As anyone who has scrolled through MarShon Brooks tweets will tell you, they're boring, sometimes cryptic. Like Saturday night in Los Angeles."lol west coast chillin, too nice out here!!! La is crazy, and I haven't even stepped out the hotel lol." The Wall Street Journal's Jeff Pearlman noticed that and a lot of other things about Brooks. He's "like, really boring," he writes.

Pearlman doesn't get into Brooks' problems lately on the court, just that Brooks is a regular guy who plays basketball, not someone who fits a profile. Or as his mom, a hoopster herself, puts it, "a kid growing into a man—shy and bashful around strangers, not that comfortable speaking with adults. Sometimes he needs to be pushed a little."

Pearlman also recounts how Brooks handled Draft Night when the two teams he thought would take him, passed. "I just knew we shouldn't have come," he told his mom.."Why didn't we just watch on TV…"

• The Standout Nets Rookie You've Never Even Heard Of - Jeff Pearlman - Wall Street Journal