Coming to the Lakers in a midseason trade alongside Adam Morrison for Vladimir Radmanovic, Shannon Brown contributed more than most expected, particularly in the playoffs.
His numbers in 18 regular season games were limited by 7.6 minutes per game, in which he averaged 3.2 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists. In the playoffs, his minutes jumped to 13.1 per game, and he averaged 4.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and more importantly, helped defend bigger point guards like Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups.
Below are some highlights from his presser:
- Brown opened by saying that he didn’t even know if he was going to be in the NBA before the season began, so participating in a championship parade was “unbelievable, a blessing.”
- Coming back to the Lakers is: “Real important. We have another chance to win another championship and continue to get better.” Quite simply: “I want to be back.”
- Brown said playing with Kobe, Pau and Lamar made his job a lot easier in terms of hitting his shots: “I’ve always felt like I had those abilities, but the system gave me a chance to show it. Playing with guys that attract a lot of attention make it easy. Those were wide open shots. I just got a chance to play basketball and it felt good.”
- More love for the team: “This team showed me so much love from the beginning, it was easy for me to feed into and buy into what was going on.”
- Brown said his teammates wanted him to get into the dunk contest after seeing his hops … In fact, Brown competed in the McDonald’s High School All-American dunk contest with LeBron James, who said he was going to compete in the 2010 contest. Remix possible.
- Brown referred to himself as a “Throw in” to the trade between Charlotte and the Lakers (from Charlotte’s end), but Mitch Kupchak didn’t seem to consider that to be the case. In fact, Brown said that Kupchak looked at Brown for specific things, asked for them, and Brown delivered.
- More on what Mitch and Phil told him: “Just continue to work on my overall game, learning the game, my shooting, defense, just continue to work hard. I think they believe I’m gonna do it.”
- On Derek Fisher’s old hops: “I got a picture of him dunking on Iverson.”
- Brown reflected on how much it meant to win a championship being from Maywood, Illinois, just a few blocks away from the United Center where Phil Jackson won his first six rings: “I told Phil that I was looking through the screen while the games were going on watching Mike and Scottie and all those guys doing their thing, going out in the back yard trying to emulate them … (Now I’m thinking I get to play for arguably the greatest coach ever to do this. It’s a great situation. I’m just happy.”
Just before tearing his MCL in January, Andrew Bynum had exploded to the tune of 26.2 points, 13.8 boards and 3.2 blocks across a five-game stretch in dominating fashion. After 32 games on the pine, Bynum returned from injury with just four games left in the regular season, and while not approaching 100 percent health, played a key role in L.A.’s championship by shoring up the middle of the paint on both ends.
Following a breakout 2007-08 season that earned him a contract extension with the Lakers, Sasha Vujacic was disappointed with his injury-plagued 2008-09 that saw his contributions wane as the season wore on.
Being asked to change his role more so than any other Laker despite being in a contract year didn’t limit the production of Lamar Odom in a terrific 2008-09, who ultimately played a major role in L.A.’s championship.
Jordan Farmar began the 2008-09 season playing quite well off the bench, serving as the spark behind the league’s best second unit as L.A. opened 20-3, but a few games later he tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee and missed 17 games. Getting back into rhythm was tough for Farmar, though his biggest contribution of the season came at a key moment: After Derek Fisher was suspended for Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals against Houston, Farmar contributed 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals with just one turnover in 33 minutes of L.A.’s 108-94 win.
In his rookie year out of China, Sun Yue played just 28 minutes across 10 games, scoring a total of six points with two assists, and was inactive throughout the playoffs. Sun did get some valuable playing time in the D-League, and is currently deciding whether or not to play in L.A.’s summer league or to go home and train with the Chinese National Team.
No Laker improved more from the regular season to the playoffs than Trevor Ariza, as witnessed by his numbers.
Embracing his roll off the bench after starting 34 games before the All-Star break, all the while battling foot and ankle injuries, Luke Walton played a key roll off the bench in the playoffs thanks primarily to his basketball IQ and ability to move the basketball.
NBA.COM is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network.
