Brown

March 12, 2007

Devin Brown’s fifth NBA season has unfolded unlike any other in his professional career. A member of Golden State this summer after a trade from Utah, the 28-year-old was cut by the Warriors hours before training camp opened. As a result, Brown was out of the league until Dec. 22, when the injury-plagued Hornets signed him to a free-agent contract.

Brown has parlayed that opportunity into a spot in the Hornets’ starting backcourt with Chris Paul. The personable Texas-San Antonio product recently sat down with Hornets.com to discuss his NBA Superlatives.

Most memorable moments in the NBA: “Winning NBA championships in 2003 and 2005 with the Spurs. The second one was a lot different for me than 2003. Both of those teams were very good, but in ’05, we bounced back after the way the previous season ended, when Derek Fisher hit that shot against us [the Lakers’ Fisher made an improbable buzzer-beater off an inbounds pass with 0.4 seconds left to beat the Spurs in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals].

“We came back the next season and everyone was back in the gym working hard. We had one focus: to get into the NBA Finals. We did that, and then beat Detroit in seven games. The second championship really sticks out for me, because as a team, we worked so hard for it. I also had a much bigger role in ’05 than on the ’03 team.”

Most memorable dunk in the NBA: “Two seasons ago in San Antonio, I dunked over Emeka Okafor of Charlotte. I came clean off a screen, he rotated over and jumped, but I went right over the top of him.”

Most embarrassing moment in the NBA: “This year after coming to the Hornets, I saw Kevin Garnett before (the Feb. 2) game against Minnesota, and he says to me, ‘What’s up D.B.? Where have you been? Have you just been chilling for a year?'

“I didn’t want to get into the whole story about how I was with Utah and they traded me, then Golden State cut me and all that. But (like Garnett), a lot of people didn’t even know I was in the league. [laughs] That was kind of embarrassing.”

Most surprising thing about the NBA as a rookie: “The speed of the game. When you watch it on TV, it doesn’t seem like the game is moving that fast, but when you actually get out there and are guarding someone, they are moving very quickly. That was a big adjustment from college.”

Toughest players to face at his position: “Kobe Bryant, in the sense that he can create his own shot and do a lot of things with the ball. And Ray Allen, because he is a pure shooter. If you give him any room at all, most of the time the ball is going in the basket.”

Best uniforms in the NBA (besides the Hornets’): “When I was growing up, it was the Bulls’ alternate black uniforms. Those were nice.”

Favorite road arenas: “San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta’s got a nice gym, Denver, New York. If I had to pick one, I’d have to go with San Antonio, because it’s home for me and the couple times I’ve gone there since I left, it’s been a great experience playing against those guys. I think I’m 1-for-2 in having good games there so far.” [Brown scored 12 points for the Hornets in their Jan. 19 trip to the Alamo City]

Favorite road trip, based on the city: Dallas. “It’s a fun town, they have some very good restaurants and sushi places. I’m a real big sushi guy.”

Best trash-talker in the NBA: Gary Payton. “He still talks a lot. When he was with the Lakers (in 2003-04) and they had that team with Kobe, Shaq and Karl Malone, I picked Gary up fullcourt (defensively), and he was like, ‘Man, what are you doing?’ I told him that (San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich) wanted me to defend him fullcourt. Gary just looked at me, started smacking his lips and said, ‘OK. Alright. We’ll see about this!’ ” [Brown laughs]

Best heckler story: “My rookie year with the Spurs, we went to the Staples Center to play the Lakers. I wasn’t really expecting to play, but Gregg Popovich would sometimes put different guys in off the bench in the second quarter if he felt like the team needed a boost. So he says, ‘Dev, you’re in.’ I was a little bit surprised, then I looked out on the court and I saw Shaq and Kobe out there, so I thought to myself, ‘Oh, Lord!’ [laughs]

“I go to the scorer’s table and start to take my warmup top off, and some Lakers fan stands up and goes, ‘Who the heck are YOU?’ Then this fan saw my jersey number and was like, ‘Oh, 23, huh? Who do you think you are, Michael Jordan?’ ” [laughs]

Change he’d make if he were NBA commissioner: “If we didn’t have our own team plane like the Hornets do, I might say they should shorten the regular season, but it’s not like we’re flying commercial, so the back-to-backs and all of the games are not a problem for me. But I do think they should get rid of fines for technical fouls. They actually take that money right out of your check! In my (third) game with the Hornets, I got a technical, and then I pretty much forgot about it. But when I got my next paycheck, I read through the items and saw ‘federal’ (deduction), ‘401K’ (deduction) and then ‘NBA technical.’ [laughs]