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Wolves Season in Review: Lorenzo Brown

By Ben Beecken

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This is Part Four of the Wolves Season in Review player capsules. We’ll be looking at every player that finished the season on the Wolves roster, excluding ten-day contract signees. We’re starting with the players that played the fewest minutes and working our way up the roster to those that logged the most playing time. Today’s featured player is Lorenzo Brown.

The Wolves drafted Lorenzo Brown out of North Carolina State with the 52nd overall pick in the 2013 draft. It was a savvy selection; Brown had impressive college peripherals, as shooting was his only real shortcoming.

He didn’t make the squad last year, however, as the Wolves still employed J.J. Barea and for whatever reason elected to keep A.J. Price over a promising young rookie.

The ever-opportunistic Philadelphia 76ers picked him up, and Brown spent his rookie season bouncing back and forth from the D-League to the City of Brotherly Love. He played 20 games in the D-League and 26 with the Sixers before finding himself on the market again over the summer.

Brown was in training camp with the Detroit Pistons and started the season with Grand Rapids, their D-League affiliate. After playing in 18 games there, he was picked up by the Wolves at the height of their injury struggles back in January. In fact, Brown played 47 minutes and 55 seconds of his third game in a Wolves’ uniform in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Minnesota played ten players but did not have a backup point guard as Ricky Rubio, Mo Williams, and Zach LaVine all sat out.

Brown’s D-League numbers are impressive. In 38 games split between three teams between 2013 and 2015, he has averaged 17.1 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game and shot 37.5% from three-point range. As mentioned in the Justin Hamilton capsule, dominant D-League numbers are a decent predictor of effectiveness in the NBA.

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The shooting numbers have been nowhere near as impressive over 55 NBA games, however. Brown is just 9 of 58 from beyond the arc between last year’s stint with the Sixers and this year’s with the Wolves. That’s 15.5%, although he shot 21.4% in Minnesota this year.

He’s a good defender and an outstanding passer, and was solid when called upon this season. Outside of the disappointing shooting numbers, Brown’s turnover rate ballooned to 18.7% with the Wolves. That’s not insane for a point guard (lower than Rubio’s, in fact), but if Brown is looking to build a career in the NBA as a solid backup he will need to improve that number or his shooting percentages.

The defense and overall handle and feel isn’t all too different from Rubio’s but it’s not quite on the level of the Spaniard’s, which makes it that much more difficult for him to cover up the shooting issues.

Brown probably has a career as very good third point guard in the NBA. The Wolves are still trying to force the proverbial square peg into a round hole with LaVine at point guard, and it would be a bit surprising to see Brown back in a Wolves’ uniform.

At the same time, it would make a lot of sense. He is still just 24 years old and generally fits with the team as currently constructed. The Wolves could do a lot worse when it comes to a backup point guard solution, and he’d be preferable to an aging backup at this stage in the team’s development.

If nothing else, however, his Tweet game remains strong.

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