Sixers coach has history with Teague

BRETT BROWN may not be as familiar as he's going to get with Marquis Teague's game, but he certainly is familiar with the makeup of the young man.

Brown and Shawn Teague, Marquis' dad, were roommates at Boston University, where the two played for coach Rick Pitino. Shawn transferred to BU from Missouri to play for Pitino and also to play with his brother, John.

Jeff Teague, Marquis' older brother, plays for the Atlanta Hawks. In Marquis, whom the team acquired on Friday from the Brooklyn Nets with a 2019 second-round draft pick for Casper Ware, Brown envisions a lightning rod of an offensive player and someone who will have to prove himself defensively in order to see minutes.

"His dad was my teammate and roommate, which is pretty interesting," Brown said after yesterday's practice, in anticipation of the season opener Wednesday at Indiana. "I've known the Teague family for years. I played with his father and his uncle. His dad was strong. I see an athlete. The family is ridiculously athletic.

"I see problems, like I see in [guard] Tony Wroten, in how does he control his speed? He [goes from] 'A' to 'B' in a blur. That sometimes can get you in trouble. So the refinement of how do you go from 80 [mph] to 20 back to 60 to 100? How do I control my speed? Same things that I see and that I have talked about with Tony. That's his greatest challenge . . . he's going to have to grow to learn how to control a gift, because he has a gift."

The 6-2 Teague, 21, played one season at Kentucky in 2011-12, averaging 10 points and 4.8 assists. He was taken by the Chicago Bulls with the 29th overall pick. He was dealt early in his second season to Brooklyn and has posted averages 2.3 points and 1.4 assists in 88 career games.

Final cuts will be made tonight. If Teague sticks around, he could see some time as a backup point guard for the near future, with starter Michael Carter-Williams (shoulder) not returning to fully practice late next week.

The theme for this season, as laid out numerous times by Brown, is defense. Teague says he is good with that and feels he can prosper under his dad's former roomie.

"I played for the Bulls and for coach [Lionel] Hollins with the Nets, and they were all defensive-minded," Teague said. "It's nothing new for me, to come in and defend and stop your man and just be a pest out there, basically."

Wroten, he of the many no-look, no-completion passes that rival the speed of a Ken Giles fastball, will begin the season as the starting point guard until MCW returns. Wroten also can slide over to shooting guard, which means he and Teague could make up a dizzying backcourt at times.

"I can get up and down the floor at a high rate," Teague said. "Sometimes I have to slow down and wait, so I have to switch my speeds up a lot . . . I've been working with Tony for a while. We have similar games and we've been trying to work on the same things. If Tony and I get to play together in the backcourt, we'll figure it all out. That would be fun. I've known Tony for a while."

If he plays the defense Brown is demanding and learns to curtail a little of the frenetic style he brings, Teague could endear himself to his new coach, although his comment after practice won't help.

Asked if he had watched any highlights of Brown and his father in the same backcourt in the early 1980s, Teague just laughed before saying: "I don't know if they made film back then."

It hadn't become official after yesterday's practice, but the Sixers are expected to sign journeyman swingman Malcolm Thomas in the very near future. This will be his fifth team in his four seasons in the league. He has played in a total of 23 games.