Frankly, right now Teague might be better than Brown, though that is obviously a borrowed time thing.
Oh wow. The hottest of takes right there.
Jeff Teague is a 30 year old former all star still very much in the prime of his career. Over the last 6 seasons he has averaged basically 15 ppg and 7 apg (with over 2.5 rpg).
Brown is definitely trending upward and at some point, maybe even this year, will almost certainly pass Teague up (if he hasn't already), but this board has a nasty habit of pretending young players have already become the players we all hope they will become.
Yes. That is true, but I think you also may have the tendency of over-estimating other players.
Teague's all-star appearance was in a down year in the East when the Hawks won 60 games in a perfect team system. He is a perfectly average point guard. He is a good pick-and-roll player, solid passer, and good shooter. But he is a below average defender. He is probably in the same tier as a healthy Brandon Knight, or Reggie Jackson, or Schroeder. Honestly, players like Teague are extremely expendable, because guards who can run the pick-and-roll are a dime-a-dozen. Players like Dinwiddie, or Payton, or Mills, or Ish Smith can provide almost as much production at a fraction of the cost. If Thibs wouldn't have outbidded himself, I'm not sure what kind of contract Teague would have got last year.
Players like Brown, even if Brown never gets better (and he likely will), are much more valuable than Teague. Brown can guard 1-4 (and often did last year), shoot at a good clip, and rebound pretty well. His versatility is a highly-coveted asset in the league right now.
You could possibly argue Teague is a better player than Brown (although I'd disagree), but when I said the Wolves get the two best players in the deal, I wasn't just talking present-day. Brown's value is probably at least double Teague's especially on Teague's contract.