Ex-Jazzman Brown thrives as Hornet

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 28, 2007 | by Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Guard Devin Brown's deep-down desire when he played for the Jazz last season was to log major minutes.

He's realizing it this season -- while playing for the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, his new home after a roundabout route, and some admitted trying times, landed him here from Utah.

"I just wanted to show more of what it is that I could do -- in, you know, in 30-to-35 minutes, not 15-to-20," said Brown, who signed with the Jazz as a free agent from NBA-champion San Antonio in 2005 - - but lasted only one season before Utah traded him last July to Golden State as part of the deal that brought veteran guard Derek Fisher to the Jazz. "So, that's where the frustration was."

It mounted in Oakland, where he was prepared to report for training camp with the Warriors in early October before being told hours before camp opened that Golden State decided to waive him.

"As soon as the trade happened, we tried talking to Golden State about, 'There's a lot of guards -- let us know right now what's going to happen,' " said Brown, a Utah native. "Everything was fine, then all of a sudden I get a phone call at 7:30 in the morning before the first practice that they were gonna do what they did. It was kind of like, 'Well, I mean, you should have let us know this in July.' "

Brown's contract contained a buyout clause that called for him to receive $500,000 of what would have been a $2.6 million salary for the 2006-07 season had he stuck with the Warriors.

That checkbook cushion allowed him to sit tight while awaiting a decent NBA opportunity, which presented itself when the Hornets signed him on Dec. 22 to a deal that is now guaranteed for the rest of the season and worth nearly $600,000.

"The best thing to do was wait it out," said Brown, who played mostly shooting guard in Utah. "There was no use going overseas, there was no use going to the D-League. There was no need for any of that."

Brown didn't know if his opportunity with the injury-stressed Hornets would be long-term when he signed, especially after he made just 1-of-10 shots from the field in his first two games.

But now -- with the Hornets missing star point guard Chris Paul since late December because of a sprained right ankle -- Brown is not only starting at the point, but also averaging 31-plus minutes and 12-plus points per game.

That's 10 more minutes and about five more points than he averaged in 81 games for the Jazz.

"It was just a matter of coming up here and playing," he said. "They had a lot of injuries, and I just came in with the mindset to do whatever I could to help out. As the injuries continued, the role got bigger and bigger."

It got so big that Brown scored 19 points in a game multiple times this season, and he posted a season-high 24 against Philadelphia last Tuesday.

But perhaps nothing was better than Friday night in New Orleans, where he hit a critical 3-pointer with 11.3 seconds remaining to put the Hornets up by five in an 88-84 win over Sacramento.

"You see guys like (ex-Spurs teammate) Robert Horry ... hitting big shots, and you want to know how that feels," Brown said.

Or guys like then-Los Angeles Laker Fisher, whose improbable 3- pointer with 0.4 seconds left in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals was a dagger to Brown's Spurs?

"Yeah, Derek Fisher," Brown said. "I didn't want to say that, because that brought up a bad memory, but you see people like that hitting shots, and you just want to know what that feels like -- to have the shot clock running down."

Now that he's experienced it, Brown -- who never seemed to win coach Jerry Sloan's full favor in Utah -- can return to doing for the Hornets what he feels like he never could with the Jazz.

"Here," he said, "it's more of an attitude to go out there and show what you can do.

"Everybody has that opportunity, and within our offense everybody has an opportunity to touch the ball -- and play with the ball in their hands, and do things like that," Brown added before scoing 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field in the Hornets' 94-83 win over the Jazz on Saturday. "It's not as structured, in the sense that you're a basketball player and you go out there and you make basketball plays, and that's it."

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com