Be Wary Of The Weary Laker Free Agent

Brown has a player option to stay with the Lakers for $2.1 million next season second year of a bi-annual exception deal. Brown and his agent will not talk contracts, but the Lakers front office expects him to turn down that option thinking he can make more on the open market.And he can.Brown is about as athletic a guard as there is in the league, and there’s no doubt he can run the floor and finish on the break. Just ask YouTube. But he also has a solid outside shot he’s hit 43 percent of his looks from 16 to 23 feet this season, has pretty good handles and plays solid defense. His decision making as a lead guard within the Lakers triangle offense is holding his minutes back right now, but in a less structured system he might flourish.Plus, Brown is the kind of player the team marketing guys can sell.

via Shannon Brown slam dunk to be a free agent – ProBasketballTalk – Basketball – NBC Sports.

Being on good teams makes you better. Josh Powell looks better than Brian Cardinal, even though Cardinal is likely a better player. Jordan Farmar looks better than Kyle Lowry, even though Lowry is likely a better player. And on and up it goes to the top. The only player who looks as good as he did four years ago is Kobe Bryant, and that’s because he’s kind of sort of awesome.

But when you take guys away from that comfy system, when you remove them from a position of reverse-court on the non-overload side, take away the safety and security of the wide-open corner three, things look suspiciously different. Just ask the Rockets and Trevor Ariza. Ariza’s not an abject disaster, by any means. A talented, long defender who can knock down a shot or two. But as we’ve covered before, he’s not a volume guy. He’s meant to do what he did in LA. Fill in the holes. But when you’re a pivotal piece of a championship winning team, your value goes up, even though in reality, you could plug in any player of your type (in this instance, long, athletic three-point specialists- and he only learned the three-point thing last year in the triangle) and they would succeed in that system. It’s why the corpse of Derek Fisher still haunts that backcourt. No one else can look as good in that system for his price.

In Brown’s case, it’s even more of an exaggeration. Laker fans adore Brown. He’s so much like Ariza in a different model, it’s stunning. The highlight plays: instead of speedy inbounds steals and corner threes, it’s garbage-time dunks and pull-up jumpers. The lack of real defensive acumen: watch Brown try and cut off the baseline some time. It’s like watching the Mambo No.5.

Brown’s a fine player. But in this summer’s spending spree, even if it’s limited by the economy and next year’s CBA, Brown’s going to get paid. Being a championship backup point guard on the market is enough, then you throw in his dunk value kitsch, and the big shots he will inevitably hit in the playoffs (with no one around to guard him, or look at him, or suggest a nice Cabernet after the game), and you’ve got yourself a prime case of value-hiking.

Maybe Brown really is a star that’s just waiting to excel. But if I’m looking at the two Lakers point guards, I’d go more with the guy who shows flashes when he’s outside the triangle and struggles within, versus the garbage-time highlight champ who’ll likely be striking a hard bargain.

Oster-Tags: Jordan Farmar, kobe bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Shannon Brown, theycallitatrianglebecauseinrealitymuchlikethemusicalinstrumentitsjustafabricationforlookinglikeyourenotjustrelyingonsuperiortalent, triangle offense