101 Greats of European Basketball

A champ in
six countries
When a player – in this case, Marcus
Brown – sees his scoring
numbers increase from 8.9
points to 18.1 to 22.4 and finally
to 26.4 points during his college
years, one would expect that
he’d have a good chance in the NBA, to say the very
least. When Portland picked Brown 46th in the 1996
NBA Draft out of Murray State University, everything
seemed to be going as planned.
Standing at 1.93 meters, Brown, who was born
April 3, 1974 in West Memphis, Arkansas, was a classic
shooting guard, a very coveted species. But he would
not be the first or the last rookie to have a rather unfortunate
stint in Portland. (I can remember Drazen
Petrovic, for instance). He played just 21 games and averaged
3.9 points, even though his shooting percentages
were acceptable: 39.5% on two-pointers and 40.6%
on threes. One of his few good experiences there was
interacting with The Tsar, Arvydas Sabonis. “Sabas”
showed a young Brown that there were great players in
Europe and good basketball there.
Very few people have the mental strength to turn disappointment
into opportunity. After the bad experience
in Portland and a frustrated chance with the Memphis
Grizzlies, where he didn’t play a single game, at the end
of the 1997-98 season Brown decided to cross the pond
and look for his opportunity in Europe. With his low
numbers in Portland, Brown could not look for a super
contract from the best European teams. But Brown was
smart, so he searched instead for a chance to shine, to
play a lot of minutes, and to show what he could do. He
signed for Pau-Orthez of France and in six games he was
already averaging 20.5 points. His team won the French
League title, thanks especially to him, but in the last game
of the final series, he suffered a serious knee injury.
After a year-long recovery, Brown tried to get back into
the NBA, this time with the Detroit Pistons, for the 1999-
2000 season. He had played just six games and averaged
1.7 points when he received an offer from Limoges. Brown
didn’t hesitate to travel back to France. Time would prove
that it was one of the best decisions of his career.
Triple crown in Limoges
Limoges had signed Dusko Ivanovic as head coach,
and with Brown as its star, everything turned out great.
Limoges won the French Cup, the French League and
also the Korac Cup. Brown was the top scorer (16.4
points in the national league, 20.9 in the Korac Cup) on
a great team completed by the likes of Yann Bonato,
Stephane Dumas, Harper Williams, Frederic Weis and
Carl Thomas.
Brown was decisive in the Korac Cup. In 10 games, he
scored between 21 and 28 points as many as five times.
But he saved his best for the title game against Unicaja
Malaga. In the first game, played in Limoges on March
22, the hosts beat Unicaja 80-58 thanks to Brown’s 31
points on almost-perfect shooting: 6 of 8 two-pointers,
5 of 8 threes and 4 of 5 free throws, plus 3 assists and
4 steals. With an advantage of 22 points, Limoges had
no problem lifting the trophy. Unicaja won by just nine
at home (60-51) and Brown was the top scorer again for
his team with 18 points, including 3 of 4 threes. It was his
fourth trophy in Europe. But that was only the start.
101 greats of european basketball
Marcus Brown
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