{"id":2007502,"date":"2026-06-24T00:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007502"},"modified":"2026-06-24T00:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:45:27","slug":"mikel-brown-jr-selected-by-brooklyn-nets-with-no-6-pick-in-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007502","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Brown Jr. selected by Brooklyn Nets with No. 6 pick in 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p><i>The Athletic has <\/i><i><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/nba-draft-2026-live-updates-round-1-tracker-results-giannis-antetokounmpo\/NJNyRbgefCcT\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">live coverage<\/a><\/span><\/i><i> of the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The Brooklyn Nets selected Mike Brown Jr. with the No. 6 pick on Tuesday in the NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>What makes Brown so special is the potential combination of shooting and passing ability. He has an elite intersection of arguably the two most important skills in the modern NBA. As soon as he gets an outlet pass or grabs a rebound, he immediately gets his eyes up to look for early hit-aheads. He plays quickly and is accurate on his hit-aheads as he always seems to hit guys in stride. Brown plays a team-friendly game.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>His shot opens the rest of his game. At the FIBA Under-19 World Cup last summer, he shot 47.6 percent on 3-point shots (averaging six attempts per game). In six tracked games on Synergy for DME Academy, he shot 37 percent on more than 11 3-point attempts per game, many of which were of the completely absurd pull-up variety. Brown has no conscience when it comes to pulling up from distance.<\/p>\n<p>But a\u00a0lack of strength permeates Brown\u2019s game more than you\u2019d hope. He came in at the combine at 190 pounds, but doesn\u2019t really play that heavily and needs to fill out his frame with more muscle \u2014 that\u2019s arguably his biggest area for improvement. Brown doesn\u2019t have the power aspect to his game that a player needs to be successful in the highest-leverage moments right now. You see the lack of strength most in his defensive game. Brown is a poor defender and t ends to be contact-averse on defense. He can stay in front of his man because he has quick, fluid feet, but he isn\u2019t strong enough to absorb contact through his chest on drives and tends to get pushed backward.<\/p>\n<h2>Sam Vecenie\u2019s draft guide summary<\/h2>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"KR7heLYR03ksR5F\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_Root__QeM_i\">\n<div class=\"VideoHost_VideoWidth__XjNKI VideoHost_Portrait__XBaJC\">\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Root__AGckL\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Title__npf3B\">Why Mikel Brown Jr. is one of the highest upside guards in the 2026 NBA Draft<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_Authors__jxyYV\">Sam Vecenie<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"VideoTitleFrame_VideoWrapper__Xgp47\">{&#8220;@context&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/schema.org&#8221;,&#8221;@type&#8221;:&#8221;VideoObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/KR7heLYR03ksR5F\/&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/KR7heLYR03ksR5F\/&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Why Mikel Brown Jr. is one of the highest upside guards in the 2026 NBA Draft&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;Mikel Brown Jr. struggled early at Louisville as he dealt with a back injury. However, Sam Vecenie explains why Brown&#8217;s best moments look every bit as good as anyone else&#8217;s in the class.&#8221;,&#8221;uploadDate&#8221;:&#8221;2026-06-12T22:39:10.467Z&#8221;,&#8221;duration&#8221;:&#8221;PT2M1S&#8221;,&#8221;thumbnailUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/KR7heLYR03ksR5F\/MJOoU5h811o9.0000000.jpg&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/KR7heLYR03ksR5F\/MJOoU5h811o9\/MJOoU5h811o9.m3u8&#8243;,&#8221;transcript&#8221;:&#8221;Louisville&#8217;s Mike Brown Jr. dealt with a back injury throughout the course of his freshman season, but still showcased enough of his dynamic playmaking ability and ball screens to be considered a lottery-level prospect. Here&#8217;s the case for why Brown has one of the highest upsides of any guard in the 2026 NBA draft. Coming off of an elite performance at the Under 19 World Cup last summer, Brown struggled early at Louisville as he dealt with this back injury. However, after returning in January, scouts got the flashes of what made him such an interesting prospect. He averaged 18 points and 5 assists per game. He&#8217;s a home run hitter at the lead guard spot. Few guards are better at fitting passes through tight windows and reading defense out of ball screens. Brown also possesses limitless range on his three-point jumper and clearly has the kind of creative mind that teams searched the globe for at the lead guard spot. Here&#8217;s why Brown&#8217;s best moments look every bit as good as anyone else&#8217;s in the class. Brown is a superb playmaker for others. Despite being right-handed, he is almost a lefty dominant passer. He loves to throw. Live dribble kickouts with the left as he shows here on this wing blowby against Toby Lull, where he gets underneath the rim, keeps his dribble alive, and throws that sweet lefty kick out to the corner. But then he also knows how to play off of hesitations, off of the bounce and ball screens like he does on this one, throwing a nasty hang dribble crossover, then he uses his body to protect the ball while going up for a layup and getting the foul for the and one. If you give him space on a ball screen from the top of the three-point line, you&#8217;re just dead. Brown is a sweet. Sweet shooter out of ball screens. You can see here, Gerron Pierre just gets caught on this screen and Brown immediately elevates, fires into the 3 and drills it. Brown could get a little bit wild and struggle to play in structure, but he&#8217;s all sorts of dynamic in the way that LaMelo Ball is on the court. Brown&#8217;s smaller and isn&#8217;t quite as shifty as LaMelo is. LaMelo went #3 overall for a reason, but imagine something like that as a best-case scenario, a smaller LaMelo if he can iron out some of his worst plays and start to be a little bit more careful with the ball.&#8221;,&#8221;ineligibleRegion&#8221;:[&#8220;BI&#8221;,&#8221;BY&#8221;,&#8221;CD&#8221;,&#8221;CF&#8221;,&#8221;CU&#8221;,&#8221;IQ&#8221;,&#8221;IR&#8221;,&#8221;KP&#8221;,&#8221;LB&#8221;,&#8221;LY&#8221;,&#8221;ML&#8221;,&#8221;NI&#8221;,&#8221;RU&#8221;,&#8221;SD&#8221;,&#8221;SO&#8221;,&#8221;SS&#8221;,&#8221;SY&#8221;,&#8221;UA&#8221;,&#8221;VE&#8221;,&#8221;YE&#8221;,&#8221;ZW&#8221;],&#8221;publisher&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;NewsMediaOrganization&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/&#8221;,&#8221;foundingDate&#8221;:&#8221;2016-01-25&#8243;,&#8221;logo&#8221;:{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;ImageObject&#8221;,&#8221;@id&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;url&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;contentUrl&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png&#8221;,&#8221;creditText&#8221;:&#8221;The Athletic&#8221;,&#8221;height&#8221;:&#8221;60&#8243;,&#8221;width&#8221;:&#8221;435&#8243;},&#8221;publishingPrinciples&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/&#8221;,&#8221;sameAs&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic&#8221;},&#8221;author&#8221;:[{&#8220;@type&#8221;:&#8221;Person&#8221;,&#8221;name&#8221;:&#8221;Sam Vecenie&#8221;}]}<\/p>\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_root__AKv5b\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16;max-height:min(100%)\">\n<div class=\"AspectRatioBox_inner__86C_2\" style=\"aspect-ratio:9 \/ 16\">\n<div class=\"VideoStreamPlayer_GridStack__2H0p2\"><video preload=\"none\"><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"g-text svelte-i37gsg g-text_last\">The pitch with Brown is simple. In today\u2019s NBA, there might not be a more important intersection of skills than shooting and passing ability. Brown has those skills in a big way. He\u2019s a monster 3-point shooter who hits them at volume, and he is a tremendous live-dribble passer who reads the court well and makes good decisions while also being able to separate in ball screens. With those two skills alone, it sets him up for a tremendous amount of success.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-text svelte-i37gsg g-text_last\">Brown needs to keep taking steps with his frame, however. On-ball players this skinny who have entered the NBA recently have struggled. The NBA is a man\u2019s league. There\u2019s no other way to put it. Brown is going to have to keep filling out now that he has grown to 6 feet 4. He is set to be one of the most interesting players to evaluate this cycle. On one hand, I tend to be hard on smaller guards \u2014 and despite Brown\u2019s height, he plays like a smaller guard. On the other hand, I tend to value skill, high IQ and shooting ability as much as anything. 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439px){background-color:transparent}.player-card__photo.svelte-1u319qg{height:100%;width:auto;overflow:hidden;img.svelte-1u319qg{width:100%;height:58px;object-fit:cover;transform:translateY(2%) scale(1.45);transform-origin:top center;object-position:top center;@media (min-width: 379px){transform:translateY(0) scale(1.5)}@media (min-width: 499px){transform:translateY(2%) scale(1.5)}@media (min-width: 600px){transform:translateY(3%) scale(1.3)}}}}}}.recirc-link.svelte-1u319qg{display:inline-block;margin-top:10px;font-size:13px;font-family:var(&#8211;g-franklin);color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-80);text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-underline-offset:2px;font-weight:600;@media (min-width: 379px){font-size:14px}@media (min-width: 720px){font-size:16px;margin-top:14px}}@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark){.native-mobile{.player-card.svelte-1u319qg{background-color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-70);&#8211;g-player-photo-bg-color: var(&#8211;g-color-grays-70)}.player-card__tagline.svelte-1u319qg{color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-20)!important}.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg,.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg .player-name-and-school.svelte-1u319qg,.player-card__player-info.svelte-1u319qg .player-school.svelte-1u319qg,.recirc-link.svelte-1u319qg{color:var(&#8211;g-color-grays-10)!important}}}<\/p>\n<div id=\"g-bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA\" class=\"birdkit-body g-bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA g-dark-mode-incompatible\" data-preview-slug=\"bk-VRlZQ16v5iHfRA\" data-birdkit-hydrate=\"3beea8e1f0a960b1\">\n<div class=\"tk-embed-wrapper-class graphics-container-impressions fp-ignore svelte-1ma8250\" data-module-label=\"nba_draft_guide_2026\" data-module-type=\"embed\" data-module-context=\"nba_draft_guide_2026\" data-module-id=\"player_card\"><a class=\"graphic-wrapper-link svelte-1ma8250\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/interactive\/nba-draft-guide-2026\/player\/mikel-brown-jr.-louisville-guard\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"player-card svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"player-card__player-info svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"content-wrapper svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"position-rank-container svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge svelte-j9csdc\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge__position svelte-j9csdc\">Overall<\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge__rank svelte-j9csdc\">10<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge svelte-j9csdc\"><span class=\"position-rank-badge__position svelte-j9csdc\">Guard<\/span> <span class=\"position-rank-badge__rank svelte-j9csdc\">6<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p> <span class=\"player-name-and-school svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"player-name svelte-1u319qg\"><span class=\"player-name-text\">Mikel Brown Jr.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"player-school svelte-1u319qg\">Louisville<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"player-card__tagline svelte-1u319qg\">A home-run hitter of a lead guard who could stand to settle for singles at times.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"recirc-link svelte-1u319qg\">Read full profile \u203a<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"player-card__photo-container svelte-1u319qg\">\n<div class=\"player-card__photo svelte-1u319qg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/graphics-cdn.theathletic.com\/nba-draft-guide-2026\/images\/mikel-brown-jr.-louisville-guard-profile.png\" alt=\"Photo of Mikel Brown Jr. Louisville\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"svelte-1u319qg\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>John Hollinger\u2019s analysis<\/h2>\n<p>Brown played as an on-ball guard at Louisville but was wracked by a massive turnover rate. However, I think he has a backstop as a strong 3-and-D guy. While his defense wasn\u2019t consistent, the tape showed he has a really good first slide that consistently cut off an opponent\u2019s first move, and he\u2019s good in passing lanes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Offensively, he has a very good left hand around the rim, but his other game inside the paint needs work; in addition to the massive turnover rate, he only shot 47.4 percent on 2s in ACC play.<\/p>\n<p>However, the shooting piece is perhaps getting underrated. Brown made 38.1 percent from 3 in conference play on nearly the highest 3-point volume of any player in this draft cycle, and he shot 82.2 percent from the line. Watching his shooting form makes it clear that wasn\u2019t a fluke; this guy can stroke it. That piece of his game figures to be a weapon regardless of whether he can be a high-usage on-ball player at the next level.<\/p>\n<h2>David Aldridge\u2019s draft confidential<\/h2>\n<p><strong>College head coach No. 1 (his team played Louisville):<\/strong> He\u2019s big-time. He was always really, really good and knew how to play the position. But between his junior and senior year (of high school), he grew. That\u2019s the big thing. And all of a sudden, athleticism popped in. That took his whole thing to another level. Last year, (at the U.S. men\u2019s World Cup Under-19), the two best guys were A.J. (Dybantsa) and him. He was magical, as a facilitator. He can score it, he can shoot it, he can get to the rim and finish on top of you. \u2026 Louisville runs more pattern stuff, more pattern sets. They did allow him to (iso) some. And when he played, if they were in tight games, down the stretch, they put him in spread ball screen and let him go. I\u2019ve seen him hold up (defensively) OK. This year, it was hit or miss. When he wants to, because he\u2019s long and athletic, and he can really move and slide his feet, so when he wants to, yeah, he can. And I think he\u2019ll want to in that league.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NBA Draft. The Brooklyn Nets selected Mike Brown Jr. with the No. 6 pick on Tuesday in the NBA Draft. What makes Brown so special is the potential combination of shooting and passing ability. He has an elite intersection of arguably the two most important skills in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2007502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}