Derrick Brown

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.

Derrick Brown enters his third collegiate season as the top returning scorer for a Musketeer unit that looks to make some serious damage yet again in the NCAA tournament. The graduation of Josh Duncan, Stanley Burrell, and Drew Lavender will provide Brown with plenty of opportunity to bolster his production, and should allow him a good deal of room to show off other parts of his game as well.

Much has already been written about Brown's athleticism, so there is no need to go into extreme depth here. He has a freakish wingspan to go along with quick, explosive leaping ability. The aforementioned athleticism resulted in 73 dunks last season. Not just a leaper, he also possesses an outstanding first step and excellent lateral quickness. There is very little more that one could ask for athletically out of a 6'7 combo forward.

The vast majority of Brown's damage on the offensive end was done around the rim last season, usually off shots created for him by teammates. Over 80% of his field goal attempts in fact came off shots right around the rim, which tells you quite a bit about his role offensively. An incredibly efficient player for that reason, he shot nearly 61% from the field. Proving capable of finishing at the basket with either hand, he showed a limited ability to utilize mismatches by posting smaller opponents. At the same time, he was able on rare occasions to use his great first step to blow by slower defenders off of the dribble. The bulk of Brown's scoring is predicated off of his athleticism and energetic style of play at the moment, rather than any kind of high skill-level.

Standing 6-7 and playing exclusively at the power forward position thus far in his career, Brown's perimeter game is still very much a work in progress. While he possesses an explosive first step, he often gets quite out of control when attacking the rim, resulting in a fair amount of turnovers. While his ball-handling skills are improving and he has shown somewhat of a crossover from time to time, he handle still could use a great deal of polish, as he’s pretty much limited at this point to straight line dribbles. Even though he struggles changing directions with the ball and is very unpredictable when attempting to create his own shot, it is clear that there is potential for the Dayton native as a slasher, given that he is willing to shore up his handle.

The other primary area of concern with Brown's game is his jump-shot. Making only 11 three pointers last season (hitting 34% of his attempts), and 70% of his free throws, it is clear that this is not one of the more confident areas of his game. There were countless times in which he passed up wide open looks from beyond the arc to attack the rim, even though the defense was playing five feet off of him. When he did put the ball up, he displayed an awkward jumper with a deliberate release. Brown tended to dip the ball below his waist and bring it forward in front of himself before going into the shooting motion, giving far less athletic defenders plenty of time to contest his shot. If any area of his game would have to be labeled as his biggest weakness, this would surely be it.

On the defensive end, Brown has all of the characteristics of an eventual lockdown defender. Able to guard both forward slots, he appeals to NBA scouts because of his versatility on this end of the hardwood. Owning the quickness to stay in front of smaller defenders, while also possessing the length and strength to guard bigger players, he offers a large amount of intrigue on this end. Just an average rebounder, Brown is capable of improving upon this area with more of an emphasis on boxing out rather than just relying upon his athleticism to snag rebounds. Getting stronger would probably help as well.

Brown is definitely a player who will have the option to test the waters when the season is over, as long he is continues to improve at the rate that he has. Considering the stage of his development he’s currently at, though, it seems likely that he will need all four years to improve his perimeter skills enough to show the potential to play the small forward position at the next level. With that said, Brown has the athleticism and upside to excite many NBA decision makers, even if he looks like a clear-cut project at the moment, and he will have plenty of opportunity to show his stuff with the interest that Xavier basketball typically draws.

Xavier, on the other hand, floundered, and sophomore forward Derrick Brown’s performance epitomized the effort. He only took four shots in the game, two of which were put-back attempts and one was from beyond the arc. His only other shot came around the basket off of a nice post move where he utilized his size and athleticism to his advantage. His lack of offensive production is very confusing and even more disconcerting considering how unwilling he is to play in the post and how unprepared he is to play on the perimeter.

On defense, he is too slow to guard perimeter players and picked up a majority of his 4 fouls by reaching or playing with his hands instead of moving his feet. As said in past evaluations, he is only effective as a post defender at this point.

This being said, he did little else and while he showed his solid passing ability, the best adjective to describe his game would be “passive.” I talked with some members of the press familiar with Xavier, and they all said the same thing: Brown is as good as he wants to be. He has a significant amount of work to do and if anything, his performance throughout this tournament has thrust him back into obscurity because frankly, he is not doing anything special. Working on his conditioning, ball-handling, shooting, and general effort is going to take a lot of time, but he must improve in these areas if he wants to be able to be a legitimate perimeter player at this level; he is not there yet.

Xavier’s Derrick Brown, though only a sophomore, was equally disappointing. Brown entered the season with high expectations following a successful freshman campaign and has been only average thus far. Despite displaying solid athleticism, his quickness and speed in the open court are both lacking and he is surprisingly slow running the floor. Based on his physical profile, however, his muted impact is somewhat confusing.

Offensively, Brown is yet another combo forward. In fact, if someone saw Brown play for the first time today, they likely thought he was a perimeter player. After all, he spent most of his time on the perimeter and only received the ball once while posting up his man. Considering his strength and athleticism, his aversion to post play diminishes his effectiveness. Dayton did not have a single player that could have stuck with him in the post.

His face-up game is the same, consisting of Brown driving to the basket and either losing the ball because of his shaky handle or finishing utilizing his solid body control and athleticism. He took a pair of spot-up perimeter shots today and showed the same slow and deliberate release as he has all season. His form does not look bad necessarily, but he is going to have a tough time taking perimeter shots at the next level if he does work extensively on fluidity in his shooting motion.

His 9 rebounds, 3 of which were on the offensive boards, show his potential to be a great rebounder at this level. His problem is still that he rarely boxes out his man and prefers to rely on his athleticism and strength in order to rebound the basketball. He is particularly active on the offensive boards, but despite his calm demeanor, he is an aggressive player who is constantly in the mix on loose balls and the offensive glass. Defensively, he has trouble staying in front of perimeter players due to poor lateral quickness and has most effective this season as a post defender, which further complicates his desire to play on the perimeter.

Brown is only a sophomore and certainly has a long way to go before he becomes a legitimate prospect for the next level. Working on his handle and his jumpshot are certainly steps in the right direction, but he must improve his understanding of the game and his role within Xavier’s game plan, physical limitations and all.

Although ending the season with a heartbreaking loss is never an easy pill to swallow, Xavier basketball has a lot to look forward to in sophomore Derrick Brown. His play late in the season was crucial in the Musketeers’ NCAA tournament run, which came to a conclusion in a narrow overtime loss to eventual runner-up Ohio State. Brown had a jaw dropping 8 points and 16 rebounds in a meager 16 minutes of playing time in XU’s first round defeat of BYU, a school record for rebounds in a tournament game.

The biggest asset that Brown has is surely his remarkable athleticism. There are no more than five players in the collegiate game who are more athletic than him, if that. His freakish leaping ability completely translates into his play on the floor, as he dunks absolutely everything around the cup and is able to out jump virtually all of his foes, making him an absolute terror on the glass. 41 of Brown’s 77 field goals last season were dunks, evidence backing up just how much of a monster he is around the rim. Although he was forced to play in the pivot for virtually all of his minutes, he did show off some promise in the few times that he was able to go to work facing the basket. The red shirt sophomore displayed a first step that would be impressive for a small forward prospect, blowing by unsuspecting defenders en route to the rim. He’s able to take advantage of unbalanced defenses to get to the rim with one or two dribbles, but still hasn’t shown the ability to create his own shot from the perimeter.

Equally as impressive as his athletic prowess was his ability to finish inside. Brown shot a resounding 70% from the field, with a 73% true shooting percentage, placing him atop that category of all prospects in the DraftExpress database. While the large majority of the Dayton native’s shots are dunks or lay-ups, the numbers don’t lie about how efficient of a player that he is when out on the floor. The fact that he showed off great hands and quick leaping ability helped in his ability to convert everything inside, and also contributed to his great efficiency rating.

Forced to play power forward and even center at times last season, Brown did not have very many opportunities to show off his perimeter game. In the limited times that he did play out on the wing, he showed off a pretty nice static jumper when left open (although with a slow and deliberate release), converting on half of the 8 three pointers he attempted last year. Derrick showed off decent ball handling skills for a power forward, but both his handle and outside shot will need improvement if he hopes to evolve into a full time combo forward. Unfortunately, the graduation of Justin Doellman and Justin Cage will leave Brown relegated to the “4” and “5” slots for yet another year, although he will be Xavier’s premier frontcourt option.

Defensively, Brown is very versatile in that he is able to guard both small forwards and post players equally well. He has outstanding lateral quickness and length, which allows him to do a very nice job of staying in front of smaller players when defending out on the perimeter. Weighing 225 pounds, Brown has adequate strength to guard defenders in the post as well. His versatility on the defensive end will be a major selling point to prospective teams in the future, and makes his much more desirable as a prospect.

Brown still has a bit of a ways to go before we can project where he’ll be drafted, but he certainly has all of the physical tools to become an NBA player one day. It is rare that you find a player with his package of size, athleticism, and hustle play playing in the Atlantic-10. Expect a much improved year from Brown individually this year in the stats category, with much more opportunity on the offensive end. Xavier as a team should be atop the A-10 yet again, led by Drew Lavender, Stanley Burrell, and Manhattan transfer C.J. Anderson, giving Brown plenty of chances to show his stuff in front of NBA personnel.