NBA Finals: Bruce Brown is playing his way into a payday the Nuggets probably can’t match

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Bruce Brown has been overlooked for his entire NBA career. He fell to the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft, where he was taken by the Pistons and shipped out of Detroit for another second-round pick two years later. He flourished in an unconventional role with the Brooklyn Nets, but when Ben Simmons was acquired to play a more expensive version of that same role, his time in Brooklyn came to an end. His free-agent market was tepid. A total of 31 players earned more money than he did on the open market last season when he settled for Denver’s taxpayer mid-level exception.

Now that deal looks like one of the best signings from last summer. Brown has emerged as Denver’s top reserve, a Swiss Army wing that has played virtually every position for the Nuggets at some point this season. When Michael Porter Jr. is slumping, as he was in Games 2 and 3 of the NBA Finals, Michael Malone can scale his minutes up and play him at forward. When the coach wants to rest Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic at the same time, he turns to Brown as his backup point guard and shot-creator. As he proved in Brooklyn, he can even function as a center offensively, masterfully operating out of the short-roll when used as a ball-screener. 

The 6-foot-4 Brown can credibly defend just about any non-center in the NBA. He’s grown into a consistent, league-average shooter on low volume. He’s an elite offensive rebounder for his size, a deceptively dangerous driver and a sorely underrated passer. This is not the sort of player that the Nuggets should have had access to for just $6.5 million this season.

If there was any doubt that he was getting a pay raise this offseason, it was extinguished in a stellar Game 4 of the NBA Finals. With Nikola Jokic sidelined for much of the fourth quarter due to foul trouble, Brown stepped up and scored 11 of his 21 points to help secure the Nuggets’ 108-95 victory that pushed the Heat to the brink of elimination. That stellar stretch might have effectively clinched Denver’s first championship, but it may also have sealed Brown’s fate as a…

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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-bruce-brown-is-playing-his-way-into-a-payday-the-nuggets-probably-cant-match/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2023-06-10 06:32:25

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