Bruce Brown

Coming off his best season to date, Brown now finds himself with an opportunity to serve as more than a reliable sixth man. After impressing in the Nuggets' championship season, the Pacers paid up to secure Brown, meaning he'll be in the mix to start -- Bennedict Mathurin and Buddy Hield being the other candidates. A borderline top-120 player last season, Brown averaged a career-high 11.5 points, adding 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 28.5 minutes per game. If he starts, it's reasonable to assume his playing time should increase into the low-to-mid 30s. On the surface, this should result in increased production, potentially vaulting him inside the top 100. However, playing with the starters could also mean his ability to get his hands on the ball is reduced. If nothing else, his role should be more secure, meaning managers can draft him with a little more confidence than in past years. A lack of upside limits his overall appeal, leaving him as a serviceable late-round target, with slightly more value in roto formats.

Brown has established himself as one of the most unique guards in the NBA over the past two seasons. He was used more traditionally during his first two years in Detroit, but after heading to Brooklyn, he became a pick-and-roll guard primarily. He also spent time in the dunker's spot for easy dump-off passes and offensive rebounds. Brown possessed those roles despite standing just 6-foot-5. He's also shown to be a quality defender (1.8 combined steals-plus-blocks in 24.6 MPG) and has some three-point potential, shooting 88-for-249 (35.3%) over the past three years. That combination has kept him on the court as a versatile, multi-position option. The Nets opted to let Brown walk in free agency, and he signed a contract with the Nuggets over the summer. Brown figures to play a similar role with Denver, and he could form some reverse pick-and-roll combinations with Nikola Jokic as the ballhandler. Brown ranked 149th in per-game production last season behind 9.0 points on 50.6 FG%, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists. It seems possible, if not likely, that he'll find himself seeing a similar workload, and a similar usage rate would make sense given that his unique skillset meshes perfectly with Jokic's playstyle. With that in mind, Brown is more of a late-round option in deep leagues, but he does have standard-league upside and will probably end up being a solid streaming option when the Nuggets have four-game weeks.

While Brown saw a role reduction last season while going from the Pistons to the Nets, he was able to be a legitimate impact player on a Finals contender. The 6-foot-4, multi-tooled, multi-position player saw 22.3 minutes per game and averaged 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He also saw 25.1 minutes in the second round of the Playoffs against the Bucks, when he averaged 8.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 52.8 percent from the field. Brown often played a big-man role on offense for Brooklyn, functioning as a pick-and-roll partner with the team's playmakers. He's also one of the best offensive rebounders in the NBA for his size, grabbing 2.8 per 36 minutes. Heading into 2021-22, Brown's role should remain steady. That means the 25-year-old probably won't be worth a spot in most redraft leagues, though fantasy managers in deep formats can always snatch him with a final spot for a high-floor player. He's also intriguing for keeper/dynasty formats, but he'll likely need a change of scenery for there to be any sort of payoff for hanging onto him.

Brown saw a significant jump in both output and efficiency during his second season in the league with the Pistons, nearing nine points per game (8.9) to go along with 4.7 boards and 4.0 assists over 28.2 minutes. His biggest boost came from behind the three-point line, where he upped his percentage from 25.8 to 34.4, contributing to his increases in true shooting percentage and effective field-goal percentage. It remains to be seen just how large his role will be in 2020-21 on a new team, the Nets. Brooklyn has title hopes and a much better roster than Detroit, so Brown may not see the kind of usage he did in 2019-20. He was relevant in deeper fantasy leagues last season, which could still be the case in 2020-21. But chances are, he won't have much standard league relevance.

Brown emerged as a starter at shooting guard for the Pistons during the second half of the regular season, starting in 46 of the team's final 47 contests. His production, however, remained relatively unchanged with the move to the starting five. In fact, his points per game dropped from 4.6 points as a reserve to 4.2 as a starter, but this was likely due to him playing with more high-volume, ball-dominant scorers as a starter. Regardless, the second-round pick out of Miami showed he still has plenty to work on with his perimeter game, as he shot just 25.8 percent from behind the arc on just 1.3 attempts per game. This wasn't too surprising considering Brown shot just 31.6 percent from three in his two seasons at Miami, but it leaves Brown vulnerable heading into his second year. With the Pistons boasting plenty of backcourt options, including Luke Kennard, Langston Galloway and the newly-acquired Derrick Rose, Brown will have plenty of competition for minutes and has by no means secured a spot in the starting lineup for next year.