January 22, 2007

Now in his fifth NBA season, Hornets guard Devin Brown is averaging career-bests in points, rebounds and assists.

During my senior season of high school basketball at San Antonio’s Alamo Heights High School, I heard about a so-called young “superstar” named Devin Brown at another San Antonio high school. Shortly thereafter, we played against Devin’s school, West Campus, in a tournament. Brown confirmed all of the hype I had heard about him.

Brown was only a sophomore at the time, but he was averaging 32 points and 10 rebounds a game. Against us, he put up close to those averages, although it came in a loss for Brown and his teammates. Two seasons later, the prolific Brown was the all-time leading scorer in San Antonio high school basketball history and fielding scholarship offers from numerous elite Division I programs. Instead of opting to play for a big-name school in a power conference, however, he decided to play his college ball locally.

“I had offers from a lot of places coming out, all the Big 12 schools, Kentucky, Georgetown and others,” the 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard said recently. “But my (high school) coach told me that if you have talent, they will find you, no matter where you are. I am really close to my family, so I wanted to stay close and that is why I went to UTSA (University of Texas-San Antonio).”

Brown stepped right in at UTSA, leading the Roadrunners to their second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and becoming the college’s all-time leading scorer (1,922 career points).

Despite his outstanding UTSA career, Brown went undrafted out of college, but was invited to participate on the Washington Wizards’ summer-league team.

“While I was with the Wizards, a Spurs assistant coach (Mike Budenholzer) told me I should come out to the Spurs’ practice facility and play pickup ball with a few of their players,” the lifelong San Antonio resident said. “I was living about a block away from the facility and soon started going through various drills with the Spurs and going one-on-one with Tony Parker.”

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich liked what he saw in Brown and invited the guard to Spurs training camp, after Brown held his own against Parker, Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and others during the summer workouts.

But after his initial break with the Spurs, Brown struggled to stick with an NBA team. He split time between the D-League and the NBA during the 2002-03 season. He was with the Spurs in training camp, then waived, re-signed, waived, sent to the ¬D-League (where he was the rookie of the year and MVP) and finally signed by the Denver Nuggets. “It was a tough process, going from place to place, but I just kept working hard to get that chance to stick in the NBA,” Brown said.

After the 2002-03 season, Brown played two seasons with his hometown Spurs.

“It was nice to be able to play for my hometown team, but once the ball was dropped it was all business and people didn’t care where I was from,” Brown remembered. “I just wanted to prove myself.”

Last season, Brown signed a guaranteed free-agent contract with the Utah Jazz and had a career year by playing in 81 of 82 games, with averages of 7.5 points and 2.6 rebounds. But suddenly, he was traded to the Golden State Warriors. An hour and a half before the Warriors’ first practice on Oct. 3, Brown was cut for salary-cap reasons and soon found himself on the outside of the NBA – a place he hadn’t been in three seasons.

“In a sense, it was a low point, but it was more frustrating because of the way they (Warriors) handled it, being cut right before practice and not in July or August,” Brown remarked. “You have to bounce back, so in my time off working out back home in San Antonio, I made sure that I would never give another team a reason to cut me.” After months of training, the injury-hit Hornets came calling for Brown’s services, signing him on Dec. 22.

“Maccabi Tel Aviv (a successful pro team in Israel) was going to possibly offer me $3 million to play the rest of the season with them,” Brown said about his other options. “A lot of NBA guys have been through that program, so it was something to consider, but before we could, the Hornets called and that was my chance.”

Brown is now a Hornet for the rest of the season and has made his mark on the team. Through his first 15 games in a Hornets uniform, the 28-year-old was producing career-high averages of 11.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists, while serving as the team’s starting point guard in Chris Paul’s absence.

After all of the adversity and obstacles he’s overcome during his pro career, the San Antonio product is a shining example of how hard work, dedication and hometown pride can take you a long way in life.

“Working every day is key to success,” Brown said. “San Antonio is not really a hotbed for high school talent, but I consider myself a role model for a lot of people down there. If they see me out there succeeding, that is going to open the door for a lot of people. I feel like I am carrying a lot of weight on my shoulders. Anything I do, I know I am representing a lot of people in San Antonio, so I give it my all every time I step on that court.