05-17-2026, 09:24 AM
(05-17-2026, 09:09 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: The case against Mikel Brown Jr.
"He would be a top 5 pick if it wasn't for his back injury". I have seen this pop up often lately. It might be true and his talent is clear, but that statement has a lot there. For the most important part of the season, the ACC Tournament and NCAA tournament, Brown couldn't play. Maybe he was being cautious or really needed time. Still it is not a great sign if he felt he could not be on the court. During the biggest stage, he was on the sidelines.
I saw two games of his close to entirety and parts of others. I have also watched the highlights. As I mentioned before, he should be my favorite prospects with his height, traits and skills. The two games I saw were against Duke and North Carolina. The Duke game was one of his worst. He was 1-13 and pretty much not a factor. He had trouble finishing at the rim and did not look like a potential lottery pick. The North Carolina game was one of his last before he was shut down. He got off to an amazing start. In a similar theme, he hot start consisted of some insane made attempts. 28 feet launches. After his hot start, he went about 15 minutes without making a shot while UNC went on a run. He then finished the game making a few shots as Louisville was trying to come back. His stats look ok. 25 points on 9-24 shooting. I just didn't feel like it though. While some amazing shooting, I feel like his play was why UNC took a lead and never looked back. Now I think it is important to not to make a firm conclusion on such a small sample size and especially when these prospects are so young. They will get better and some of the bad games will be offset by good games.
Brown is a good passer, but still I see there are issues. One, he turns the ball over a lot. You even see this on his good passes. Sometimes they are lazy and I find trouble to think some work in the NBA. Second, his passes rarely hit the shooters pocket. This should improve over time but you see a lot of passes that are low, high or just off.
Lastly, I keep going back to impulse control. Watch his shots and passes and they are filled with questionable decisions. Being able to make a 28 feet contested three is a great skill, but do you have to try so often. In the video below, it shows some of these plays. They just scare me. He is going to require some hard coaching (something he says he welcomes). Going to a professional team who tries to play the right way is going to be best for him.
start at 10:20
https://youtu.be/CU3dD1XPq6A?si=4gQtrcyplktP2vAu&t=620
He deserves to be in the lottery range and could be one of the better players from this class. I just see some glaring concerns. Others have different concerns but I just get leary seeing so many of the "he would be a top 5 pick if he didn't have his back injury" declarations.
Honestly, I think draft analysts are not as serious about Brown's "game play" as they are his back .... and maybe that's how it should be. I get the feeling most analysts think his game problems and shot selection can be corrected. I'm not sure that's true, but I've heard that.
I also think some analysts have watched him prior to this season in some tournament play I think - and come away very impressed. But I have a really hard time figuring out what kind of PG Brown will be with the lack of assists and the number of forced shots. I'm really back and forth on this.