Charlie Brown Jr.; has any 10-day player captured the hearts and imaginations of fans across Philadelphia 76ers nation in quite the same way?
I mean, we’re talking about a Philly kid who made good, played for Phil Martelli‘s St. Joseph Hawks, and made his way back home after stints with the NBA’s Hawks, the OKC Thunder, and most recently, the Dallas Mavericks on a 10-day contract.
Now I don’t know how Brown looked in a Mavericks uniform, but he fits right in back in the City of Brotherly Love.
But there’s a problem the 76ers will have to address in the not too distant future regarding the two-toned mohawk wearer: His contract status.
That’s right, even if the Philadelphia 76ers are able to extend Charlie Brown Jr. to another 10-day contract, eventually, they’ll either need to find him a spot on the 15 man roster – which is easier said than done – or free up a two-way contract to keep him in the team’s orbit for the remainder of the season. But if CBJ is in, who is the odd man out? Let’s attempt to find out.
Charlie Brown Jr. is easily a top-16 player on the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster.
What is the point of a two-way contract? Is it to secure a developmental youngster who needs the better part of a season to develop in the G-League or a chance to secure one more player who could situationally help a team for half a season?
As a general rule, most teams would probably go with the former, but in 2021-22, where two-way contracts are no longer restricted to half a season of action, more and more teams are looking to the latter option in hopes of remaining competitive when they’re a few players down.
As things presently stand, the Philadelphia 76ers have sort of split the difference with their two-way contracts, with Aaron Henry serving as a developmental forward capable of maybe becoming a rotational player down the road and Myles Powell serving as an immediate contributor who can run the point when needed and play off-ball too.
Of the two, Henry has a higher ceiling and is two years younger, but has largely failed to make an impact on the offensive end of the court both in Delaware and with the big clubs. Even back in college at Michigan State, Henry was a poor shooter from deep, averaging just 29.3 percent during his junior season, and that has unfortunately followed him to the pros, as the 22-year-old has missed his lone attempt from 3 and had made 16 of his 49 with the Blue Coats.
Charlie Brown Jr., though two years older, presents similar abilities as both a defender and a disruptor in the passing lanes but does so while hitting 40 percent of his 75 attempts from beyond the arc with the Blue Coats. With neither player a guarantee to stick around long-term at the NBA level, Brown is a better fit for the Sixers’ current needs and timeline.
And as for Powell? While he might now have the traditional look of an NBA point guard and may ultimately top out as a non-playoff rotational player on an NBA roster – think a player like Chasson Randle – his ability to make decisions and plays with the ball in his hands is a skill very much in demand by the Sixers, who are severely lacking in that department. Factor in a functional 3 point shot and Powell can help the Sixers win games right now, as evidenced by his high eight point performance versus the Houston Rockets.
Even if Powell has the “lowest” upside of the trio and wouldn’t even be on the team right now if Grant Riller didn’t suffer a string of injuries, he’s a valuable player in the short-term until the Sixers can further address their point guard position one way or another.
In a vacuum, I would still go with CBJ over Powell for his current fit and potential upside, but the beauty of having two two-way contracts is that both players can stick around if Daryl Morey sees so fit without having to trade away or release any of the 15 players on guaranteed contracts.
Is there a world where Charlie Brown Jr. plays out his current contract, maybe signs another 10-day deal, and then leaves the City of Brotherly Love for the next stop in his NBA journey? Yes, for all of the good the St. Joe’s product brings to the table he isn’t radically altering the team’s championship prospects one way or another and thus is expendable. But do you know what? Neither are Miles Powell or Aaron Henry, and CBJ is the best player of the three. If the Philadelphia 76ers want to address their need for a bigger wing in the cheapest way possible, rewarding Brown with a two-way contract for his impressive on-court efforts is a worthwhile way to do just that.