Roster Review | Lorenzo Brown

When the Minnesota Timberwolves brought in Lorenzo Brown midway through the season from the D-League, he seemed calm. He played nearly 25 minutes during his first game with the club (a win) and looked under control and played with poise.

Maybe it’s because he wasn’t a rookie. He had played part of the 2013-14 with the Philadelphia 76ers. And maybe it’s because he was familiar with the Timberwolves’ organization being that Flip Saunders and Milt Newton had drafted him in the second round in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Whatever it was, it rubbed off on the Wolves and landed Brown not only two 10-day contracts this season, but a spot on the team in 2015-16.

He’s an extremely soft-spoken player. He’s more Andrew Wiggins than Zach LaVine when it comes to personality.

When interviewing him, a reporter could ask him five or six questions and the interview would be done within a minute or two. With LaVine, that same interview might last eight minutes.

Brown isn’t necessarily shy (he says that his hidden talent is being a comedian), but he likes his play to do the talking.

He was solid for the Wolves during his short time with them, and was one of the few players who remained healthy, which was extremely valuable. He’s probably not going to be a starting caliber level of a point guard anytime soon, but he proved last season that he can hold his own in this league.

The consensus is that Brown is probably best as a team’s third point guard – playing sparingly mostly because he’s not a huge threat offensively. This obviously can change and Brown has shown he has the work ethic to improve. He was a second-round pick, played in the D-League and has signed a few 10-day contracts in his career. In other words, he knows that this isn’t a “stay put” league. If you don’t improve, the league will leave you behind.

“First it’s do what the coaches ask,” Brown said. “Then it’s do what I do best and that’s play ball. I feel like if I do that I can (make the team).”

Brown is only 24 years old, so he fits the mold of “Rising Wolves.”

It will be telling to see how highly the Wolves think of Brown going into free agency and the draft.

Right now, he’s the only point guard not named Ricky Rubio on the roster (assuming LaVine plays more shooting guard next season). 

3.) March 18 at Toronto:

 The Wolves fell 105-100 on the road and had just eight active players. Brown was one of those players and was efficient coming off the bench, finishing with eight points in 19 minutes and 44 seconds. He shot 4-for-5 from the field and also added five assists, a team-high three steals and two rebounds.

In fact, he was one of just three players to have a positive +/0. He finished +2.

2.) March 23 at Utah

This one came in Minnesota’s 106-104 OT thriller over the Utah Jazz (thanks, Zach LaVine!).

Brown played 44 minutes and 39 seconds and finished with a great all-around night, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. He shot 4-for-5 from the field

He and LaVine were solid defensively, holding the backcourt duo of Dante Exum and Rodney Hood to just 12 combined points, shooting 4-for-13 from the field.

1.) Feb. 2 vs. Cleveland:

 This one looks silly if you are looking at just stats. Brown scored just one point in a home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, shooting 0-for-5 from the field.

But if you take a step back, you’ll see why this game was so remarkable for Brown. First off, it was just his third game with the club and he was going up against All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving. Brown played nearly the whole game (47 minutes and 55 seconds) and held the artist known as “Uncle Drew” to just 12 points, shooting 4-for-16 from the field.

“What gave me an extra boost was that the guys on the team had trust with me,” Brown said the following day. “… I had to show them I could lead them by example.”

Brown also added a team-high nine assists to go with five rebounds.

While Brown likely won’t ever play near 48 minutes in a game any time soon, this game should be a reminder of the things Brown is capable of on the defensive side of the ball and as a distributor. 

The main goal for Brown going into the offseason, like many Wolves, will be to improve his three-point shot. Brown has some offensive skills. He’s quick and has a knack for knowing where his teammates will be, but his long-distance shooting is a weakness, which can be a problem for point guards. Minnesota fans have experience with this.

Brown shot just 21.4 percent (6-for-28) from deep last season. Assuming the Wolves will be at full strength next season, Brown will have to earn his minutes. If he could become even a 30 percent three-point shooter, that would suck the defense onto him and open the court for the offense.

Side-note: There is some hope here with his shot from deep. From 16-feet to the three-point line, Brown shot 56.3 percent.

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Brown is already very, very good on the defensive side of the ball. This isn’t a surprise being that he’s had to grind his way to the NBA. He knows that if he can shut down the opposing team’s point guard, he becomes a valuable player who could become even more valuable when that said point guard is a guy like Kyrie Irving.

He averaged one steal per game and had a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 111, ranking sixth on the team.

Like many of his young teammates, Brown could improve at the free-throw line. It’s probably best not to overact to his 63.2 percent from the line, though. He had just 19 attempts.

Still, as we’ve seen from the NBA playoffs (thanks, DeAndre Jordan!), we know that if you can’t hit free throws down the stretch, it’s tough for a coach to give a player minutes down the stretch.

“Just keep playing hard. I think that’s what they want me to do – defend and keep knocking down open shots. If I keep doing that, hopefully I’ll get minutes.” – Lorenzo Brown on what he needs to do to earn the trust of head coach Flip Saunders.