, or like a week before than, or however they do it. But right now Im not going to really worry about that.
The only certainty that Brown has right now is that the first round is what he will be striving for. Im shooting for the first round right now, thats my goal, he said. I mean its always a persons goal to get drafted in the first round as high as you could expect. That should always be a goal and something to work towards.
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