Washington
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Ben Gordon is in Chicago. Emeka Okafor is in Charlotte. And the third key member of UConn's championship cabal is joining the Washington Wizards training camp next week. Taliek Brown will try to muscle his way into the NBA.
The 6-1, 195 pound point guard is looking for a chance to make an impression. In his last and senior year he averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 6.5 assists. Given the injury to Steve Blake, the Wizards may want to put Brown on a 10-day contract to open the season just as insurance.
Brown was not projected by many to be drafted though he could have been a second round pick. On the other hand, he now joins luminaries such as Marquis Daniels last year, who also went undrafted. What that means is if he plays great, gets a contract, works himself into the lineup, and has a terrific year, he could potentially get a huge payday come 2005.
Brown is known as a pace-pusher, a runner with a keen eye for passing who will push the break at every opportunity. Certainly for training camp that is what head coach Eddie Jordan is looking for. Perhaps Brown will be successful.
TEAM NOTES
See the2004-2005 Wizards dance team, whom Wizards center Brendan Haywood helped select and judge.
John Pettit ofThe Record-Journalwrites: [Taliek] Brown just hopes to be playing on the NBA level the coming season. He goes to the Washington Wizards' training camp next week."We'll see what happens," he said. "If that doesn't work out, I'll just go overseas." Brown entered the Aqua Turf wearing a neat gray suit and a Yankees cap. He said he was, "the king of the neighborhood" when he returned to Queens after UConn's 82-73 victory over Georgia Tech in the title game. "I've been looking forward to this a lot, just reuniting with everybody and seeing everybody again and getting our rings," he said. "I still can't believe we won the championship and I've watched the tape a million times already."
Matt Eagan ofThe Hartford Courantwrites: [Taliek] Brown has been preoccupied with the future recently - he has been invited to the Washington Wizards camp next week - but put that aside for one night."This will be a good night, reuniting with everybody and getting our rings," Brown said. "I've been waiting to get the real rock with all the diamonds in it. This should be fun."