The Know the Prospect series is really humming along now. We are firing on all cylinders baby! Before I get on with this one, I just want to thank Seth for the opportunity to do this for Posting and Toasting again. I also want to thank you all for commenting and having really great and intelligent discussions about all of these guys. And I will say again, this is no solo project. Flossy did a great write-up on Josh Selby, and all of you are more than welcome to chip in if you feel like you have a good grasp on a prospect (pause).
Today we will be looking at one of the more prolific scorers in the draft. He is a bit of a late-bloomer, but there's nothing wrong with that. I was the same way. I grew from 5' to 5"6 in a matter of two and a half years in high school, and it worked out for me fine! Let's learn stuff.
Marshon S. Brooks (I don't know what the S. stands for, but I hope it is "Stream" or "Saturated" to keep up with the water theme of his first and last names) is a shooting guard who played for the Providence Friars for four seasons. He did not graduate in May with the rest of his fellow classmates, but opted to stop attending classes to train for the draft. It paid off, because his stock has improved greatly over the past few weeks. His stock also improved due to his breakout senior year where he led the Big East in scoring at 24.6 PPG. That was second in the nation to some Mormon kid. Brooks averaged just 14 PPG as a junior, so that type of improvement bodes well for him. He also has great size for a guard (which we will get to) and his offensive abilities are the biggest pluses for our latest prospect. But enough lollygagging, let's get down to it.
The run-down:
Measurements: Height- 6' 4.25" w/o shoes, 6' 5.25" w/shoes; Weight- 195 lbs.; Wingspan- 7' 1"; Standing Reach- 8' 5"; Body Fat- 5.2%
Projected Draft Position (as of right now): 28 on DraftExpress.com, 28 on NBADraft.net, 22 at SI.com, and he hasn't shown up much elsewhere.
Actual Profiles and Such: DraftExpress.com (watch his interview there, very good stuff as always from DE.com), NBADraft.net, StatSheet, ESPN, College Profile Page
Amateur Take - Offense: This guy can flat-out score. This season, Marshon went bananas on the Big East and the rest of college basketball this season and in a big way. Brooks scored in double figures in all 32 of Providence's games, and he scored 20 or more points in 26 of them. He put up some crazy scoring outbursts, including a pair of 33-point games earlier in the season, 43 points against Georgetown on February 5, and then followed that up with 52 points against Notre Dame on the 23rd.
I never watched him play, but when I watch his videos, one word comes to mind: smooth. Everything looks so easy to him on that end of the court. It takes him a little while to get his shot off, but his form is consistent and he is a decent shooter. Brooks shot 48.3% from the field which was up from 46% as a junior despite taking 211 more shots than he did junior year. His percentages remained fairly stable even with the increased usage. Brooks is adequate from downtown, lingering between 34-35%. He is also adequate from the free throw line, shooting 77%, but his Free Throw Rate of 38.3% is a nice figure and shows that he gets to the lane and to the line pretty well. Aside from scoring, he really doesn't do too much else on the offensive end, like pass the ball. He did average 2.5 APG, but that was coupled with 3 TO/G. He had a negate A/TO ratio in three out of his four seasons.
Amateur Take - Defense: I have to divert to Walker Beeken over at DraftExpress who commented on Brooks' defensive abilities (written during the middle of the college basketball season). Beeken noted that Providence played a lot of zone, so Brooks will have a big wake-up call when he has to play pretty much all man-to-man defense in the pros. That I didn't know. I can assume that his gigantic wingspan will aid him when it comes to defending perimeter players, and although he isn't a great athlete that length should help make up for it. He was active in the paint in a Dwayne Wade-like fashion. He averaged 1.2 blocks-a-game his senior year, which is phenomenal for a guard. He also averaged nearly five defensive rebounds and seven total rebounds-per-game. Because of that length, he can play bigger than he actually is.
Comparisons: NBADraft.net compares him to Jordan Crawford and Josh Howard. DraftExpress.com says his best-case scenario is Nick Young. His worst-case scenario? Henry Domercant. Who is Henry Domercant? That's a great question, I'm glad you asked! He attended Eastern Illinois University and led the nation in scoring in 2002-2003 with nearly 28 ppg. He is now a vagabond, wandering Eurasia looking for teams to play for.
The Clyde Factor: I have to think that Clyde would incorporate water into his nicknames and other alliterative options. "Babbling Brooks", "The Brooks is flowing now!", "Brooks getting all the good looks!", and such. As for his first name, we could probably expect Clyde to call him "Marshorn" or maybe even "Martian". I like these possibilities.
Potpourri:
- Marshon's agent is Seth Cohen. No, it's not that Seth Cohen, which is incredibly unfortunate.
- I just want to elaborate how cool it is that Marshon Brooks has "Marsh" and "Brooks" in his names.
- He was named Third Team All-America by the AP, which accounts for both North and South America.
- From his player bio, we find out that his favorite team is the Lakers, his favorite player is Kobe Bryant, his favorite sporting moment was Kobe dropping 82 on Toronto, and that he likes to play video games. I think I understand why this guy likes to score so much.
- This column... all I have to say is wow.
Let's go to the video:
Marshon Brooks Scores 52! (via TRAMOS330)
Marshon Brooks NBA Draft Workout with Tim Grover presented by SLAM and CityLeagueHoopsTV (via CityLeagueHoopsTV)
MarShon Brooks 2010-11 Highlight Video (via FriarHoops)
Things to Take Away:
- Not a lot of passing there...
- You can see how he uses his long arms to get height on his release and to get super crafty when he drives into the lane.
- He is sneaky athletic.
- He had a nice block mixed in there.
- Again, I have to bring up the word smooth when describing his skills on offense. That just looked easy, didn't it?
Final Thoughts: Lord knows the Knicks could use a more reliable scoring option from the shooting guard position. I love what Landry provides, and Bill Walker is whatever off the bench. This guy looks like he could be a great spark off the bench. He sounded very grounded in his DraftExpress interview and knows that he is going to have to pay his dues once he gets into the league. I think this kid could be a great bench player to start that could evolve into a nice scorer in time. He has all of the tools and he seems to really want this. Brooks improved each of his four years at Providence, proved he can shoulder the load, and he appears ready to be a pro. With the Knicks? Maybe. At 17? I don't know. I would love to scoop up a pick in the late first round for him, unless his stock plans on rising that fast. This seems like the kind of guy that, even though he wasn't with a winning program, could help this team. And who knows, with that body he might even turn into a so-so defender at the next level. I would not be opposed to adding this guy at all.
What do you all think?