Detroit Pistons: Evaluating Bruce Brown Jr.’s rookie season so far

Detroit Pistons rookie Bruce Brown Jr. has been inconsistent so far, but he has shown some flashes of future potential, especially on the defensive end.

After last year’s Blake Griffin trade, the Detroit Pistons were left without a first round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, but they had one second round pick to fill out their roster. With that second-rounder, they selected a sophomore shooting guard out of the University of Miami in Bruce Brown Jr. With 45 games under his belt, he is a little over halfway into his first NBA season, and while he has flashed potential, he has been very inconsistent to this point in his young career.

Coming out of college, Brown’s main issue was his ability to shoot from outside of three feet. So far, that has remained consistent in the NBA. He’s shooting 53.7 percent at the rim, but he’s shooting just 30 percent from the rest of the floor, which includes 25.8 percent from 3-point range. He showed some flashes during the NBA Summer League of being a good all-around player, but that hasn’t carried over to the regular season.

The main area he has made his impact is on the defensive end of the floor. His Player Impact Plus-Minus (PIPM) score has him at a -1.5 overall, but it would be much worse if he wasn’t grading so well on the defensive end of the floor. With the number of elite offensive point guard options in the NBA, such as Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors or Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, a hard-nosed player like Brown can help this team for a long time.

When looking at the past successful Pistons teams, such as the Bad Boys in the early 1990s and the “Goin to Work” teams of the early 2000s, those teams all based themselves on the defensive end of the floor. It all starts with the point guard. Brown has the ability to be that ball-stopper for the Pistons, but it would still be nice for him to develop a more consistent shot on the offensive end.

One thing that plays into the Pistons’ hands with Brown is that the Eastern Conference plays at a slower pace than Western Conference teams do. When looking at the current NBA pace ratings, only six of the top 15 teams are from the East. Games can become low-scoring slugfests that can come down to the defense just getting one stop or a timely steal. Brown is averaging 0.9 steals per 36 minutes, and that number will go up as he gets more experienced.

Second round picks aren’t always expected to contribute in their rookie seasons, but Brown has played a significant amount of minutes, which includes starting 27 of the 45 games he has played in. Brown was viewed as the possible point guard of the future for this team late in the summer, but unless he’s able to get his shot to fall more consistently, they’ll need another player to ultimately fill that role.

For a second round pick to play and start for a team fighting for a playoff spot, Brown has accomplished more than was expected this season. He is not quite the defender that another poor shooting guard like Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics is, but he has the potential to get there with more experience. Bruce Brown hasn’t had the best rookie this season, but his defense has shown the Pistons made a good choice at No. 42 overall when they selected him.