Rich get richer: Lakers have another weapon

Shannon Brown has displayed a vasly improved three-point stroke this season. (Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

Whether it was more the product of luck, smart management or understanding the appeal of playing for a winner, the Lakers played hardball with a key reserve, Shannon Brown, and ended up re-signing him on the cheap. And, boy, does that signing look every bit as important to the title picture as some much more expensive summer deals.

The Lakers’ move to re-sign Brown to a two-year, $4.6 million deal — with the second year a player option — looks like one of the best deals of the offseason at this point. Brown has reinvented himself as a knock-down three-point shooter, and he’s been so good — hitting more than half his threes (29-of-57) — that he has single-handedly turned games for the Lakers and shoved Ron Artest out of the crunch-time lineup here and there. If he keeps this up, Brown will emerge from this season severely underpaid and perhaps tempted to opt out of his $2.4 million deal for 2011-12.

That’s exactly what Brown did after last season, as you probably recall. Flush from playing a key reserve role on a title team, Brown walked away from a deal that would have paid him $2.15 million this season and became an unrestricted free agent.

The Lakers had at their disposal the full mid-level exception (about $5.8 million) and a limited version of Larry Bird rights teams over the salary cap can use to re-sign players who have logged fewer than three seasons without changing teams via free agency. Those so-called Early Bird rights would have allowed the Lakers to offer Brown anything up to the league’s average salary (the equivalent of the mid-level), according to Larry Coon’s salary-cap guide. That amount would have been plenty for Brown, but the Lakers waited. They nabbed Steve Blake for more than two-thirds of their mid-level exception. With Brown still looking around for suitors — and there were some — the Lakers spent the rest of the mid-level on Matt Barnes.

The Lakers were taking at least a bit of a risk that no team would blow away Brown with an offer they weren’t willing to approach. They may also have been betting that Brown was the sort of player who would value the chance at a three-peat enough to turn down an extra $1 million or so and return to the Lakers.

If so, they won — and they appear to have won big. Brown re-signed in early August for exactly the same amount of money he would have received under his original deal, according to ShamSports. Even better: On the strength of his newfound three-point stroke, Brown is averaging 11.8 points in 19.3 minutes per game.

Brown was not a good three-point shooter last season. He hit 32.8 percent, below the league average of 35.5 percent, and he attempted about four per 36 minutes. That’s a middling amount for any 2-guard who considers himself something of a deep threat. Before last year, Brown had never attempted more than 37 threes in any season or 4.5 per 36 minutes in limited time.

Now? Brown is attempting 7.1 threes per 36 minutes, a number matched by only a dozen of the league’s sharpest (or most trigger-happy) shooters, according to Basketball-Reference. And he has made 51 percent of them, second among all but one of those three-point chuckers (and that one, DeShawn Stevenson, has played just 109 minutes in 10 games).

Little else about Brown’s game has changed. He still doesn’t rebound, dish assists or get to the line much, he still takes relatively good care of the ball and he still attempts about the same number of long two-pointers and shots at the rim. Almost the exact same percentage of his three-point makes as last season — about 87 percent — have come via teammate assists. A few more of his long twos have been assisted, but that’s really the only noticeable change in Brown’s profile.

From the outside, this appears to be the product of some tough work in the gym. Brown’s jumper looks as fluid as just about anyone’s: His shoulders always appear square, his feet are set and he jumps both high and straight up. He’s also taking his time, even when guys are rushing to close out on him.

He is a legitimately terrifying presence for opponents, and he’s going to make Phil Jackson think hard about who should be on the court at money time.