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The Detroit Pistons are preparing for life without Brandon Jennings, and their first move might be to call up Lorenzo Brown from the NBA D-League, according to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com.
Correction: Aschburner cited an earlier report by Real GM's Shams Charania:
Detroit is strongly considering the call up of guard Lorenzo Brown from its D-League affiliate Grand Rapids, league source tells RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 25, 2015
Brown was with the Pistons in the preseason and is the starting point guard for the Pistons-affiliated Grand Rapids Drive. He is averaging 16.8 points on 50.4 percent shooting this season. However, he has a nearly 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio -- 3.8 assists to 3.6 turnovers per game. That's ... not so good.
It is a relatively easy choice for the Pistons, however, as signing Brown to either a 10-day or full-season contract wouldn't require any corresponding roster moves. Detroit has 14 players under contract -- one under the maximum.
Before the season a lot was made of the Pistons finally getting their own D-League affiliate. Stan Van Gundy talked about how it would enable the team to install the same offensive and defensive system and use the same terminology. Van Gundy even hired longtime friend and former Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith as the Drive's first head coach.
Brown is ranked No. 11 on the D-League's NBA Prospect Watch List:
True point guard with great size who has gotten several looks with NBA teams. Shaping up to be a solid backup if he can become more of a scoring threat, keep improving jumper.
While the 6-foot-5 Brown doesn't wow you with his passing, he has greatly improved his 3-point shooting (up to 38 percent this year) and a great rebounder for a point guard at 5.7 per game. Brown also had a 26-game, 224-minute cup of coffee with the Philadelphia 76ers last season. He averaged 10.3 points, 6.6 assists, 2.6 turnovers and 4.5 rebounds per 36 minutes, and shot just 30.2 percent from the floor.
Other D-League possibilities the Pistons could entertain are Seth Curry, who is shooting nearly 50 percent form 3 in the D League, Bryce Cotton, who is a quality pick-and-roll point guard, and Tim Frazier, who is averaging 8.5 assists.