Report: Derrick Brown agrees to non-guaranteed deal with Spurs

Mar 2, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Charlotte Bobcats forward Derrick Brown (4) drives against San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner (left) during the second half at the AT

Free agent forward Derrick Brown agreed to a non-guaranteed contract with the San Antonio Spurs according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com.

While it may appear that Brown doesn’t have a good chance to advance past training camp given his resume, that is not the case. According to Haynes’ sources, Brown has a good chance of making the Spurs regular season roster.

Brown’s agent, Calvin Andrews, believes this opportunity will be mutually beneficial.

“The Spurs like him a lot and we feel comfortable about the opportunity,” Andrews told CSNNW.com.

Even though Brown doesn’t fill the Spurs immediate hole and he only attempts two shots outside of 10 feet per game, limiting the floor space for Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker to operate, he can still be effective if he continues to be productive away from the ball. He converted on 72.3% of his attempts in transition last season, good for 1.33 points per possession, and he also graded as an above-average player on cuts and offensive rebounds. Those three possession types represented nearly half of his possessions last season so it is clear that Brown won’t be require to create for himself.

In this sense, Brown is oddly similar to Leonard albeit without the same level of athleticism or shooting ability. The nature of his deal makes this a win-win preposition, too. (If we are using win shares as a baseline, Brown was worth $3,588,000 last season. He will likely make less than a million in his current deal with the Spurs.)

Brown is coming off his most impressive statistical season as he averaged 8.1 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 51.8% from the field. His 14.7 PER was a career high and slightly below the break even rate for a typical NBA player.