“In my opinion, to be successful, a point guard has to win games. First of all—it is as simple as that—you have to win games. And then you build a name for yourself and keep pushing even when things are going your way, you have to show even more energy. Energy and fans go hand in hand. If you score two buckets and scream at the top of your lungs, the crowd feeds off this energy. And that’s how you build a name for yourself, giving people the feeling that this is exactly what’s needed. The same goes for defense. You make two stops, and yell or involve the fans — that’s really important.”
Lorenzo Brown has said it since day one: his job is to lead the team. In Europe there’s no other way to succeed. Winning is the only thing that matters. But for a point guard—and, according to him, this is true regardless of the position or the competition level—it’s crucial to feel a high level of confidence around you; comfort is essential. “For me, everything started to change when I went to Unics Kazan in Russia and had a coach, Velimir Perasovic, who allowed me to be myself. Then I went to play for the Spanish national team, and there too, Coach Scariolo allowed me to be myself. The same thing happened at Maccabi. If you feel as comfortable as possible in what you do without too much background rah-rah. This applies to all players, but especially those coming from the States, regardless of the level: when you can feel comfortable, feel the confidence around you, everything becomes a little bit easier.”
Lorenzo Brown comes from the southern part of the United States, from Georgia. After graduating from Centennial High School in Roswell, a thirty-minute drive from Atlanta, he moved to Virginia to attend Hargrave Military Academy, a military prep school with a strong reputation for basketball. In the morning, the alarm went off at five a.m., and the first thing Lorenzo had to do was stand in front of the bed, make it properly, and get dressed well. “I learned a lot about myself, even just by staying grounded as a person. Learning things in the military way. Waking up at five in the morning, the horn goes off and you have to be standing in front of the bed, make the bed well, dress properly. All these military things built me as a person. And then there was the basketball part. I had a great coach, Kevin Keats, great players around. I got here partly thanks to that season spent at Hargrave.”
“The Triangle.” That’s how it is known, the triangle that potentially links three Atlantic Coast Conference schools, all with a great tradition and separated by just a few miles. “There are actually other important schools nearby, like Wake Forest. But Duke, North Carolina, and North Carolina State are the core schools. But within the Triangle, we are always considered the bottom tier,” says Lorenzo. But in his final two years in Raleigh, North Carolina State was tough, solid, and successful. They reached the NCAA Tournament twice. Brown led the conference in steals for one year and assists the following year. “By my junior year, we reached number six in the national rankings. Starting essentially from nothing and reaching number six shows we had a lot of character, and for a while, we were also top tier in Carolina, in the Triangle.” That year, North Carolina State defeated both North Carolina and Duke on their home court. Brown was the team’s driving force. He had 20 points and 11 assists against UNC, 12 points and 13 assists against Duke.
“The NBA is everyone’s goal. I thought that if I worked my hardest and gave my all every day, every single game, I would eventually make it. The turning point took place when Coach Mark Gottfried moved me to the point-guard spot”
Lorenzo Brown on his development
The turning point was the coaching change that brougth Mark Gottfried at North Carolina State: “As a freshman, I played guard. But Coach Gottfried moved me to point guard. I think that changed the trajectory of my career, it kind of accelerated it.” Brown dreamed of making it to the NBA at that point, but he was realistic. “The NBA is everyone’s goal; you can’t be sure you’ll make it. I thought that if I worked my hardest and gave my all every day, every single game, I would eventually make it. So, I tried every game, every day I was in the gym working on new things, building my character.”
For a few years, he moved back and forth between the NBA and the G-League, where he often dominated. “In the NBA,” he explains, “there’s a lot of money, you know what I mean. As an NBA player, you are held to higher standards: if you have a good shot, you have to make it, a turnover is a bad thing, taking good care of you is big. In the G-League, you are not watched that much; in a sense, you’re floating from one place to another, trying to discover yourself, but when you get to an NBA setting, you know everyone’s watching you, 24/7, and your goal is to leave a good impression. You do that in the G-League too, but there aren’t all those owners, presidents, and managers watching you, so it’s a challenge. If you have the chance to prove something, you have to grab it and make the most of it, because you never know who’s watching.”
“Playing in the EuroLeague is like playing chess, in the sense that you have to constantly think, it is move after move. When you play here, you have to try to be one step ahead of your opponent, because you never know what might happen.
Lorenzo Brown on the EuroLeague style
After a year in China, a bit of NBA, and a lot of G-League, Lorenzo landed in Europe. First stop: Belgrade, Red Star Belgrade, and the EuroLeague. “The first year was a little difficult at first, because I had to understand the league. And I wasn’t even playing much, so I had to adapt and figure out what made sense. Everything started to come around after a month and a half, two months. Mentally, I had my feet under me; I understood the game and the physicality of European basketball a little bit better. Then, of course, there’s the environment which can affect you, especially if you’re from the U.S. and never witnessed anything like that. Personally, I’d never seen that kind of atmosphere. It was a shock at first. Then I adapted, I learned to embrace European culture. That was what made everything fun.”
After Red Star, he played at Fenerbahce, Kazan, and Maccabi, where his game took a leap forward. “I know Kyle Hines’ analogy,” he recalls. “Playing in the EuroLeague is like playing chess, in the sense that you have to constantly think, it is move after move. When you play here, you have to try to be one step ahead of your opponent, because you never know what might happen. And there’s also a lot of talent. That’s the problem for many Americans when they come here: they don’t immediately realize that it won’t be a cakewalk just because it’s not the NBA. When you step on the court, you see right away that there are people who know how to play here too. And another thing: the players who have been here for a few years understand the game much more—I’m referring to those who are big players in Europe—and when you face them, it’s better to be aware of that, because to stand out, you have to do something special.”
Milan is his next stop. And he has high expectations. “I know it will all be challenging, that we have a lot of new faces, including myself, but we have a lot of experience on this team. And this aspect shouldn’t be overlooked in Europe. The EuroLeague is very different from the NBA, which is a lot younger. Here, the older teams are the ones achieving the most. In Milan, we have a team with a lot of experience, a lot of veterans. This will help us a lot throughout the season.” How playing with Josh Nebo will help him. “We played together at Maccabi. With him, you can put the ball anywhere you want, even out of bounds, and he’ll probably jump and reach it. He’s a player who makes your job easier. I enjoy playing with him, I think he enjoys playing with me. This year, I expect a lot from Josh, because he’s older, he knows the game better. He had to sit out last season, and now I’m sure he can’t wait to get back in the middle and give us lots and lots of highlight plays.”
