Sevgi Uzun and Jaelyn Brown Overseas Analysis
Projecting how Dallas's undrafted rookies will play over the course of the full WNBA season based on their most recent year in Türkiye
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Last season, the Dallas Wings reached the WNBA semifinals led by the foursome of Arike Ogunbowale, Satou Sabally, Natasha Howard, and Teaira McCowan. After losing in the first round the previous two years, this represented a clear step forward for the once-rebuilding team, spurred forward by the acquisition of Howard and Sabally’s healthiest WNBA season to date. While that entire quartet has returned, the Wings have experienced a surprising amount of upheaval for such a successful team, dedicating a staggering five of their 11 opening day roster spots to players with zero games of WNBA experience. One of those players was the No. 5 pick in this year’s draft, combo guard Jacy Sheldon from Ohio State. Two of those players were 2023 first-round draft picks, Stephanie Soares and Lou Lopez Sénéchal, both of whom missed last season with injury, as discussed in this previous article. And then there were the two surprises.
Point guard Sevgi Uzun and former California wing Jaelyn Brown (college stats here) were both undrafted free agents who continued their professional careers this past season in Türkiye. Both have carved out respectable careers in Europe, but neither has developed a reputation for stardom on the other side of the Atlantic, with Uzun being the least-heralded starter on Fenerbahce’s EuroLeague Women championship team and Brown being just the third-leading scorer on a team that finished the season closer to the relegation zone than to the playoffs. Nevertheless, not only did both players make Dallas’s regular season roster, but both started in the team’s first regular season game. This presents the following questions: were these breakouts predictable, and what can we expect from Uzun and Brown over the course of the full season?
Uzun has been an established point guard for various high-quality teams in the Turkish league for several years, but she had a breakout season last year when she took a slight step downward when she joined Botas, a smaller club. With Botas, she took on a major role, averaging 15.6 points and 7.4 assists per game while averaging 34.5 minutes in the Turkish league and recording similar numbers in EuroCup Women. This gave her the opportunity to rejoin continental powerhouse Fenerbahce, where she played from 2019-2021. However, while she served in a reserve role in her previous stint with the team, she averaged 21.8 minutes per game in EuroLeague Women this past season, serving as the starting point guard for most of the season. She did this playing for a star-studded group which featured Kayla McBride, Emma Meesseman, and Nikolina Milić, with Howard and Napheesa Collier trading off at the power forward position.
Uzun first and foremost operates as a traditional point guard. While she demonstrated her ability to score the basketball with Botas, she averaged a mere 8.2 points per game for Fenerbahce this season in EuroLeague Women and the Turkish league, a significant reduction even considering that she was no longer playing the lion’s share of the minutes. Uzun was able to stay on WNBA radars even with this reduction in scoring responsibility because of her ability as a passer, averaging exactly five assists per game across those two competitions.
Uzun’s passing ability naturally includes being able to execute set actions. Here, the play is meant for McBride to come off the screen for a jumper, and Uzun delivers the pass where it needs to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=ZfUj-fGl1NDHPZKV&t=5188
On this give-and-go, Uzun fires an overhead pass into Yvonne Anderson deep in the paint, and Anderson wheels around and gets a very short turnaround jumper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=KYZMtaPo-SbwmTDB&t=2719
In an isolation opportunity, she drives, pivots, and finds a cutting Marieme Badiane for a layup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=boItdKQdREwRnRAu&t=2769
She can also execute well as the ball-handler in pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop actions, as she does here by diming up Meesseman for a wing three.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=oqhKqQtFYTazLv7Z&t=1039
When 6-foot-10 Bernadett Határ switches the pick-and-roll here, it leaves Arica Carter at a significant size disadvantage guarding Milić. Uzun takes advantage and lofts in a pass for an easy layup over her much taller defender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=ATftFLBOirvFeVCo&t=790
Sometimes, players who are used to having the ball in their hands are unable to translate their playmaking abilities when downcast into smaller roles, having a tendency to pound the ball and disrupt the flow of their team’s offense. That is not the case with Uzun, who has demonstrated her aptitude for making one-more passes with Fenerbahce. In this case, not only does she make the one-more pass to Anderson, but she does so after making an off-ball relocation to preserve team spacing, another important part of playing off-ball. Anderson ultimately attacks the closeout and gets two points off a short jumper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=9bDAIVlPNpT5mfLn&t=1256
With Ogunbowale poised to continue orchestrating the Dallas offense, Uzun’s ability to provide value even when not initiating the offense will continue to prove especially valuable.
The biggest concern for Uzun is her inconsistency as a shooter. Last season on a less talented team, she only shot 31.5% from 3-point range in all competitions. This year, that figure rose to 34.1%. However, in both years the numbers were much higher in the offense-friendly environment of the Turkish league. In continental competition across both seasons, Uzun only made 24.0% of her 3-pointers on 96 total attempts. Here is an example of one of the 3-pointers Uzun did make in EuroLeague Women, a wide-open attempt in transition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=l2Ru-C4YnTB7YXAe&t=3789
In general, while Uzun is a bit more natural inside the arc, she still is not an especially aggressive scorer. Here, she picks the ball up when Endy Miyem stunts and misses this step-through floater hard even with no rim protector in front of her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=aVYOSUk5CMw99V6j&t=2059
Speaking of Miyem, Uzun draws her on a switch here, and Meesseman feeds her the ball to attack. Uzun aborts her first attempt earlier, passing to Anderson to reset before getting the ball back. On the second attempt, she gets into the lane but picks up when Allemand stunts over, losing her balance and having to throw a pass out desperately to avoid traveling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=pJHHUXRAf8_YqU-Q&t=2639
On this pick-and-roll, she gets a bit stuck when no clear passing window develops. She ultimately has to rush into a shot in order to beat the buzzer, losing the ball in the process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=cUE2BafwWIjY-KVT&t=2638
Not being able to threaten to score could limit Uzun’s effectiveness against WNBA defenses. Her high-level distribution ability will remain important regardless, but teams may just be able to play for the pass in most - if not all - half-court situations.
Uzun plays aggressive, effective defense at the EuroLeague Women level. She can be very effective in ball denial, as she is in blowing up this hand-off while guarding Julie Allemand. She ultimately forces the opposing point guard to receive the pass just in front of the half-court line, burning a couple of extra seconds on the shot clock in the process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=fn0CqyFNoo7jY_d1&t=1441
On this possession, she guards Allemand in the pick-and-pop and nearly snags the pass to the screener, Helena Ciak, at full overhead extension.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=uyDxDadLeK1Vrqw6&t=1126
She is not shy to exploit vulnerabilities in the opposing team’s offense. On this play, post player Laura Gil catches the ball several feet beyond the 3-point arc. Uzun senses an opportunity, sprints over to rotate, and snatches the ball out of Gil’s hands for a steal. She then turns defense into offense, racing down the floor and lobbing an assist to Collier.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=ObzrmVnpqemXYMEn&t=5795
Here, Uzun is an absolute whirlwind. First, she stunts over and then switches onto Olcay Çakır Turgut as she drives out of the pick-and-roll, relieving Anderson. When Collier deflects Çakır Turgut’s pass, Uzun stays with her through the loose ball situation and sprints with her back out to the perimeter. Then, she stunts over onto Leonor Rodriguez Manso’s drive before recovering back to Çakır Turgut when Rodriguez Manso kicks the ball out. Finally, Uzun stays with Çakır Turgut’s drive and forces a tough floater miss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=zHIW8xkASJv-rrjI&t=5905
That does not mean that her game is all whirring activity. She also makes subtler plays as well, such as stunting over to the elbow on this Stefanie Dolson roll to constrict her space that much more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=XTdVutTpWQ0_hcJ6&t=2189
A drawback of Uzun’s defense that is far from unique among point guards is the fact that her lack of size, even at 5-foot-10, can make it hard for her to impact plays at the rim. For example, while arriving a beat earlier may have meant that she could have stood tall rather than have to jump at the driving Antonia Delaere, the 5-foot-11 wing can ultimately make this layup without much difficulty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=L0McX73mO8ULRZ7W&t=1384
Here is a similar example in transition, albeit with a more significant timing delay, where Sika Koné runs the floor hard for an easy layup that Uzun cannot meaningfully upset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=llgbAy6j3_at1Mk9&t=5165
Here, she gamely fronts the post against the 6-foot-6 Ciak after switching a pick-and-roll, but there simply is not much she can do, especially since she is not receiving sufficient backline help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=g2XskiCOVVoFAtfD&t=2664
That being said, slightly improved screen navigation might help Uzun avoid some of these damaging switches, while also potentially helping Dallas’s larger centers play drop coverage more often and effectively. Uzun is clearly trying to get over this screen from Alexis Prince, a wing four, but she takes a slight bump and cannot recover in time to stop penetration. Consequently, she and Collier switch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/ic_QtnXw93U?si=mtxwEQCSD_ANp2n7&t=2617
This situation may not be as perilous, with the spacing being more cramped and Prince being closer to Uzun in size, but it still reveals how even smaller screens can give Uzun a certain amount of trouble.
Aggressive ball denial can have its disadvantages, although those are generally accounted for in team defensive schemes. Here for example, Marine Johannès gets back when Uzun denies her the ball, forcing Meesseman to switch in order to prevent one of the world’s deadliest shooters from getting a wide-open look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/mIxsk8PexLQ?si=KnMoZJuOm7Q0Eq4b&t=2493
Meesseman is more than capable of making this read and recovery, but not all post players might be, especially given the composition of Dallas’s front line. As a result, Uzun may not be able to lean all the way into some of these aggressive tendencies.
In the not-too-distant past, there was another pass-first, European point guard known for her defense with questions about her outside shooting who jumped into a WNBA starting role: Spaniard Anna Cruz. Cruz may have had a longer track record as a star at the European continental level before coming stateside, but Uzun’s statistics compare surprisingly well to Cruz’s.
It is worth noting that Cruz was a more efficient scorer in the WNBA than she generally was in Europe, a trend that extended beyond her rookie season. This does not guarantee that Uzun will, too, but it does serve as an encouraging sign for the Turkish distribution specialist. Just as encouraging is the fact that Uzun is clearly more prolific as a distributor, averaging substantially more assists while also having a better assist-to-turnover ratio. It is also interesting to view the trade-off between Cruz having a much lower 2-point field-goal percentage but Uzun getting to the free-throw line so infrequently. In short, Cruz’s WNBA career may have only lasted three seasons, but she was an effective contributor to the 2015 WNBA Champion Minnesota Lynx, and her success may be a positive harbinger for Uzun being able to carve out a solid role for herself.
While Uzun may not have stood out as an obvious choice for a WNBA player, Jaelyn Brown actually might be even more of a surprise. Before joining Antalya 07 Basketbol as part of a roster reshuffle after the team was eliminated from EuroCup Women competition, she actually spent the first month-and-a-half of her season playing for another Turkish team, Hatay Bsb, a team that would ultimately finish the season 0-28. In December, Hatay let not just Brown go but both of the other Americans on the roster by the end of December. All three import players were averaging more than 20 points per game, but it was not enough to lift the team to a single win.1 Without them, the season got even worse, with 11 of its final 12 losses decided by a margin of at least 25 points. The club is still presumably reeling financially from the aftermath of last February's massive earthquake, which devastated the region, cut short the team’s 2022-23 campaign, and even claimed the life of a visiting player. When she joined Antalya, she was replacing former Las Vegas Aces shooting specialist Aisha Sheppard. In addition, Antalya had and kept two other players with notable WNBA experience, former No. 5 overall pick Kelsey Bone and NCAA champion Destanni Henderson, both of whom actually outscored Brown on a per-game basis in her stint with Antalya. Nevertheless, Antalya finished the season 10-18, ranking 12th out of 15 teams.
Brown certainly received opportunities to prove her mettle on the ball. She operated consistently in ball screen situations, although many of her preferred opportunities tended to result in her taking long 2-point jumpers. This could still result in some highlight-worthy moments like this pull-up made over Wings teammate McCowan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=ul6OxQC8XLrFQN3-&t=1976
However, the fruits of her scoring out of the pick-and-roll are not universally sweet. In particular, she does not seem unusually accurate on these long pull-ups, which are often lamented for being about as accurate as 3-pointers but not garnering the extra point. Take this example, where she gets the pick-and-roll after coming off a hand-off and ultimately misses a shot taken just inside the arc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=1eWh8KgiXw4ZlKOZ&t=2057
In pick-and-pop, she liked to hit the screener with the pass for an open jump shot, finding Bone on this play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=hSEm1gJSH-BFfMvN&t=4226
Brown could also make passing reads that put the ball closer to the basket. This pick-and-roll draws a switch from Khaalia Hillsman. When Brown observes that she does not have a significant advantage driving to the rim, she pulls the ball back. Meanwhile, Bone realizes that the switch gives her a size advantage, so she cuts to the block. Brown spots this cut and hits Bone with the pass, which Bone turns into a postup and finish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=Y23V0bcGEGy4JA4U&t=4280
In addition to the pick-and-roll, Brown liked to use her size to attack mismatches against smaller guards in the post. She had fairly consistent opportunities for these plays given that she stands 6 feet tall and often was deployed as Antalya’s shooting guard. Here, she exploits 5-foot-9 Ayse Cora’s size disadvantage, her efforts to front the post proving inadequate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=qTQlgRizC97_pzVY&t=3151
After inbounding this ball from the sideline, she notices that she has a massive size advantage over Doga Adican and uses her physicality to carve out post position. Once she receives the pass, she immediately draws attention from 6-foot-6 rim protector Esra Ural-Topuz, but she is still able to convert a stepback over Ural-Topuz’s outstretched arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=ZTZUvemqlh5IJcQF&t=1771
These post-ups can also turn into passing opportunities, like this way where she kicks the ball out to the opposite wing to Soana Lucet for three points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=qHIKG7Lkh3VbfBiT&t=4648
Brown is a deadly transition scorer. In particular, she excels at running the wing in transition for open layups, as she does down the left side of this play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=_L2wfsb06LKgKneW&t=2432
Occasionally though, she can rush her finishes. Listed at 5-foot-8, Ayse Yilmaz may not be the most fearsome rim protector, but Brown still misses this transition layup with Yilmaz the one player fully back in transition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/TWbWVcjkZjU?si=maZFj8hHnrMxyXP_&t=1755
Brown displays her athleticism in more than just transition situations. Here, although the opportunity ultimately goes begging, she nearly outjumps the 6-foot-7 McCowan for an offensive rebound after crashing from the left wing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=NJhNN6FZafRfpD_H&t=1578
At the other end of the spectrum, Brown’s limitations as a jump shooter could cause some problems for her team’s offense. While she attempted a perfectly respectable 6.5 3-point attempts per 40 minutes across her stints with both teams, she only made 30.0% of these shots. Furthermore, she generally did not take the most complex of shots, with many of the threes she took coming from her teammates drawing help.
She also missed opportunities to help space the floor better. In this transition play, she does a good job saving the ball on the sideline. However, when Adican goes to double Bone on the ensuing face-up drive, Brown stays put rather than exploiting the help and running into the corner, where she could theoretically get an open shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=Tuv57GfmvE_apO3d&t=2379
That possession ended fine for Antalya - Bone drew a pair of free throws - and Bone is not necessarily the best passer, recording a lackluster assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.68. Nevertheless, being able to move in the manner suggested can also make defenders think twice about leaving Brown in the first place even if her percentages from deep range remain pedestrian.
On this play, Brown does a nice job relocating on the left wing when her defender digs on Henderson backing down. Surprisingly, perhaps because of sub-optimal shot prep, she opts not to shoot the ball, jab-stepping and slowing the flow of the Antalya offense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=psOC0wwYK6fH9Z1O&t=2127
Being able to shoot like this more consistently could stress the defense, ultimately allowing her to leverage her ball-handling more effectively.
That being said, Brown did still have plays where she moved around the floor nicely. After spacing gets a little tight on the left side here on Henderson’s initial drive, she does a better job of balancing the floor on the high post entry to Bone. After Bone collapses the defense and kicks the ball back out to Henderson, Brown slides deeper into the corner and gets ready to shoot, creating an opening that leads to her draining a 3-pointer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=b1MwYLzk8bnb8Kpt&t=5680
The following shot may have been a miss, but it does stand out as one of the more actively sought attempts in the sample watched for this write-up. After receiving the inbound on this baseline out-of-bounds play, then giving it up, she tries to go for a hand-off action with Bone. When Meltem Yildizhan denies her the space to do so, Brown cuts back and takes the wing three, even with Myisha Hines-Allen coming to contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=4rlqZCzguALb2rfH&t=744
However, that does not mean that Brown does not provide value off the ball. In fact, she is a very aggressive cutter who can generate easy baskets when the defense has directed its attention elsewhere. She is particularly good at cutting diagonally from the wing, such as here when she gets past Anderson with a nifty double move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/TWbWVcjkZjU?si=M4xIJRdrmAVoTqYj&t=2173
Overall, Brown’s best offensive skill, at least in terms of how it relates to her projected role, may just be her connective passing. While her assist numbers may not jump off the page, she did record a solid assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.47 once she moved on to the more well-rounded Antalya team. Furthermore, she does a job of passing on the move, which is especially important for a complementary player as she projects to be in the WNBA. Here, she curls around to the weakside wing, takes a dribble and then notices that Lucet has inside post position. As a result, she flings the ball inside, and Lucet earns an and-1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=-6Y4JB0bj1rmJVxx&t=1596
Here, Brown strings her cutting and passing ability together, 45-cutting and then sending the ball quickly along to a wide-open Helin Boybeyi at the high post. She ultimately does not earn an assist here because Boybeyi feeds Bone on the opposite block from Brown, but the play still serves as a great example of Brown keeping the ball moving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=8dpWE-3Aeeqp6blu&t=5936
Being able to make interior passes like this on the move should translate well to playing off potent scorers like Ogunbowale, Howard, and Sabally once she returns from injury. In fact, it should be all the easier because Brown will often be attacking against tilted defenses rather than having to create advantages herself all the time.
The following sequence depicts excellent Antalya ball movement sparked by Brown coming off an off-ball screen and catching the ball at the top of the key. She then accepts a ball screen from Bone and gets to the elbow, drawing attention from Hillsman and kicking the ball out to Lucet on the opposite wing. Lucet then slings in an entry pass to Bone, who kicks the ball out to Brown, who ultimately throws the one-more pass to sharpshooter Gunesh Karaoglan for a corner three. It is an excellent sequence for the team as a whole, and Brown contributes the all-important bookend feeds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=hSnZphPnvFhm2oXq&t=1010
After Brown grabs and goes here off the defensive glass, she races down the floor in transition and throws Bone a nice alley-oop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=U0ha6XNMaN2ed3Wl&t=1999
Defensively, Brown has a penchant for charge-taking, especially in transition. For example, she victimized Jaime Nared twice in a single game, both times in the open court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=mxPCdgE254OvbC9H&t=1335
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=kOo9vWb0IXhSF0XS&t=2237
In the halfcourt, Brown has some notable weaknesses or odd tendencies defensively. For example, Brown tended to navigate screens by going under them. This is often a coaching decision, but it remains curious that she would do so in a situation like this one against deadly microwave scorer Hind Ben Abdelkader (37.5% accuracy on 8.2 3-point attempts per 40 minutes in the Turkish league and EuroCup Women this season).
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=4WdaMALC_FHCs5JY&t=1051
Some evidence to indicate that this may reflect Brown’s general tendencies or be a reaction to Brown’s specific strengths and limitations can be found here. While Brown goes over this ball screen guarding Sierra Calhoun, she appears to lose her balance and gives Calhoun plenty of space to pull up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=VWKe5GzGuFHOnJFY&t=4302
Calhoun shot 38.2% from 2-point range and 36.8% from 3-point range this season - and she actually had a better 3-point percentage than 2-point percentage last year in the Hungarian league and EuroCup Women - so taking away the pull-up should always be the top priority when guarding her. Unfortunately, Brown was just not able to do so effectively on this particular play.
As another example, here, on the previous defensive possession, Brown intentionally goes under the screen against Calhoun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=GtIZwK90L_ZAoEUz&t=4259
For more sound screen navigation from Brown, take this play. She first goes under a Ural-Topuz ball screen for Gökşen Fitik, a much weaker shooter than Ben Abdelkader or Calhoun, then goes over another, snugly set Ural-Topuz ball screen at the elbow before getting stuck on an even deeper rescreen. Ultimately, Bone is able to break up a drop-off pass for a steal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=8CtqLPBdMMbigTU6&t=4244
Another play that may match the scouting report but still seems curious can be seen in the following play. Sug Sutton cuts to the corner after inbounding the ball from the baseline to Fitik on the wing. When Sutton is unguarded in the corner, Fitik sends the ball right back. Brown takes a single step toward Sutton, but she ultimately makes no effort to contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/woAmISakEnQ?si=AzrZRgFUD0ne0tLq&t=1020
Sutton may not be the world’s greatest 3-point shooter - she made only 32.9% of her 3-pointers in the Turkish league last season, and that figure is buoyed by games that occurred after the matchup with Antalya - and it would be something of a long closeout, but it seems noteworthy that Brown does not even make a cursory effort, especially since it is clear that she diagnoses the situation appropriately.
The following play may represent more of a missed opportunity for a high-level read than a mistake per se, but it also reflects how intensely Brown tended to focus on her primary assignment while playing for Antalya. After going for a rebound grabbed by NaLyssa Smith, Brown momentarily loses track of her matchup, Sude Yilmaz, who has relocated to the wing. Once Brown finds Yilmaz, she runs right past Smith - now posting up Lucet, over whom Smith has both a size and speed advantage - without making any play on the ball or attempt to double-team. Smith makes a quick move and sinks a short lane-line jumper over Lucet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/3RuBXMCBRuc?si=1AY0THoX85WSRnaT&t=1338
This is completely understandable in a vacuum - helping on the strong side is frequently discouraged, and digging here would leave Yilmaz open. However, Smith is an extremely dangerous postup threat even against WNBA competition while Yilmaz only shot 26.4% from 3-point range in the Turkish league and EuroCup Women this season.
One of the off-ball rotations that Brown made most consistently was shading potential post-up opportunities, especially mismatches. Take this play for example, where she is not only creeping over while Tilbe Şenyürek posts up Lucet but while Milić tries to seal Henderson in the mismatch situation. When the shot goes up, Brown essentially relieves Henderson but does not put in a strong boxout. As a result, Milić grabs the offensive board, but Brown strips her on the attempted putback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/TWbWVcjkZjU?si=kByvRCX9Sm9s5vTe&t=1518
The following play represents a particularly extreme example. She not only slides over as Hillsman jockeys for position, but she then stunts at the Ferda Yildiz drive on the opposite side of the court once the ball is swung to the weak side.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/4Tetka6E8v8?si=KkuudnwYgglRWMWB&t=2994
What makes this play particularly notable is that Yildiz only attempted 2.3 shots inside the arc per 40 minutes and only attempted 3 free throws all season. In other words, Yildiz was about as little of a driving threat as one could be, yet Brown still afforded her serious attention.
Statistically speaking, Robyn Parks represents an interesting point of comparison for Brown’s overseas numbers. Before surprising outsiders and claiming a spot in the Chicago Sky’s bench rotation last season, Parks had had a journeywoman’s professional career, with her previous stop seeing her finish a hair behind Jessica Shepard for the Italian league’s scoring title.2 While the Italian league may not have quite as much talent as the Turkish league, notably sporting far fewer current and former WNBA players beyond its top teams, it is also a league where far fewer players put up gaudy counting stats. This year represents an extreme example as the Italian league’s leading scorer was Australian sharpshooter Madeleine Garrick with only 16.9 points per game. By contrast, only two of the Turkish league’s fifteen teams lacked a player who averaged at least that many points across the full season - Botas, which had Lyndra Weaver and Lindsay Allen both average at least 16 points per game, and the aforementioned Hatay.
Overall, the biggest standout is the difference between the two players’ free-throw percentages. Parks transformed into much more of a shooting specialist with the Sky last season than she has traditionally played overseas, but Brown’s below-average free-throw percentage of 62.1% casts doubt on her ability to make outside shots consistently as the level of competition increases. On the other hand, Brown’s higher quality as a passer gives her another means of making an impact offensively, provided that her shooting is good enough to garner a baseline level of respect from opposing defenses.
Both Uzun and Brown have plenty to contribute on the WNBA court. Uzun’s role may be more conventional and straightforward as a traditional floor general, but Brown’s skill in transition and as a passer give her a foundation for maintaining consistent minutes and should allow her to remain in the rotation even once Sabally returns from injury after the Olympics. Over the course of the season, it will become clear whether Uzun and Brown can make an impact, but the Dallas Wings front office and scouting team very well may have had a couple of great finds.
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One of those other players, former West Virginia shooting guard Katrina Pardee, also participated in training camp with the Wings. In addition, Brown, Pardee, and former Arkansas forward Jessica Jackson - the last of the Hatay imports cut in December - are all represented by the same agency.
Parks had actually already had a contract in Mexico cued for herself in the event that her training camp run in Chicago had not resulted in a roster spot.