Long weeks of searching ended yesterday (Monday) when Hapoel Jerusalem announced the signing of veteran American guard Brandon Brown.
The player who will arrive in the capital on the standard of a seventh foreigner for reinforcement, is not currently planned to replace any of the existing foreigners, as the team stated at his signing.
The team from the capital receives in its ranks an experienced guard who is well acquainted with the high levels of the European factories in recent years, when the highlight was when he brought the Romanian Cluj-Napoca to an impressive achievement in the FIBA Champions League, where they were stopped at the quarter-final stage.
Brown is a classic combo guard.
Can play as a center, also can play as a scorer next to the center.
Professionally, Aleksandar Džikić will benefit from the addition of a game manager with excellent morale and a good hand outside the arc.
"In terms of abilities, he is the complete package for a guard, he is a game manager with great shooting. As a pick and roll game manager, he has an impressive ability to produce points and can complement Speedy Smith perfectly. In terms of his personality structure, this is a signing that is very suitable for Hapoel Jerusalem and Alexander Dez's style 'It will be summer,'" says Promitei's coach, Nano Ginzburg, who met the player in a close uniform.
Brown.
Ginzburg compliments, photo: FIBA
Unlike players who break out at a young age, Brown's career took time to rise and only in the last two years, when he crossed the age of 30, he experienced the most significant and successful years.
Brown, the 33-year-old first arrived in Europe only in 2015 and in the old continent began a gradual progress graph.
He started his professional career in the Cypriot league, continued for two years in Poland and a season in Bulgaria.
The significant step in his career was in 2019 when he signed with Nizhny Novgorod and played in the powerful VTB league, from there he migrated to France and collaborated with Tomer Ginat at the Metropolitans.
Brown with a garden in the Metropolitan, photo: PA
"Brandon is without a doubt one of the best point guards I've played with in my career. He can play both guard positions, but I think he plays best at point guard. He's very talented, the way he sees the court, his passing abilities and his point creation are very impressive. He The complete package in attack, and he is also dominant in defense. He will help Hapoel Jerusalem," Shavon Lewis, a player for Kiryat Ata, who collaborated with Brown in Russia, tells Israel Hayom.
The player's statistics do not stand out to the eye at first glance but Lewis is not worried.
"He is a player who will do what is asked of him, when he needs to carry the ball he will do the job and not concentrate on himself. In Poland they used him as a scorer and he finished at the top of the list of goals in the league."
Chavon Lewis.
Know Brown closely, photo: Oded Karni
This summer, after a wonderful campaign in the Champions League with the surprising Cluj and averages of 14.7 points, 45% for threes and 5.3 assists per game, he landed in the intriguing project of Peristri with the legend of the past Vasilis Spanolis in his debut season as a coach.
However, precisely at this point, at the age of 33 and after his best season in his career, the guard experienced a difficult family tragedy that shook his world and caused him to leave Greece after only two months.
At this point it seemed that the guard would retire from basketball.
"His name was on the table with several other teams in Israel, but he didn't want to go back to playing basketball because he was with his family. For a long time, he didn't think about basketball until now," a league coach tells Israel Hayom.
"He can also fit in great as a seventh foreigner. He is a veteran player who has been through a lot in his career. Off the field he is a quiet person who does not often show his emotions. He is very comfortable so he can easily fit in without an ego," adds Lewis.
Brown.
Can play both guard positions, photo: FIBA
"Contrary to what people think, the situation in the center market is not simple and there are not many options. The last season was his breakthrough year at the age of 33, until then he was not very prominent there. Last season he was great. What will be decisive will be how he mentally returns to the field after the incident that happened to him and His family," says the informed source in detail.
Like any of the other six foreigners signed by Aleksandar Džikić in the capital, Brown is not the sexiest name among the candidates on the shelf.
At the age of 33 and precisely after a record season in his career, the guard found himself at a crossroads that shook the course of his life.
Four months later he lands in the capital, hoping to start a new path.
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