Former NC State Shooting Guard Lorenzo Brown’s two-year professional career has tossed him around like a yo-yo.
Brown was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the 2013 NBA Draft, with the 52nd overall pick. Shortly after the draft the Timberwolves waived Brown on October 25th, 2013. Exactly one week later he was acquired by the Springfield Armor, the D-League affiliate of the Brooklyn Nets. In 8 games with the Armor, Brown averaged 13 and 5 assists in 25 minutes per game. As a result, the Philadelphia 76ers were impressed with what they saw and picked up Brown on November 10th, 2013.
During Brown’s rookie season, he went up-and-down between the NBA and the 76ers D-League team in Delaware 6 different times. Brown saw action in 26 games with the Philadelphia 76ers that year, averaging 8.6 minutes per game and scored a season high of 8 points on December 14th. Down in the D-League that same year, Brown averaged 20 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds in 12 games with the Delaware 76ers. Despite that, he was officially waived by the Philadelphia 76ers on March 14th.
After being waived, the offseason after his rookie season was a roller coaster. He signed with Reyer Venezia, a professional team in Venice, Italy, but he never even suited up for them because he failed his physical. On September 25th he was picked up by the Detroit Pistons and started playing with their D League affiliate team, the Grand Rapids Drive a month later at the start of the 2014-15 season. Brown excelled with the Drive, averaging 17 points, 4 assists, and 5 rebounds per game (19 games), and was named to the Futures All-Star Team for the 2015 NBA D-Leauge All-Star Game in February of this year.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that originally drafted Brown, paid attention to his success in the D League, and when Ricky Rubio and Mo Williams went down with injuries, they signed Zo to a 10-day contract on January 28th. Brown had a great first game with the T-Wolves, scoring 11 points and dishing out 3 assists in 24 minutes of play. He actually was forced into the starting lineup due to more injuries in just his second game, and played 48 minutes, and picked up 9 assists and 6 rebounds. The Timberwolves ended up signing Brown to a 2nd 10-day contract, before officially signing him to a contract to finish out the season. In Brown’s sophomore season with the Timberwolves he averaged 4 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds over an average of 19 minutes per game. He even started 7 games this season.
The future with Brown and the Timberwolves is unknown at this point, but he has shown extreme perservearance, and Wolfpacks fans should be proud of him.
Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.
Former NC State All-American Shortstop Trea Turner was named the National League Player of the Week last week.
The 30-year-old hit .462 (12-for-26) with a home run, four RBI, five doubles, a walk, 10 runs scored, a stolen base and a .481 on-base percentage in six games last week.
The Florida native led the Majors in runs scored; tied for the NL lead in doubles and extra-base hits (6); ranked third in slugging (.769), OPS (1.250) and hits (12); and ranked fourth in total bases (20).
The two-time All-Star recorded four straight multi-hit games from Tuesday through Saturday, putting together three-hit games on Wednesday against Colorado and Thursday against Chicago (AL). It was the third time in his Phillies’ tenure and eighth time in his career that he had at least four-straight multi-hit games.
The 2019 World Series Champion has hits in 10 straight games since April 11th, batting .429 (18-for-42) with two homers, six RBI, six doubles, two walks, 12 runs scored, a stolen base and a 1.169 OPS during the stretch. He has reached in each of his last 13 games since April 8th, batting .434/.483/.660 over the stretch.
The North Carolina State product stole home on Sunday against the White Sox, marking his 40th consecutive stolen base since September 6, 2022 when he was a member of the Dodgers. His current streak surpassed Jimmy Rollins for the fourth-longest all-time and is now tied with Hall of Famer Tim Raines for the third-longest streak in Major League history. Next on the list is Ichiro Suzuki, who swiped 45 straight bases from April 29, 2006 through May 16, 2007, and Vince Coleman, who stole a Major League record 50 straight bases from September 18, 1988 through July 26, 1989. (MLB)
Turner was a 2-time All-American at NC State. In 2012, Turner was named 3rd Team All-American by NCBWA, and in 2013 he was named 2nd Team by Collegiate Baseball, and 3rd Team by NCBWA and Baseball America.
Turner’s 113 career stolen bases at NC State are the most in school history.
Turner was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1st Round with the 13th overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft.
Payton Wilson – 1st Round – 29th Overall Pick – Indianapolis Colts
It’s a cliché to go “best athlete available” for the Colts, but Payton Wilson certainly ticked that box at the NFL scouting combine. Wilson was exceptional in his final season at NC State, earning grades above 75.0 in all three facets of defense, led by his 90.0 coverage grade with three interceptions and four forced incompletions.
Wilson has an early-round grade based strictly on his game tape, but durability concerns could drop him to this range — or even later. He had 130 tackles, six sacks and three interceptions last season.
Former NC State Guard Terquavion Smith earned a spot on the 2023-24 NBA G-League All-Rookie Team.
Smith averaged 22.3 points, 3.4 assists and 3 rebounds per game for the Delaware Blue Coats. What’s crazy, is that he only started in 3 of the 36 games he played in. With that being said, he averaged 30.7 minutes per game. Smith shot 35.6% from three.
As a 2-way player, Smith also played 16 games for the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 3.3 points in 5.3 minutes per game. He shot 37.1% from three.
Former NC State Linebacker Payton Wilson had a Top-30 visit with the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday. Wilson is the first Linebacker the Steelers have brought in.
Updated Steelers visit tracker:
Interesting to note that Pittsburgh only met with one LB for a pre-draft visit: Payton Wilson. Huge injury history, but a great player (and athlete) when healthy.
The Pittsburgh #Steelers held a top 30 visit with #NCState LB Payton Wilson.
Wilson, at 6-foot-4, 233 pounds, is the first linebacker to be brought in for a pre-draft visit by the team. He’s expected to be drafted in the second round. pic.twitter.com/fVxjVhQArA
Wilson has the length, movement ability, IQ and tape of a first-round linebacker. What will likely keep him from being drafted on Day 1 is his injury history and age. If healthy, he can be a starting inside linebacker in any defense. (PFF)
Will someone take Wilson in the 1st round? Will he be a 2nd round pick? If he slips past that, that’s just stupid.
)
