‘Christian Braun’s a pro’: With Big 12 play looming, this Kansas basketball star has more chances to impress
LAWRENCE — After a career night about a month ago in New York against St. John’s, Christian Braun repeatedly deferred to his teammates.
The Kansas basketball junior guard had been able to drive and attack the rim, but Braun said that was because of his opponent’s defensive emphasis on trying to stop senior guard Ochai Agbaji. Braun had been able to score what’s still a career-high 31 points, but spent more time talking about his focus on areas the team could improve and how well Agbaji and senior forward David McCormack had played. The most Braun revealed about his own thoughts about his play was saying it feels good to make a play that quiets an opposing team’s crowd and that he’s had an emphasis on being aggressive because he feels he isn’t just a spot-up shooter.
But while Braun would later say after the Jayhawks beat Nevada last week that he isn’t focused on the NBA draft buzz that’s swirling around him, that night in early December is one of the reasons that buzz exists. An ESPN mock draft in December even had Braun going 34th overall in the upcoming draft. And with Big 12 Conference play set to begin for Kansas on Tuesday, on the road at Oklahoma State, will come the first of a number of opportunities for Braun to cement his place as a prospect who’s draft-able and ready to turn pro.
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“I’m excited the guys — we’re all getting better, we’re all playing really well, (Agbaji) is playing well, so we’re all looking to grow off of what we’ve been doing and just get better as a team,” Braun said Wednesday. “And we know that if the team does well then guys like (Agbaji), individuals, will get what they want.”
Braun wasn’t a member of the Big 12’s preseason all-conference team, and now he’s certainly a candidate for player of the year. Braun averaged 9.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game in 30 appearances a season ago, and now through 12 games this season is at 17 points, 6.2 rebounds and three assists per game. While the Jayhawks may not have seen they expected from McCormack so far, and McCormack is set to be replaced in the starting lineup by super-senior forward Mitch Lightfoot, Braun’s play alongside Agbaji has given head coach Bill Self one of the best wing-player combinations in the nation.
It’s an emergence that’s impressed, but not surprised, Kansas assistant coach Kurtis Townsend said. Townsend raved during a Hawk Talk appearance in December about how hard Braun worked over the summer, about how they aren’t afraid to have him defend an opponent’s top perimeter player. Townsend said Braun has used the feedback about his professional potential after last season as fuel, and worked on aspects of his game like getting his own shot off the dribble, getting that shot off quicker and more defensively.
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Braun said ahead of the Jayhawks’ game this past weekend against George Mason that this year he feels he’s played more like the talent that got him to Kansas. While Self is looking for Braun to be a more prolific 3-point shooter, Braun didn’t seem concerned about where things stand and expressed excitement over having that aspect of his game he can add on to what he’s doing. Right now 16.7 percent of Braun’s makes and 28.6 percent of his attempts from the field have been on 3s, compared to 56.5 percent and 63.2 percent, respectively, at the end of the 2020-21 season.
“In practice the guys will tell you I shoot way more 3s than I do in games,” Braun said last week. “I think I’ve tried to just take what’s given to me and I’ve been successful so far at getting to the rim. And I know in conference play that will tighten up, there’ll be better shot blockers and stuff like that in conference play, so that will tighten up. But I’m confident in myself doing both. So, I’m not too worried about it. So if the team wants to give me 3s and they want to back up because I’ve been scoring so much in the lane, that’s fine I’ll shoot 10 of them. I’m not really worried about that.”
Chris Neff, who coaches with the MOKAN basketball AAU organization Braun was a part of, said last week Braun has the qualities that fit the NBA mold of a “3-and-D” player. Of course to be that player, Braun will need to continue to develop his shot, among other things like ball-handling and decision-making, but Neff has confidence in him doing all of that. Braun, in Neff’s eyes, is going through a natural progression in that way much like Agbaji.
According to Neff, Braun’s story is one of a prospect who’s developed over the years and then seized the moment when it’s come his way. Neff said Braun kept working hard through the years he was between the eighth-to-10th-best player on the teams he was on, ahead of becoming an instrumental piece during his 16U season. It was never Braun’s intelligence or work ethic that held him back, as he developed the physical traits others he played with already had.
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Neff considers Braun, who’s listed at 6-7 and 218 pounds by the Jayhawks, a MOKAN success story just like Agbaji and current redshirt sophomore guard Dajuan Harris Jr. All three are starters for Kansas for Self. All three needed time to develop into the valuable talents they are now.
“There was never any doubt in my mind that (Braun) would have the chance to play in the NBA, just because of his size and his toughness and the fact that that league has some specialization to it,” Neff said last week. “You know every team has a player or two that has specific talents and abilities that go beyond specialization that most teams center all their activity around, but Christian’s the perfect piece. Like, he can play with superstars because he’s gritty as hell, he shoots it well, he’s smart as can be and his IQ’s off the roof.”
Neff, who compared Braun to former Jayhawks player Svi Mykhailiuk, said then he’d talked to a number of scouts in the last week because of Braun and Agbaji. Maybe those conversations and more play a part in Braun embarking on a professional career after the 2021-22 season. Maybe those conversations and more play a part in Braun doing so after the 2022-23 season.
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Self said last week that he doesn’t expect both Braun and Agbaji to return to Kansas after this season. Maybe one might, but Self expressed the hope that both are playing well enough that they can turn pro. That would be Self’s goal for them.
“I probably saw (Braun) as a guy that — usually guys that don’t start until midway through the summer of their senior year on their AAU programs are usually not guys you think about as going to be positively NBA players,” said Self, asked Braun’s potential as a pre-college prospect leave school early for the draft at some point. “And same with (Agbaji). And here’s two guys locally that MOKAN was so good that both them had to kind of earn their way for playing time, let alone being one of the better players on their team. And now, at the end of it, I don’t know who on their respective teams would be better. I mean, they work. They’re tough.”
Self continued: “Christian Braun’s a pro. Now, whether or not he’s a pro this year or he needs to tighten up some stuff, I mean we all know this … if guys are going to be pros they’ve got to have an NBA skill and I still think Christian’s NBA skill is shooting the basketball even though he’s doing everything else better. But he can tighten that up a lot. So, that’s (Agbaji)’s NBA skill, athleticism and shooting the ball even though he’s tightened up his handle and does a lot more things. So, they’ve both done very well.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Why Kansas basketball's Christian Braun has more chances to impress
