Now that Dee Brown is officially a Wizard, the Dee Brown Hypefest™ (NOTE: The Dee Brown Hypefest is not actually trademarked, I just wanted to attach the ™ to something) can officially begin. Personally, I love this signing. I still want to see something else happen, but signing a point that can push the tempo when Gilbert is out will be a handy asset regardless.
I've always enjoyed what I've seen out of Dee Brown, especially from his college days, but now that he's on the roster, it's time to dig a little deeper into the player that is Dee Brown.
- Dee doesn't let a silly thing like the backboard get in the way of making a nice assist:
- He's an exorcist! Well, not really, but eliminating his shooting demons in college should provide hope that he'll be able to do the same in the pros:
After correcting his all-thumbs style last summer, Brown has dramatically improved his shooting this season from the field (from 41.1% to 50.7%), the three-point line (34.6% to 45.0%) and the free throw line (67.1% to 76.6%). "Dee's just learning now that he can be a great shooter," says Ernie (the Shot Doctor) Hobbie, a Wilmington , N.C. --based shooting coach who worked with Brown at Weber 's camp last June. "Watch his shooting hand and how he finishes high every time. And see how his nonshooting hand stays out of the way? I call that hand the Devil, which is why I say, ' Dee Brown has killed the Devil!'"
- Dee is one of the few players that's managed to find a nice balance between golfing and rap music.
- He's the only Wizard that's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and he managed to pull that off on two separate, non-consecutive occasions
- According to his college profile, Brown went to the same high school as Michael Finley and Doc Rivers. That has to be worth something right?
- He can dunk...barely:
- Dee won't need to get caught up to speed on the intensity of the games between the Wizards and the Cavs. He and LeBron already have some history:
It goes without saying that many of those fans will have Brown 's Illini jersey in their own closets, and maybe an orange headband and mouthpiece too--the 21st-century update to a streetball couture last jolted in the early 1990s by Michigan 's Fab Five with their below-the-knee shorts and black socks. Funny, what's now seen as Brown-influenced blacktop chic actually originated out of necessity (with an assist from that other style arbiter, LeBron James ). Brown started using the mouthpiece as a high school quarterback (he was good enough to draw recruiting overtures from Nebraska and Florida State ), but he only began wearing it full time on the basketball court after a particularly heated game in Chicago with LeBron and his posse three years ago.
"I dove for a loose ball," Brown says, "and one of LeBron's boys jumped on the back of my head and put my tooth to the ground. After that I kept the mouthpiece in the whole time." Of such mishaps are movements born. (Check out how many orange headbands and mouthpieces you see at playground pickup games and suburban CYO contests the next time you're touring the Corn Belt.)
- Hopefully Gilbert will make sure that the treadmill workouts for his pitbulls don't coincide with Dee's, because he's not much of an animal person.
I'm afraid of heights, and I'm afraid of dogs and animals. I'm not familiar with them because I'm not really around them. And I don't do snakes. Deron [who has two pythons and a red-tailed boa constrictor] used to always bring them out and be like, 'Hold it! Hold it!' And I'm like, 'No, man, I don't want to hold it!'
Keep that in mind when the Jazz play the Wizards this season. If Deron Williams comes out on the court looking like Medusa, we better make sure we have The Mongoose (a.k.a. Andray Blatche) on call.