Markel Brown Making Mark on Defense for Brooklyn Nets
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Markel Brown is on the way up. Judging by his jumping ability, we shouldn't expect him to come down any time soon.
The Nets drafted Brown with the 44th overall pick in this past summer's draft, making him a general afterthought unless, of course, you'd seen him do this while at Oklahoma State:
Missouri's Matt Pressey is still sitting on his therapist's sofa somewhere trying to recover from the cruelty of that dunk.
Now, though, those who hadn't even seen that collegiate slam are starting to take notice of Brown, who has started the last 11 games for Brooklyn. The increase in playing time isn't necessarily because of the dunking either. It's because of what it represents.
Brown is a hustler in every way. He'll dive for loose balls, get out in transition with his superb speed, throw down the oops to his teammates' alleys and, most importantly, he's turned into Brooklyn's best perimeter stopper.
His half-court offense has mostly been lifeless, but there is some hope for improvement beyond the typical logic of, "He's just a 23-year-old rookie and can get better purely with experience."
Brown is one of those guys who we can call an "improver." An improver doesn't necessarily make a huge leap from one year to another, but he does get incrementally better each season. And that's what we saw from the shooting guard at OSU.
When Brown came to the Big 12, he couldn't shoot a lick. He always got minutes because of his athleticism, finishing ability, energy and hustle, but he clanked enough threes as a freshman to make you think he was auditioning for a part in Stomp, sinking only 26 percent of his attempts from long range.
But improvers improve. Yes, that's where the name comes from.
He got more reliable from beyond the arc as a sophomore. Even more so as a junior. By his senior season, he was hitting 38 percent from three on more than four attempts per game.
It's safe to say Brown is never going to be an offensive threat, but he can progress from his current half-court basement as he grows accustomed to NBA basketball.
"I'm still not comfortable," Brown admitted after the Nets' win over the Golden State Warriors on March 2. "Every time I step out there, I'm nervous...But I'm just going to continue to go out there and play hard."
It didn't seem as if Brown mentioned his NBA uneasiness as a slight to himself. Sometimes, discomfort can be a good thing. You can see the positive effects in Brown's motor, which is much of the reason why he's become a Nets starter.
Brooklyn has one of the least athletic teams in the NBA. An old, rickety roster with a youth contingent that has Brook Lopez's face plastered on it is not going to inspire high-flying basketball. It's the reason the Nets play at one of the slowest paces in the league.
Brown changes things up, though.
He'll leak out and actually help with some quick points here and there purely because he gets running in transition, even if he hasn't connected on a field-goal attempt for a couple games. He's freaky-fast and seems bound to have a Slam Dunk Contest appearance in his future. He'll force steals and deflections, too.
Basically, he sprinkles in a hint of chaos to Brooklyn's game, an infusion the Nets could use—especially with the way the team has been playing lately even with the Oklahoma State alum in the lineup.
Let's go back to those steals and deflections, though, because defensive activity is Brown's greatest strength.
He may be a shade under 6'4", but he still doesn't have much of a problem guarding bigger guys, using a 6'9" wingspan to get in opponents' faces and employing that almost unprecedented 44" vertical to stay there on shot attempts.
That's how in his first career start, which came shortly after the All-Star break, he swatted four Denver Nuggets shots:
He's only had a couple of blocks in 10 starts since that late-February contest, but Brown actually has a high shot-blocking ceiling for a guard just because of those dimensions. His combine measurements put him in the class of an Eric Bledsoe, one of the NBA's best for-his-size shot-swatters.
Usually, it takes a little while for a rookie to prop up his defensive game. It's a savvier, more mental part of basketball. But the Nets' first-year wing is already there.
Brooklyn's "D" is almost two points per 100 possessions better when Brown is on the floor.
If defense is about taking away optimal shots and forcing teams into bad looks, then Brown has made a not-so-subtle difference. Opponents are actually taking fewer threes when he plays.
Brown should take some responsibility for that. His effectiveness in closing out on shooters is already top-notch because of his lateral quickness and explosion. And he's truly starting to understand how to rotate and help while still guarding his own man.
Check out Brown in this first-quarter play from Brooklyn's loss to the New Orleans Pelicans last week.
Pels point guard Norris Cole runs a simple, high pick-and-roll with Omer Asik. It's defended by Brook Lopez, whose backpedaling isn't quick enough to keep up with his man.
As Asik rim-dives past Thaddeus Young, it appears an alley-oop opportunity is opening up for New Orleans. But Brown, while guarding capable shooter Eric Gordon, realizes Cole isn't in a position to fling a cross-court pass, rotates from the right corner in a timely fashion, uses his frog-like jumping skills to get a hand on an imperfect lob and forces a turnover:
This all happens because of the two-step shuffle Brown makes to pick up Asik. It's subtle but intuitive: Two imperative qualities to add onto an often ultra-aggressive defensive style.
Knowing how to control one's own pace while guarding within team schemes is a sign of maturity seldom found in a first-year player.
Someone with Brown's athleticism and youth could go out there and gun for steals, even justifying that activity with the Nets' general inability to create live-ball turnovers—a flaw which has improved with Brown's increased playing time and the addition of Young.
But that's not what Brown does, and his current mentality means his future trend should be positive.
"I just try to go out there and play solid on defense," the rookie explains. "Don't reach too much. Don't gamble too much. And try to keep them in front."
It's kind of strange that the previous thousand words could've been written 10 years ago about Tony Allen, another Oklahoma State product who was also a major offensive weapon in college—even if people don't remember it now.
That's not to say Brown is the next Allen—it might take a while before we see one of those—but it does mean we should probably keep one eye on Brooklyn's best perimeter cork.
"Just go out there and lock up," Brown says of how to defend, mirroring Allen's "You just do it" from a Grantland column by Zach Lowe last April. And maybe that's the key.
At under 6'4", Brown may not be the traditional height for a lockdown defender, but he does have the traditional fight.
He's not going to score. He won't create for teammates. He'll be your fifth option on offense. And none of that matters at the moment.
Brown is going to play his own game, causing disarray for opposing offenses. And let's be honest: The Nets, a team which far too often appears lackluster, could use some of that ferocity. If Brown's going to continue giving it to the Nets, he'll find a way to stick around for a while.
Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.
All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of March 16 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.
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