Gilbert Brown, an undrafted, athletic wing from Pittsburgh who Danny Ainge began recruiting even before the NBA lockout began, will attend the Boston Celtics’ training camp, Brown’s agent told A. Sherrod Blakely.

Despite Brown’s college career that was mildly underwhelming from a production standpoint (he never averaged more than 11.3 points per game while in college), Ainge is reportedly enamored with Brown’s potential as a defensive standout who can make stand-alone triples. Brown, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing, shot 41.3 percent from behind the arc during his senior season, making 43 trifectas.

Ainge is so smitten by Brown’s sleeper potential that he told Brown he could be the next Wesley Matthews, referring to the undrafted free agent who played his way into a $34 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.

“He (Ainge) told me I could be the Wesley Matthews of this draft,” Brown told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Of all the teams I worked out for, Danny was the most excited to have me in. He really feels like I can make their team and contribute the first year. He was really confident in my ability. He felt like I stood out in my workout.”

A league source told Blakely he thought the Wesley Matthews comparisons might be a stretch, but did see Brown as someone who could develop into the type of lockdown defender the Celtics could certainly use.

In speaking with a league source whose team had Brown in for a workout, he said, “I don’t know about the Wesley Matthews comparisons. I don’t think he (Brown) shoots the ball that well, and I don’t think he can score the way Wesley does. But the Celtics don’t need that. He gives them a guy who has the potential to be a really good defender, the kind of defender they haven’t had since Tony Allen, really.”

Brown spent the lockout playing in Germany for S. Oliver Wurzburg, but had an opt-out clause to use in the event the NBA lockout ended. It’s unlikely the team begged Brown to stay, since his role on the team — where he played behind former Purdue Boilermaker Chris Kramer and former UMass Minuteman Ricky Harris, among others — was relatively small.

Rajon Rondo and JaJuan Johnson are reportedly among several players working out at the University of Kentucky, where the Oklahoma City Thunder are holding a a Nazr Mohammed-organized training camp of sorts.

For second round draft picks and rookie free agents, the NBA lockout means contract limbo. Instead of playing in the NBA summer league, getting invited to training camps, maintaining contact with coaches and trying to play their way into an NBA contract, rookies who were not selected in this year’s first round are currently on hold—at least as it pertains to the NBA. Players are still free to seek employment overseas, as Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown did by signing with the Germany-based team S. Oliver Wurzburg.

Brown, a 6’6 wing with a defensive-minded pedigree and athleticism to spare, had been targeted by the Boston Celtics before the lockout halted communication. If the Celtics still want to sign Brown when the lockout ends (in, oh, a couple decades or so), his new contract in Germany will not stop them. His contract includes a clause that will allow him to leave Germany whenever the lockout ends. (Pittsburgh Tribune Review, via ESPN)

The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Brown said he won’t leave for Europe until August, and that depends on the status of the NBA lockout.

“If the lockout ends early, I probably won’t even go,” he said. “It’s basically an insurance policy so I’m not waiting around for the lockout to end.”

Brown, who said a clause in his contract allows him to leave Germany after the lockout ends without penalty, worked out with the Boston Celtics last week.

Before I go I’ll leave you with a few Fourth of July fireworks, Gilbert Brown style. Happy Independence Day, and may teams learn to stop giving Brown the baseline. Unless he signs with the Celtics, of course, in which case teams should olé him baseline all day long.

Danny Ainge confirmed Boston’s interest in Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown, adding that the 6’6 wing will visit Boston today. The Celtics cannot officially offer Brown a contract until the NBA agrees on a new Collective Bargaining, but they are certainly proceeding with quite a bit of determination.

“As a matter of fact, Gilbert Brown’s coming in today as well, so we’ll have Gilbert — we’ll be doing the same thing with Gilbert Brown,” said Ainge. “He’ll meet with our strength coaches and go through some things with our coaches.”

Brown’s agent, T.J. Doyle, has said Brown will sign with a German team if the NBA enters a lockout. But Doyle is negotiating to include a buyout clause that would allow Brown to return to the NBA when the potential lockout ends.

After Brown visits, Ainge said the Celtics have no plans (yet) to bring in additional rookies. Though the Celtics cannot officially sign either their draft choices or Brown, they are attempting to proceed as normally as possible.

“We’ll just do what we do every year right after we draft,” Ainge said. “We’ll spend a few days with them and sort of get them acclimated – help them learn their way around the town, around the facilities, especially the immediate area. And have our coaches spend some time with them and teach them things to go home and work on.”

At that point, the rookies could be on their own. In a normal year, Boston’s rookies and most veterans spend at least a fraction of their summer training at Boston’s Waltham facilities. But if the NBA enters a lockout, players will be unable to use their team’s facilities. That means players will need to rely on themselves for the motivation to stay in shape and improve facets of their game (too bad Sheed’s not around—it would have been fun to play the “how many pounds can Sheed gain in one summer?” game).

Especially for rookies who have not yet learned the NBA way, a lockout could provide a serious setback in development. Even if the prospects currently look bleak, here’s hoping the NBA and the Player’s Association can come to terms before that happens.

The NBA Draft took place Thursday night, but the Boston Celtics might not be done adding rookies. They considered taking Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown with their second-round pick and reportedly have interest in signing the undrafted 6’6 wing to a free agent deal. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via ESPN)

Gilbert Brown was on the phone several times throughout the day Thursday with the Boston Celtics and was optimistic about his chances of getting drafted in the second round. When Thursday turned into Friday and the 51/2-hour draft had come to an end, Brown didn’t have much time to dwell on the disappointment of not hearing his name called.

Shortly after the draft ended, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge called Brown and expressed his interest in signing him to a free-agent deal. Brown said Ainge told him the Celtics had to make a decision between Brown and Purdue guard E’Twaun Moore with their second-round selection, the 55th overall in the draft. They chose Moore, but he wanted Brown to know that he was still interested.

“I’m definitely encouraged that the Celtics were interested,” Brown said Friday afternoon. “I was talking to them all day. They said it was the flip of a coin when it came time to make the pick. …

Boston is not the only team interested in bringing Brown to training camp. Phoenix and a few others have reached out, but Brown is leaning toward the Celtics because of the 30-minute conversation he had with Ainge early Friday morning.

“He really encouraged me,” Brown said. “He told me I could be the Wesley Matthews of this draft. Of all the teams I worked out for, Danny was the most excited to have me in. He really feels like I can make their team and contribute the first year. He was really confident in my ability. He felt like I stood out in my workout.”

If the NBA enters a lockout, of course, the Celtics will be unable to sign free agents. According to the report, Brown will sign with a team in Germany if a lockout occurs. His agent would not reveal the team’s name because he is negotiating an opt-out clause that would allow Brown to leave for the NBA whenever the potential lockout ends.

If you haven’t seen Brown play, watch this. Or this. Or best yet, this. He’s a long and athletic player who, like JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore, played for a winning college program that stresses defense. Unlike Johnson and Moore, Brown’s offensive game has little polish. During college, he almost solely scored on dunks/layups and spot-up shots from the perimeter.

Draft Express wrote, “Though he will be 24-years-old by the start of the NBA season and there are question marks regarding whether he can consistently make NBA three-pointers with his awkward mechanics, Brown remains an intriguing prospect whose niche as a pro is already well-established. His intangibles and defensive abilities will certainly translate to the next level and, if he can continue to distinguish himself as a reliable spot-up shooter during the NCAA Tournament and Pre-Draft process, then there is a good possibility that he will find himself on a NBA team.”

After doing this to Cincinatti, Gilbert Brown is going to certainly have to apologize.

Poor Steve Toyloy’s been having nightmares for the two nights since Brown decided to get medieval on his ass.

You would have nightmares too, if somebody did this to you: