Next Level: Former Vandegrift star is blazing his trail in the NBA

Photo Credit: Scott W. Coleman

Greg Brown III is either playing basketball or dancing. Many times, he’s doing both at the same time.

From the weight room at Vandegrift High School to center court at the AT&T Center in San Antonio after making his third straight start for the Portland Trail Blazers, the spirits are always high when Brown is around.

“Whatever we were doing, if Greg wasn’t in the act of playing basketball, he was dancing,” Vandegrift head coach Cliff Ellis said. “That’s just his personality, he’s got a positive energy all the time.”

After spending four years with Vipers and seeing all sorts of school records, he spent one season at Texas before being selected in the second round of the 2021 NBA draft, and eventually, ending up in Portland.

Brown’s pregame rituals with the Blazers include going down the line to every player and coach and doing their individual handshake.

“He’s a ball of energy,” Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups said. “He’s joyful to be around every day. Greg has come a long, long way since summer league.”

Brown has an obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog. Now, he’s got a tattoo of the video game character on his right arm. When he was an upperclassman at Vandegrift one year, Brown dressed up as Sonic for Halloween.

“I’m looking down the hallway and here is a 6-foot-9 future NBA player in a full-on sonic outfit,” Ellis said. “As if he didn’t stand out enough.”

Brown didn’t imagine an NBA star until his junior year at Vandegrift, and he never stopped working.

“This is a blessing, for real,” Brown said.

Viper Strike

Ellis knew Brown was destined for greatness when he first saw him on the court at Four Points Middle School.

Brown was an immediate starter from his freshman year on, finishing his high school career with 1,493 rebounds, 476 blocks, 188 assists, 134 steals and 3,007 points, which, according to texasbasketballrecords.com, would put him in sole possession of 18th on the Texas All-Time scoring list.

After every single game, the visiting crowd that packed the stands and spent the entire game jeering him would rush the floor for selfies and autographs. Brown, rarely, if ever, said no.

“He never acted like a superstar,” Ellis said. “There are some kids where all of that notoriety goes to their heads, but it never did for Greg. For four years, he was the same kid.”

All 32 NBA teams talked to Ellis at some point during Brown’s four years with the Vipers. When that started to happen, it registered that in a few short years, he’d be an NBA prospect.

Brown’s connection with Vandegrift was special.

The prep schools continually tried to recruit during all four years he was at Vandegrift, and everybody would ask Ellis how he was going to do when Brown left for a private school. But every August, Brown would show up to practice with the Vipers.

“I think that comes back down to the relationship we built with Greg and Greg’s dad,” Ellis said. “They kept seeing development, he kept getting better and there was good competition. He didn’t need to go anywhere to get exposure, everybody in the country knew who he was.”

He could've gone to just about any prep school in the country, but he chose to stay at Vandegrift because of the connection he felt with his teammates. When he put on his McDonald's All-American jersey for the first time, he asked all his teammates to join him.

“I still feel love, and I love them,” Brown said.

Man In the Mirror

At first glance, going down the road a few miles to play for then-coach Shaka Smart and Texas wouldn’t seem like the biggest change from Vandegrift, but it was.

For the first time in his life, Brown was alone.

“I had to find ways to get better myself and look myself in the mirror,” Brown said. “It helped because once you sign that NBA contract, you’ve got to be ready. It’s not people making sure you’re ready.”

He was made even more lonely due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting face-to-face interactions between coaches and players with a far lesser number of fans in the arena.

Brown still made the highlight plays like he did at Vandegrift. In one of his first games, he skied for a monster jam against UTRGV in November, and he did the same thing in a top-10 matchup against Baylor in February.

Brown was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection in his one year with the Longhorns and earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team and Big 12 All-Freshman team.

He made 24 starts and played in 26 or 27 games at Texas ranking second on the team with 6.2 rebounds per game, second in blocks (26) and fourth in scoring (9.3 ppg) in 20.7 minutes per game.

“Being my biggest critic, it keeps me sharp,” Brown said. “I tell myself I need to go get in the gym and work on this or that, and then actually doing it. Other players, you’ve got to stay on them. I figured that out early.”

Rising in the Rose City

Yes, it’s just as fun for Brown to be rubbing elbows with NBA superstars as you might think.

“I check into the game and I go to the free-throw line and I’m standing next to Klay Thompson, and I’m like, ‘this is Klay Thompson right here!’’ Brown said. “It’s amazing. Every game I have fun.”

If it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, Brown reach that milestone in high school with Ellis, who said he would practice with the Vipers for two hours, go work with another coach for a couple of hours and then get another workout in.

With the Longhorns, those gym battles were against Kai Jones and Jericho Sims, both of which are also in the NBA.

The NBA process has been different, learning from a long list of veterans like Dame Lillard, Jusuf Nurki? and Norm Powell as well as assistant coach Edniesha Curry.

“It’s been like starting basketball over again in a sense,” Brown said. “I’m going against dudes who have been there and are better than you, you’ve just got to work your way up. Even though it’s been challenging, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

Brown said Billups, in his first year as a head coach in the NBA, hasn’t been shy to show some tough love on everything from shot selection to the challenges of the NBA.

“Some people call it tough love, I just call it being honest,” Billups said. “That’s how you grow, especially when you’re young. He has the athletic ability that could be in the upper echelon of the league.

“He’s got a bright future. All he’s got to do is continue to learn and stay locked in.”

Brown saw the floor in just 20 games in the first four months of the season, but as the Portland roster thinned out with injuries and trades, his playing time has been increasing.

He was one rebound shy of a double-double on April 1 in his first trip back to Texas since getting drafted, scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Ellis got a late-night text from Brown a few days before the first game in San Antonio asking if he wanted tickets. When he heard Brown’s name get announced in the starting lineup, it hit home just what type of journey it’s been.

“I got kind of choked up, right when they introduced him,” Ellis said. “He has kind of reached the pinnacle of what he set out to do. It just made me so proud to see a young man live up to his dreams.”

The most rewarding part of the entire journey for Brown has been the progression from Vandegrift to Texas to the Trail Blazers. He knows how special it is and how much help he’s had to get him to this point.

Of course, championships and accolades are among Brown’s ambitions over the rest of his career, and his track record leaves no doubt that he’ll put in the work to reach them.

“I’ll grind and make it through those days where I feel like I can't get anything done," Brown said. "I look forward to those days because those are the days when you get better.”