Sixers' Brown thinks rookies are coming of age

THE SUPPOSED cream of the NBA's rookie crop showed up at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night in the form of Minnesota's Andrew Wiggins and the group of supposed second-tier rookies was laying in wait.

Throughout the game, first-year Sixers JaKarr Sampson, K.J. McDaniels and Jerami Grant took turns guarding Wiggins and no doubt took tremendous pride in limiting the No. 1 overall pick to 15 points on 7-for-17 shooting.

Also in that game, official rookie Nerlens Noel had maybe his best effort as a pro, collecting 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting, to go with six rebounds, six blocks and four steals.

The performances of his rookies earned the praise of Sixers coach Brett Brown.

"I think they look at him [Wiggins] as a peer," said Brown. "As a group we know that he's had a heck of a year and that they've needed him. We felt like, athletically, we had something to offer, too.

"At times when I saw Nerlens, with all due respect to Andrew Wiggins, I thought that maybe we have the rookie of the year. As a group, to try and guard Andrew and to try and guard them, I suspect [there was some pride running through the rookies' veins]."

After a practice a couple of days back, Brown called over Grant and asked him to get down in a defensive stance. He then asked the 6-8 swingman to show his wingspan while bent at the knees, butt low to the ground and back perfectly straight. "Look at that," said Brown with a smile. "Just look at that."

The coach's point was how imposing Grant looks, just arms and legs everywhere. He is one of many rookies on the team with with those long, athletic bodies that Brown and his staff are trying to mold into solid NBA contributors.

Grant, from Syracuse, has made tremendous strides since being sidelined for 4 weeks with a sprained ankle at the beginning of the season. His jumper has improved tremendously and he is a capable penetrator. Like his jumper, his defense has gotten better throughout the season.

At 6-9, 214 pounds, JaKarr Sampson has played a big-man role in basketball since he can remember. A power forward or center at St. John's, really the only ballhandling he would do was in pregame warmups. But with this roster and with this coach, he has been asked to play both guard positions as well as both forward spots. While Brown has asked him to think mostly about defense, the offensive part of Sampson's game has grown to where Brown is no longer holding his breath and squinting his eyes when Sampson gets the ball.

Recently, the coach conceded that he was even thinking of telling Sampson that they were going to send him down to the NBA Development League to get in some more minutes. That didn't happen and now Sampson finds him in the starting lineup.

"Just opportunity," Brown said when asked why Sampson didn't head to the Delaware 87ers. "That's the nature of our group. I think JaKarr, to sell him as a defender and really nothing else [except] to run the floor and guard, he's done more than that. [Sampson starting] lets K.J. McDaniels see the floor from a different lens in letting him come off the bench. All those factors played into that."

You look at 10-38 and the first reaction is obvious. But if you look deeper, after 48 games, Brown is doing what he has done throughout his career with the San Antonio Spurs, which is to grow peripheral pieces. Before the season, who would have thought that players such as Sampson and Grant and McDaniels would be very big contributors? With their improvement, they now are key cogs who have helped the team win six of their last 16 games.

"I think for the future of the league, you're going to have to roll out athletes that can [guard inside] plus get out to the three-point line. I think the three-point line is an instant game-changer," said Brown. "Defensively, I think you have to have the athletes and length to do both, to guard the paint and chase the three-point shots off the line. That's one of the things we're starting to do a little bit better. Defensively, we're trying to build a generic athletic team that can switch, get back, get to three-point shooters and still protect the paint."

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