The Portland Trail Blazers have made a trade and selection on NBA Draft night, selecting Greg Brown with the 43rd pick.
As reported by ESPN Insider, Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers acquired the 43rd pick from the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans then selected Greg Brown III, who will now play for the Blazers.
The Blazers made the move to select Greg Brown, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/IGVKkc4skP
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 30, 2021
Brown is a hyper athletic forward who stands six-foot-nine, and played in college for Texas.
In just the one season for Texas, Brown averaged 9.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks in just 20 minutes per night. He was inefficient from the field at just 42 percent, but stretched the floor at 33 percent. Not a bad shooting record for a six-nine freshman.
Though he is just 19, the Blazers don’t have a young athletic presence and have no true power forwards on the roster either. He is clearly a project, but we can trust Neil Olshey’s judgment when it comes to his record in the second round of the draft.
He has been called the best athlete in the entire draft class, and he gives the team different looks from their slow forwards or small shooters.
It hasn’t yet been reported what the Blazers gave up to get this pick, but with only a few future second-round picks, it was likely that either cash or one of these was used. The cash won’t impact the Blazers salary cap this year either, as money given up in trades is in a different pool.
Brown is an interesting pick for the Blazers, and fans will be happy that they saw a move to kick start the off-season. More to come on Brown over the next few days.