Jaylen Brown to California

Jaylen Brown has committed to California.  Most Dawg fans saw the writing on the wall a while ago and knew he wasn't coming to Athens, so there's no need to be too upset.

In fact, instead of being upset, just find your closest Tennessee Volunteer and remind them that the guy they ran out of town is bringing in two top 10 recruits along with a 4-star small forward and a 3-star wing.  That should make you feel better.

And if you're still in the dumps, just mull this over:

On the flip side, Brown continues a surprising run of misses for Kentucky this spring. John Calipari and the Wildcats have now missed on all of their five-star targets in the last month, including Brandon Ingram (No. 3), Cheick Diallo (No. 7), Malik Newman (No. 10), Stephen Zimmerman (No. 12) and now Brown.

[ESPN]

Mark Richt has lost control of Jaylen Brown

Quoth Jaylen Brown:

I will definitely be going to an Adidas school.

To save you the trouble, no, Georgia is not Adidas.  The only Adidas schools remaining on his list are Kansas, UCLA, and Michigan.  At least Georgia Tech and Kentucky need not apply.

So when Brown ends up in Kansas, take a breath before you blame Mark Fox.  Then blame him anyway, because that's what we do!

Update:

Or maybe not?

[ESPN]

Dream a little dream

It's the weekend, and the dream is alive:

Patrick Hamilton, who starred as a guard for the Bulldogs in the late 1980s, is a teacher at Wheeler High and an assistant coach for the Wildcats’ recently-crowned Class AAAAAA state championship team. So he knows Brown well and has closely monitored his recruitment.

In fact, Hamilton said he talked to Brown this week about where the Bulldogs fit in.

“I asked him if Georgia was still in the hunt or not in the hunt,” Hamilton said. “He said, ‘oh, yeah, they’re still in the hunt.’ So I do think we have a shot.”

We're probably less than a month out from Brown's announcement, so let's embrace this quiet moment and allow ourselves to hope.  No need to fear disappointment.  We've known plenty of that around these parts.

[AJC]

Recruiting 101

Jaylen Brown's latest blog post at USA Today has some insight into Coach Calipari's recruiting methods:

Like Coach Cal talked about his relationship with Drake, which was cool because I’m a fan of his.

Whatever it takes, right?  Hard to argue with his success.

Reading further, Mark Fox may want to start hanging out with whatever J. Cole is...

h/t USA Today

Recruiting against China

Evan Daniels introduces a late entrant into the Jaylen Brown sweepstakes - China:

Brown, a 6-foot-7 athletic wing, has yet to make a college commitment and is considering five schools – Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA. But it’s not a foregone conclusion he plays college basketball at all.

“Absolutely,” Brown responded when asked if he would consider skipping college and playing overseas for a year.

Before you dismiss it as too much of a long shot,  understand that Emmanuel Mudiay's decision to sign with the Guangdong Southern Tigers has a lot of top prospects thinking:

That was huge,” Jaylen Brown, Scout.com’s No. 1 player in the 2015 class, said about Mudiay’s decision. “It’s starting a new culture.”

“A lot of guys are talking about if they could do that, they would,” Brown added. “There are a lot of things coming up that could be on the table for some guys. Everybody is interested and everybody is watching to see how he’s going to do and how it’s going to work out.”

Can you blame them?   Between his contract and endorsements, Mudiay stands to make a couple million dollars he otherwise wouldn't make by going to college.  Money isn't everything, but numbers that large are difficult to ignore.

Going overseas will not work for everyone.  There are cultural and language barriers.  There is often great distance from your friends and family.  There is also missing out on the college experience, which is something many of these kids have dreamed about for years.

If Brown were to pass on college for a pro contract, though, I can't say I'd blame him.  If offered a couple million dollars to relocate to China for a year, most of us would at least consider it.

In the end, I'd rather he play professionally in China than play professionally for Kentucky any day.

h/t Evan Daniels

The pitch

Michael Carvell gives us a little more insight into the way Georgia is pitching him:

Earlier in the week, UGA’s Mark Fox gave his best shot with the 6-foot-7 forward from Wheeler High School.

“Mark Fox showed Jaylen exactly where his shots were going to come from on the floor,” Eastmond said. “He said ‘This is where we expect you to score. And this what we expect of you based on what we know you can do.’ Coach Fox talked about the talent level that he’s had in college — players that have gone on to become productive pros over the years, even when he was at Nevada.”

Georgia is not going to win this thing on facilities, or fans, or history.  If Brown chooses to come to Georgia it's going to be because:

1. He wants to stay closer to home.
2. He embraces the challenge and pressure of being the guy to put this program over the top.
3. He believes his NBA stock won't be negatively affected by coming to Athens.

Having just put KCP in the NBA (top 10, nonetheless) certainly gives Fox some credibility there.  However, Georgia still has a lot to overcome to close the deal on this one.

My gut says it comes down to Kansas and Georgia Tech, but I have no substantiating evidence.  I hope I'm wrong, because Brown would make this team competitive at a national level the instant he stepped foot on campus, and I'd love to hear "small forward from the University of Georgia" when he's shaking Adam Silver's hand in 2016.

h/t AJC

Jaylen Brown in-home visit

Mark Fox got a chance to visit Jaylen Brown on Sunday.  Not much else to report.  Brown tweeted out that he enjoyed the visit, but you'll find a similar tweet for every in-home visit he receives, so that's not very telling.

Then there is this:

Brown is leaning towards waiting until after his senior season at Wheeler to make his decision so he can evaluate the tons of coaching changes and early NBA departures that happen after every college season.

Anyone hoping for a quick end to this is going to be disappointed.  However, I think that's the right way to do it.  The depth chart is important, especially when you'll probably only be playing college ball for a year.

h/t AJC

Old man basketball?

Old man football is old news.  How about some old man basketball?

The rumor mill is starting to heat up a bit around Jaylen Brown, and much of it seems favorable to Georgia.  Along those lines, let's talk a little bit about Brown without counting (too many of) our chickens before they hatch.  Here are some things to know:

1.  Jaylen Brown is still improving.  Consider the following from the linked article:

Brown is one of the most aggressive players in the class of 2015, and his ability to score against any defender has pushed him to the No. 2 spot in the senior class. At this time last year, Brown was still a touted prospect – but his stock certainly wasn't this high.

...

The Wheeler (Ga.) product is not content with his ranking right now, continuing to work on his game – he says he has a “long list of things” to improve.

He has risen about 20 spots in the class rankings since his junior year, which would be good for any top 100 kid, let alone a kid who was already ranked in the 20's.  On top of that, he did so the old fashioned way:  he figured out what he needed to improve, and he worked at it.

Yet he's not yet content with his ranking.  His No. 2 ranking.  Do you want this kid on your team yet?

2.  Jaylen Brown is a program changer.  Unfortunately for Brown, he cannot enter the NBA draft after his senior year.  That means some lucky college will have an NBA-ready talent in school for at least a year.  For a school like Georgia, that can be a game-changer.  The last 5* to come to Athens and play basketball was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.  KCP was and is a fantastic player, but there are indications that Brown could be even better.  Add to that the fact that Brown would be coming to play for a talented and veteran team, and ok, I have to stop, I'm getting too excited.

3.  Jaylen Brown is a small forward.  Georgia could really, really use a small forward and a center in this next class, and if you made me choose, I'd say small forward is the position of greatest need.  Inking Brown would be a spectacular way to meet that need.

One thing Georgia is doing is pushing the "coming home" theme popularized recently by one Lebron James:

“After LeBron with the coming home campaign, it looks real good,” Brown said. “Georgia Tech said they would do the same campaign, and UGA said the same. Those two are in my top five automatically.”

Hey, whatever it takes.  All I'm saying is, this 2-deep looks pretty nice, no?

PG - Charles Mann, Will Jackson
SG - Kenny Gaines, Juwan Parker
SF - Jaylen Brown, Kenny Paul Geno
PF - Yante Maten, Cameron Forte
C - Osahen Iduwe, Osahen Iduwe (ok...maybe we do need that center)

Read the article.  Get your hopes up.  Hope is good.

h/t Jeff Borzello