Anthony Brown is a rookie who was drafted in the 2nd round with the 34th overall pick. He has spent a lot of time in the D-League, trying to get better but also simply getting minutes he has not been able to earn with the Lakers. He has played a total of 318 minutes and only appeared in 18 of the Lakers’ 43 games. He averages 3.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, shoots 31% from the field, and has a PER of 5.0.
The Lakers need more players like Anthony Brown. Wait, what?
If looking only at the numbers above, you would think that Anthony Brown is not good at basketball. The thing is, those numbers aren’t really the numbers I’m concerned with. Counting stats and PER don’t do Anthony Brown justice. At least not at this point in his career.
Here are some additional numbers:
- In the 318 minutes Brown has been on the floor, the Lakers have a Defensive Efficiency of 95.9; when he has not been in the game, the Lakers’ DEff is 109.9.
- Players Brown defends take 58.6% of their shots from 16 feet or farther. On those shots, players shoot 28%. The league average on these shots is 38.6%.
- When players take 3 pointers against Brown, they only make 25.5% of them. The league average on these shots is 36.4%.
Here is Anthony Brown’s defensive shot chart for the season:
The point of all this? Brown defends. He slides his feet well, isn’t overly hands-y, seems to understand angles, and shows good ability to recover and contest shots. Here’s an example from a play against the Pelicans:
Notice how Brown shades Tyreke Evans to the sideline, but doesn’t overplay to the point that he surrenders too easy a driving lane. Also see how he understands personnel while grasping the subtleties of on ball defense. Brown recognizes Evans isn’t a threat from deep beyond the arc, so he surrenders space to him. When Evans gets closer to the arc, Brown jabs, then extends his right arm to dissuade a jumper. Then, when Evans look to explode to get to the rim, Brown dips and slides to cut off the angle (aided by Randle’s help in the corner), and when Evans steps back Brown recovers to contest to his shooting hand.
This is a single play, but is indicative of Brown’s technical level of defense. Guarding top flight wings every game is a challenge. And the best offensive players are successful more than they are not — not just in getting baskets for themselves, but in putting the defense in compromised positions which open up opportunities for their teammates. Brown has a ways to go before he’s going to be a “stopper” (if such a thing is even real), but he is taking on the challenge nightly of guarding the opposition’s top wing scorers.
We’ve drifted, though. While Brown’s individual developmental strides matter, they’re also from one person. As he continues to improve, if he continues to improve, he can be a useful player. But, the Lakers need more players who excel at the things we have highlighted that Brown is doing/building towards.
This is tangential, but I do believe one of the reasons Roy Hibbert has not had the type of impact in LA, defensively, that many hoped he would is that the Lakers do not have the types of perimeter defenders who make his job easier. Defense, as a whole, is a team effort and in order to become better on that end of the floor the Lakers need more players who are actually better on that end of the floor — especially on the wing. Better wing defenders mean fewer driving lanes, which leads to fewer shots at the rim, fewer help situations, and fewer kick-outs to open shooters who kill defenses in this league.
Yes, this sounds like common sense. And, in many ways it is. But understanding it and prioritizing it are not the same things. The Lakers have done well by drafting Brown and Larry Nance Jr. — both players who look to be polished and versatile defensively. This summer, should they keep their draft pick (and even with their 2nd round pick which they still have) and in free agency, they would be wise to continue this trend of targeting players who can defend and who offer great two-way potential to impact the game in ways that go beyond offense.
Because while I am warming to Anthony Brown and appreciate his growth and potential to become a rotation player, the Lakers need more players like him if they are to become what they want to be defensively.
Baylor Fan says
Finally, here is a player who can help make me forget about Bazemore. Great write up and you could also wax poetically about Brown’s offensive game and ability to space the floor. Brown understands where he needs to be on the floor and what he needs to be doing. The same goes with Nance. On offense, Brown moves to spots on the floor where he can receive the ball and have time to shoot. Over time, these players will make the Lakers a much more enjoyable team to watch.
rubenowski says
Damn right.
Mitchell Johnson says
Great article and I agree 100%. A few more guys like this, (3 and D) along with Russell and clarkson taking control of the offense and I believe the Lakers will be very good in 2-3 years
Vasheed says
Great article on Brown. And I love our picks Nance and Brown.
I would like to see a line-up like this,
Nance
Brown
Black
Russell
Bryant
Move Bryant back to SG to get Brown more minutes and I would add Black as Mid-Wilshire pointed out in another thread put up some good defensive numbers.
rr says
Nance Jr. and Brown do look like they will be useful role players.
Clay Bertrand says
rr, I’d second that comment.
Nance and Brown are the best defensively aware players we have. I don’t know if its their instincts, or their 4 year college pedigrees. They seem to understand rotations and also how to play ON THE BALL and make the offensive player think a little. Plus it appears they are also great reactive players and they seem to know how to make adjustments during the course of the game.
I saw Nance get blown by on one play and then the next opportunity his offensive player got, he layed off and kept baiting him to shoot the jumpshot which he did and missed. I believe the player he was guarding was Draymond Green. Larry understands how to throw off a guy’s rhythm and AB has the same kind of smarts.
No one is locking down NBA players these days but you have to have guys who at least know how to make things difficult and uncomfortable for guys to take them just a little outta their game. We DO need more guys like AB!!!
BB says
Is there a quantifiable measurement of the effect of playing a bad team? In other words teams playing the Lakers likely look at the game as a Win — they may not try as hard, or party extra hard the night before, etc. Conversely, if we were better teams would have to bring their A game or they’d lose. Now, we often lose to teams that quite frankly haven’t played well.
Is this psychological effect meaningful and quantifiable? And if it is does it bias some of the analytics we are looking at?
Just curious if anyone thinks the Lakers numbers are slightly inflated because we’re awful and teams overlook us.
Anonymous says
Just curious if anyone thinks the Lakers numbers are slightly inflated because we’re awful and teams overlook us.
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So you mean we might actually be worse than we think we are?
KevTheBold says
This words like, “awful, worse, bad, horrible, terrible” imo should be in our case, replaced with, ‘inexperienced’.
Anonymous says
This words like, “awful, worse, bad, horrible, terrible” imo should be in our case, replaced with, ‘inexperienced’.
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… interesting comment about ‘word’ choices.
Note: Kobe, Hibbert, Bass, Williams, Young, Sacre and MWP are not inexperienced — just average to below average players.
KevTheBold says
True, yet if our core were seasoned, and, with the addition of such role players as you mentioned, the negative terms would apply.
However, our core is far from seasoned, thus inexperienced is more apt.
blue says
since someone posted the stats of Gasol & Howard yesterday, let me post their combined stats for today: 1 PT (0/9 FG)
Renato Afonso says
Darius,
You’re totaly right. The stats prove what the eye test shows. If we think of the recent champions starting lineups we quickly discover one thing: it’s still all about defense. Golden State has a liability on defense who is such a gifted offensive player that their overall defense is still excellent. Miami’s worst defender was arguably Dwyane Wade. Dallas could live with Nowitzki who, again, is a force on defense. So,, we need more and better defensive players and I’m sure that we would look at Hibbert in a different way if we had a glimpse of perimeter defense…