Brown's Bad Break

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jun 9, 2005 3:45PM

Illini guard Dee Brown broke his foot yesterday during a game at the NBA predraft camp being held at the Moody Bible Institute here in Chicago.

Brown declared early for the NBA draft, choosing to test the NBA waters after being named both the Big Ten player of the year and the Sporting News' national player of the year. However, due to his 5'11" height and lack of experience as a true point guard, Brown was only projected to be picked in the second round. This predraft camp was his opportunity to dazzle NBA brass and try to entice somebody to select him in the first round, which means a guaranteed 3-year contract.

The broken foot means he'll have surgery this week and will be unable to play for at least 2 months. That makes it pretty diffucult to wow the scouts before the June 28th NBA draft. Fortunately for Brown, he had not hired an agent which means he can withdraw from the draft and return to Illinois. And that's what some NBA consultants thought he should do even before the injury.

Bruce Weber thought so, too, which caused Brown to lash out at his coach for not taking his draft entry seriously just a day before his injury. Did Weber pop open a celebratory Corona while on vacation in Mexico when he heard the news that Brown would be back? The Illini looked poised to fall back to mediocracy with the loss of four starters from this year's NCAA title game team. With Brown returning, they'll likely remain a top 25 team.

Photo via FightingIllini.com