Photo courtesy of Hoopseen.
By David Cordova
During the first Live Period in July, one of the premier places to be at was Basketball City in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which was the site of the Adidas Gauntlet Finale. Many of the top players and programs on the Adidas circuit came out to showcase their talent in front of a bevy of college coaches in search of a collegiate scholarship.
On a Thursday night, there was one player on Court 2 that stood out over the others, one that had plenty of finesse in his game and a lot of athleticism. The player in question is none other than one Christian Brown. The 6-foot-6 swingman is one of the best small forwards in the nation and is rated at No. 37 in the Class of 2019 by ESPN. On that night, he scored 18 points and led his Upward Stars team to a 22-point victory over Baltimore’s Team BBC.
Brown hails from Hopkins, South Carolina, which is 11 miles south of Columbia, the state capital. When asked about being from the Palmetto State, he replied, “It’s country. But the coaches down there, shoutout to Coach Marvin, he’s the reason why I’m here, he’s my first-ever basketball trainer, he’s been working with me since the fourth grade to up. I still apply everything he teaches me, everything he needs me to do, I do.”
When asked about the strengths and weaknesses in his game, Brown replied, “Strengths: Driving, motor, rebounding, pushing in transition. My weakness: My left-hand, decision-making, I need to get better at that. My shot’s coming along, my ball-handling is coming along, just gotta keep working on it.”
Brown first started out at A.C. Flora High School in Forest Acres, South Carolina and helped them win a state championship as a freshman. As a sophomore, he averaged 16.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and was a second-team USA Today All-State selection.
As a junior, he transferred to Lower Richland High School in his hometown of Hopkins, where he averaged 22 points per game. When asked about his season at his new school, Brown replied, “Junior season, I had little bumps and bruises, turf toe [injury], which happened in the beginning of the season, and then the concussion, I was out for a month, so I couldn’t really play my junior year how I wanted to because of the bumps and bruises. So [the] summertime, I just gotta make up for junior year.”
This summer, Brown has wreaked havoc with Upward Stars on the Adidas circuit. In three games in the Adidas Summer Championships in Orange County, California, he averaged 18.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
When asked about his time on the Gauntlet, Brown added: “I’ve been playing with Adidas for three years, since my transition from Georgia Stars (a Nike EYBL squad) and Game Elite (another Adidas Gauntlet program) my freshman year. They’ve just been good to me, I just love the Gauntlet, I love the whole experience. You know, I’m here to create, that’s what Adidas is.”
He also played with the Athletes of Tomorrow squad, which is based out of Georgia, for a couple of tournaments, including a session on the Nike EYBL circuit. On playing with AOT, as they are commonly referred to, he added: “AOT, it was a real fun experience, everybody’s good on the team, hands down. It showed me something different. Went to Nike and had fun, it was just great.”
In regards to his recruitment, Brown has been one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation, but as of the spring, has now narrowed his list of schools to seven: Florida, Georgia, Seton Hall, UNLV, North Carolina State and local in-state schools such as Clemson and South Carolina, which is also known as USC.
“Recruitment, I’ve been going through this since eighth grade, recruitment’s been fun, it’s been exciting, it’s been tiring, it’s just all a process.”
In addition to playing at the Basketball City facility, Brown also loves playing in New York City, as he played in the famed IS8 tournament in Jamaica, Queens for 2G’z Entertainment.
“IS8 is different, the whole New York is different,” said Brown about the New York experience, “I would come back and play at IS8, I’m also trying to play at Rucker, so everything’s just different out there. It’s just real fun, people talk junk, get on the sidelines, it’s just different. I love playing at IS8.”
Now that his senior season, he has two things to look forward to: Winning another state championship, this time at Lower Richland and also deciding which of the seven schools will be his collegiate destination. With his athleticism and high-motor, the sky is the limit for Christian Brown.
“Senior season, just develop, get bigger, get ready for the next level, and just keep flourishing as Christian Brown and just don’t change nothing, and just keep going how he gets and he’s gonna finish it,” he said.
Highlights of Christian Brown:
Courtesy of Hoop Diamonds.
Courtesy of Ballislife.
Courtesy of Take Flight Hoops.
Courtesy of Hoop Diamonds.
Courtesy of OST 247.
Courtesy of Hoop Major Media.
Courtesy of OST247.
Courtesy of Rivals.
Courtesy of Rivals.
Courtesy of Ballislife.
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