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2022 Free Agents - Bruce Brown

Summary
After operating as an on-ball guard during the majority of his time with Detroit, the Nets have utilized Brown differently, using him as a small-ball big. Brown has had success operating as the roll-man in pick-and-roll. His playmaking ability allows him to attack 4-on-3 situations out of the pick-and-roll, and he has nice touch on floaters. He finishes strong at the rim through contact, and has some craftiness inside as well.

Brown had most of his success as the screener for James Harden, who is one of the better pocket passers in the league, but has started to develop some of that similar chemistry screening for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. In '20-'21, the Nets scored a solid 1.14 points per possession with Brown as the roll man, but that number dropped to 0.86 points per possession in '21-'22.

Brown shot 41% from three in '21-'22, but that was on low volume, and for his career he has hit less than 33% of his threes. Teams are willing to leave him open from outside, and generally he is not a threat off the ball. He is a very good offensive rebounder for his position, finishing in the 84th percentile or better each of his four seasons in the league, per Cleaning the Glass.

Defensively, Brown is undersized but can still defend multiple positions due to his strength, length, and quickness. He can be disruptive, posting solid steal and block rates. Brown had some big playoff moments for Brooklyn in 2021, even closing some games. He had a similar role in the 2022 playoffs, but the Nets had little success in their first round loss.

It didn't appear that Brown had much interest in free agency in 2021, as he settled for the $4.7 million Qualifying Offer to return to Brooklyn. There's a chance that other teams didn't want to wait around to see if Brooklyn would match an offer sheet for Brown, but it's also possible that teams were unsure if Brown could replicate the same level of production without being surrounded by the Nets' superstars, and they may have the same reservations when Brown hits unrestricted free agency in 2022.
 
Cap Considerations
Brown will be an unrestricted free agent with a $9 million cap hold and full Bird rights. Since the Nets will be operating over the salary cap, they will retain Brown's Bird rights, and have no restrictions on re-signing him. However, the luxury tax will certainly be a concern, as re-signing Brown could cost them a lot of money in luxury tax penalties. Therefore, other teams will have a legitimate shot at signing Brown away from Brooklyn without having to give him a huge offer.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Brown as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or the Bi-Annual Exception to sign him.

Potential Teams: Nets, Hawks, Bulls, Lakers, Mavericks

Predicted Contract: 3-year, $20 million with the Nets

Actual Contract: 2-year, $13.3 million (2nd year player option) with the Nuggets

Brown joined the Nuggets for the Taxpayer MLE for two years, which is around the amount I projected him to get. 

Last updated: 7/1/2022

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