Rockets 2021 player previews: Sterling Brown

Sterling Brown

You possibly have heard something about a trade involving the Rockets. This may be occupying your basketball attention. Don’t let it! There are Rockets rotation players to discuss. Time to set trade buzz aside and focus completely on Sterling Brown, the wing the Rockets signed in the off-season.

Relying on a certain amount of success the Rockets have had recently with players either from Texas, or who played their college ball in Texas (Tucker (UT), House (A&M), Green (High School)) the Rockets have now signed SMU’s Sterling Brown.

Brown came into the league as the 46th pick of the 2017 draft, chosen by the Philadelphia 76ers, but he was immediately moved to Milwaukee and played all three of his NBA seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks. Brown is a solid 6’5”, 220lbs, and can play at either shooting guard or small forward. He’s signed a one-year, fully guaranteed deal with the Rockets.

The Rockets have done well with these deals recently (Ben McLemore, Jeff Green), and there’s hope Brown will provide a nice shooting and defensive presence from the bench.

Brown is a good catch-and-shoot player, averaging 36% on these shots with a 53% EFG. This compares favorably with John Wall’s erstwhile partner in the DMV, Bradley Beal, who shot 38% and 56%EFG on such shots for the Wizards.

Brown was an absolute flamethrower from three-point range in college, going 45% from the college three-point range, while also shooting well in the mid-range and at the basket.

Brown is known as a tough defender and a good athlete (though not at the level of his brother, Shannon Brown), and as a player that might offer more, if given more minutes. Unless Houston changes direction in a big way or injuries (or COVID) strike, this seems unlikely, but he should still log 10-15 minutes per night and might be capable of offering more if needed.

His last season with the Bucks showed him to be a solid rebounder, with a per36 rebounding average of 8.6. It’s good also to see a Rockets backcourt/wing reserve who is not below average size for the position.

It’s tough to add much more than that, as Brown has never cracked 60 games played in a season due to health issues.

Brown, to this point, has largely been known for an episode that lead to the City of Milwaukee recently settling for $750,000 with Brown for an incident where he was tasered and injured by police over a parking violation. In an unusual move as part of the settlement, the City of Milwaukee will publicly admit guilt over the incident and institute some new training procedures.

We can hope a fresh start in a new city will lead to better things for Brown and that he will have a productive year for the Rockets.