Does Finals rookie Christian Braun prove that GSW messed up the young guys? Not at all.

DEN treated Braun similarly to how GSW treated the young guys

Christian Braun as a symbol of everything wrong with the Warriors

I think everyone can agree that:

• In 2022-23, the Warriors did not get as much out of The Young Guys (particularly Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody and James Wiseman) as everyone was hoping.

• Rookie Christian Braun (#21 pick in 2022 Draft) is impressing people in the Finals.

This has led to some angst that the Warriors should have done the same thing that Denver did with Braun, whatever that means. Just look at how well Denver and Miami have handled their youngsters!

Specific criticism is more helpful than magical thinking. Various analysts and critics have complained that the Warriors committed these sins:

1. played the young guys inconsistent minutes throughout the regular season

2. brought in veterans to take away rookie playing time (e.g. Gary Payton II took minutes from Kuminga, DiVincenzo took minutes from Moody)

3. benched the young guys because of bad matchups

4. benched the young guys because of mistakes

5. criticized the young guys for complaining about their time

6. sold low on Wiseman

Let’s see how Denver handled their first round draft picks and avoided (or didn’t avoid) these sins. Spoiler: Everything people complain about GSW doing, DEN did the exact same thing.

How did DEN really develop Christian Braun?

First, the golden child. From jealous GSW fan chatter, you would get the impression that DEN carefully nurtured Braun — unlike the idiotic Warriors —

• with a steady encouraging diet of regular season playing time

• that grew into a confidence building role in the playoffs and

• by letting him play through playoff mistakes

• and bad matchups

• it prepared him to dominate the Finals.

EXCEPT EVERY SINGLE POINT IS WRONG.

Braun jerked in and out of the lineup

Christian Braun (2022 #21). He started off his rookie year in the rotation, but with highly fluctuating minutes. Between 2022-11-22 and 2022-12-04, Braun logged less than 7 MPG in 5 out of 6 games. It was noticeable enough that the Denver press asked Braun about his lack of playing time. He replied “there’s no frustration”.

His minutes continued to be highly unpredictable, going from 20-ish minutes over Christmas break down to single digit minutes in early January for six games. (SIN 1) He was back in the rotation for the end of Jan and through the late February All-Star Break, and then he was suddenly out again. Through Mar 10, he only played garbage time. (lots more SIN 1) He finally crept back into the rotation:

Braun, who played meaningful minutes for the first time since Feb. 25, finished with seven points, three rebounds, and an assist while playing 11:39 of the fourth quarter.

“When you’re down like we were, you’re just looking for a spark, you’re looking for somebody to give you some life,” said Malone. “… I’m looking for guys that can guard, and Christian has shown all year long, any chance he’s been given to play, he’s gone out there and done that.”

“It’s effort,” said Braun, who was a plus-9 in his minutes. “… Those guys don’t ask much from me, they just ask me to play hard.”

Braun played less in the regular season than Jonathan Kuminga

Braun played enough of a role afterwards to average 15.5 MPG across 76 games with 6 starts for a total of 1181 minutes.

Not like poor Kuminga, who got jerked in and out of the lineup with no time to develop, right? Wrong.

In case you were curious, in 2022-23, Kuminga played 20.8 MPG across 67 games with 16 starts for a total of 1394 minutes. He got a notably bigger role than Braun.

Braun played less and worse in the playoffs than Moses Moody

Braun has played 12.2 MPG in the playoffs across 17 games averaging 3.1 PPG / 0.6 AST / 2.1 REB. Moody played 13.4 MPG across 12 games averaging 5.8 PTS / 0.7 AST / 2.0 REB. Without all the Finals fanfare, the Warriors actually got more out of Moses Moody in the playoffs than DEN got out of Braun.

Braun played a minor role in the first two rounds of the playoffs in the MIN series and PHX series, averaging around 12 MPG.

Braun was benched against the Lakers, just as Kuminga was, and for the same reasons

Now for the most apt comparison. Some parts of Dub Nation are bitter that Kuminga didn’t get playing time against the Lakers. Here’s a typical tweet:

Malone is allowing Braun to thrive in the finals and Kerr can’t even incorporate Kuminga against the lakers smh

They say this would have never happened with Denver, just look at Braun! Exactly, let’s look at Braun.

Braun plays a similar position to Kuminga, cutting big wing. And like Kuminga, the Lakers defense didn’t respect him and didn’t defend him on the outside. And like Kuminga, Braun was unable to guard LeBron James.

So Braun played 12 min in Game 1, and apparently was pulled for a bad play (SIN 4), and then only played garbage time in Game 2 (4:30) and Game 3 (3:22). (SIN 3) He was a complete DNP in Game 4.

So Braun got the exact same treatment as Kuminga against the exact same Lakers team. It just wasn’t their series.

Conclusion

Braun was benched like Kuminga, and he stayed ready. When his number was called against MIA in Game 2, he was ready to be a cutter to take advantage of the defense against Jokic. It’s great to see a rookie get a chance to shine, but don’t think it’s because DEN has the secret to developing rookies.

Braun is just making the most of his opportunity in the Finals.

If you look at how Braun was treated and how other DEN rookies have been treated since 2020, Denver committed every single sin that GSW has. (The dramatic details of DEN’s other rookies are discussed in the Appendix.)

Did GSW get the most out of their young guys? Probably not. GSW seems to be making the young players earn their time through discipline, attitude and starring in their roles. This is the same thing that DEN is doing, and frankly I can’t imagine another way to do this that would be acceptable to the other players on the team.

It is HARD to develop rookies while winning in the playoffs.

And let’s not forget one unstated enormous factor. Christian Braun is 22 years and 53 days old today (2023-06-09). He played three years for one of the very top college programs (he won a national championship!)

• Jonathan Kuminga is 20 years and 246 days old, one and a half years younger than Braun! He played zero years of college and had one year of G-League with its unproven developmental program. Because he re-classed, I believe he even had one year less of high school ball than most prospects.

• Moses Moody is 21 years and 9 days old, still younger than Braun by a year. He played one year in a mid-tier college. And GSW got contributions from Moody in the playoffs similar to Braun.

• For completeness, I’ll say James Wiseman is the same age as Braun at 22 years 70 days, with 3 games of low-tier college and about 1.5 years of pro development time missed due to injury and other curses.

At this age, a year of development is massive, and Braun is well ahead of the curve compared to the GSW young guys.

I am still optimistic that if GSW holds on to the young guys, in one year Kuminga and Moody will be making Braun-like contributions and more.

Appendix: The Other Denver Rookies

Braun’s story is one of the better outcomes of the Denver rookie development program. Let’s look at how DEN treated other 1st round picks since 2020, especially the ones who complained about playing time. (Bones!) DEN have also been in Win Now mode, with Jokic in his prime and a Western Conference Finals loss in 2020.

Zeke Nnaji (2020 #22). DEN started him slowly, then finally played him 15 to 30 MPG between 2021-02-10 and 2021-03-04. Consistent minutes, right? Wrong, DEN traded for Aaron Gordon (SIN 2) and starting 2021-03-26, Nnaji only played garbage time and racked up 11 DNPs and 4 Inactives. (SIN 1) In 2021-22, DEN brought in veterans DeAndre Jordan and Jeff Green ahead of Nnaji on the depth chart (SIN 2) and DEN barely played him until December (SIN 1). DEN put him in the rotation until injuries knocked him out for the year in February. Year 3 was a struggle with injuries and comebacks, but in the end, he has played only garbage time in the playoffs in his three years.

R.J. Hampton (2020 #24). DEN really wanted Hampton as they traded a future 1st (2023 I think) to draft him. Then they brought in the 29 year old enraging veteran Facundo Campazzo to compete for his minutes. (SIN 2). Hampton got only garbage time until a stretch in February of playing nearly 20 MPG. Finally, some consistent time, right? Wrong. He then was DNPed for 5 games and Inactive for 7 games. (SIN 1) Finally, DEN shipped him out in the Aaron Gordon trade (SIN 6), selling low. Hampton promptly became May 2021 Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for his new team.

Peyton Watson (2022 #30) He played only garbage time until he was suddenly playing 20-ish MPG from 2023-03-31 to 2023-04-09 and then he returned to playing only garbage time and being out to injury. (SIN 1)

Bones Hyland (2021 #26). In his first year, he was a surprise success story. From “Everybody loved Bones Hyland’s rookie season, what’s next?”:

Bones Hyland spectacular first season ended with an NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection on Wednesday.

The Denver Nuggets’ young guard earned 81 votes on the rookie ballot. The Rookie out of VCU was the No. 26 pick in last year’s draft. Hyland averaged 10 points, 2.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game in 19 minutes a night….

Hyland is the first Nugget to earn the honor of the NBA’s all-rookie team since Jamal Murray in 2016-17.

Bones has a chance to start next season, possibly taking over the shooting guard spot from his mentor Will Barton. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, Hyland entered the future plans for the Nuggets in his rookie season and possibly made himself part of the core.

DEN traded Monte Morris that summer to clear the way for Hyland to have the backup point guard spot. The easy knee-jerk reaction at this time would have been to hail how superior DEN was at developing their rookies. Welp.

It’s not clear exactly when things started downhill. Possibly when DEN signed Bruce Brown over the summer to compete with Hyland for minutes. (SIN 2) On Dec 4 2022, head coach Mike Malone benched Hyland in the middle of the game for lack of effort. (SIN 4). He then passive-aggressively called out Hyland, the bench leader without naming names:

“That unit has struggled most of the year, and I take responsibility for that,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “Not finding a way to get those guys to play together, to play the right way, and most importantly, just to have some success.”

Then Hyland’s minutes yo-yoed between ~30 min and several games in a row with less than 17 MPG, then finally even getting some games playing less than 9 MPG. (SIN 1) Malone benched Hyland again on Jan 22 2023 and early in the fourth quarter, Hyland left the bench completely not to return. DEN then publicly punished him (SIN 5):

"Man, I just didn't like how everything went down over there," Hyland said. "Honestly. Just felt like I [was] just being treated worse than I was my rookie [season], and I felt like I was playing way better than my rookie [season]. I felt like s--- just [hit me] from [the] blindside."

Hyland, 22, will be the first to admit he let his emotions get the best of him when he left the Nuggets' bench on Jan. 22.

The Denver Post reported that the Nuggets punished Hyland by having him fly commercial and joining the team in New Orleans for a three-game road swing. Hyland called that frustrating moment a learning experience.

Team leader Jamal Murray followed with a subtweet widely viewed as a blast at Hyland: “Do not complain about what you didn’t get From the work you didn’t put in ..” (SIN 5 indirectly)

Finally, Denver held Hyland out for two weeks and traded him for two second round picks, an amazingly low return. (SIN 6). Even Wiseman fetched 5 second round picks!