Philadelphia 76ers: Charlie Brown Jr. has a lot to be thankful for

Normally, when the name Charlie Brown is in the news during the week of Thanksgiving, it’s for one reason and one reason only: Charles M. Schulz’s beloved cartoon character.

For many a family, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a holiday tradition; the final gasp of fall before the season (un)officially shifts to winter, and the green and red overload of Christmas begins to overtake all aspects of life.

But for the Philadelphia 76ers, there’s another Charlie Brown of note; one who is probably pretty thankful for his current situation too.

That’s right, as a Delaware Blue Coats ride high on a strong start to the season, Charlie Brown Jr. – no relation – the team’s Philadelphia born, Saint Joseph’s educated shooting guard was just named the G-League Player of the Week, which is a very nice feather in his cap as he attempts to make it back into the Association after being waived by the OKC Thunder back in September.

Charlie Brown Jr. is putting in work for the Philadelphia 76ers’ G-League affiliate.

Through his first three games of the season with the Delaware Blue Coats, Charlie Brown Jr. has averaged 22 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.7 blocks in 33.5 minutes of action per game.

That is a very impressive stat line.

To make things even more impressive, Brown is hitting 42.9 percent of his shots from beyond the arc on seven attempts per game, while hitting 50 percent of his shots from the field on 15.3 total attempts and 77.3 percent of his free throws, albeit on only three attempts in any given contest.

Oh yead, did I mention that Brown plays shooting guard? Wow, just wow.

Much like Paul Reed before him, the 24-year-old George Washington High School grad is taking the G-League by storm and ranks among the best individual performers at points, rebounds, 3 point shooting attempts and percentages, steals, and blocks on a Blue Coats team that currently has a 4-1 through the first five games of the season.

No wonder Brown won Player of the Week honors; he’s the only player in the G-League who has averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, despite there being a ton of really good young bigs like Jalen Johnson, Udoka Azubuike, and Mfiondu Kabengele putting in work.

Assuming Brown continues to play at such a high level, it feels like only a matter of time before some team, the Philadelphia 76ers or otherwise, comes calling and either offer the pride of Saint Joe’s a two-way contract, a 10-day contract, or maybe even a full-on NBA deal, perhaps even his former team, the OKC Thunder, who are always on the lookout for 24-year-old players who can soak up minutes during their rebuild.

Between you and me, I wouldn’t mind seeing Brown on a two-way deal over Grant Riller, especially if the former is able to consistently outshine the latter while the duo share the court together in Wilmington, as the former has NBA size, a smooth shot, and brings a ton of effort every time he takes the court.

When the Philadelphia 76ers acquired Charlie Brown Jr. from the Minnesota Timberwolves via their respective G-League affiliates, it didn’t generate much attention. The tweet announcing the trade has less than 120 likes despite being posted a little over one month ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some didn’t even know it went down unless they follow the franchise super closely. But in hindsight, the deal now looks like a massive win, as CBJ is playing very well with the Blue Coats and very well may make his way back to the NBA in the not-too-distant future, even if it ultimately isn’t with his hometown team. Why? Because when a player can rebound like Andre Drummond from the two-guard spot, they will always be on the NBA radar.