The case for Bruce Brown against Gabe Vincent

With all the recent trade buzz surrounding Bruce Brown to LA and Rui Hachimura & Gabe Vincent potentially being the frame work I'd like to discuss what Bruce Brown would bring to our team which would warrant moving on from the two.

  • One of the biggest criticism I've seen against Bruce Brown to LA is that he's "injury prone" which isn't true. Bruce Brown for his career has played in (excluding this season): 74, 58, 65, 72, 80, and 67 regular season games respectably. Comparing those numbers to Gabe Vincent's: 9, 50, 68, 68, and 11 respectably. Bruce Brown is far more durable than Gabe Vincent.

  • For the Gabe Vincent vs Bruce Brown argument let's use the season that both were relatively fully healthy (2022-23 season). In Bruce Brown's 80 (28.5 MPG) vs Gabe Vincent's 68 (26 MPG) regular season games Bruce Brown averaged higher: PPG (11.5 v 9.4), RPG (4.1 vs 2.1), APG (3.0 vs 2.5), SPG (1.1 vs 1.0), BPG (0.6 vs 0.1), FG% (48.3 vs 40.3%), 3p% (36% vs 33.4), higher VORP (0.6 vs -0.6), higher defensive BPM (0.6 vs -0.3), and lastly higher defensive win shares (2.6 vs 1.7).

  • Bruce Brown is also taller (6'4 vs 6'2), lengthier (6'9 wingspan vs 6'7 wingspan) Bruce Brown uses his size and length really well and honestly better than Gabe.

  • The biggest criticism I've seen for Bruce Brown is that he's a "Jokic merchant" and only players good with a player like Jokic which just isn't true. Bruce Brown also played well in the season prior with the nets in KD years to before joining the nuggets. The Lakers also have a similar ceiling raiser (LeBron James) who's known for making players around them better.

  • Bruce Brown was ranked the 16th best wing defender in ‘23 in the entire league. He was also one of the most dependable defenders on a championship team. He’s an all switchable defender and can reasonably guard 1-3 and 4 sometimes.

Overall, Bruce Brown is the better player for the role we're paying Gabe Vincent to play, I'm not saying that Bruce makes us a clear cut contender but is a step in the right direction like the DFS move.