30 NBA Players in 30 Days: Jaylen Brown
Day 29 of our NBA season countdown brings us to the Eastern Conference champions, the Boston Celtics. They had one of the most interesting and newsworthy offseasons in a long time. Right after losing to the Warriors in the NBA Finals, free agency started, and Kevin Durant also requested for a trade. As NBA content creators tried to figure out the best destination for the superstar forward, there was a report that came out that Jaylen Brown was offered in a trade to get back the Nets’ star. Brown’s response to the report and the overall idea of getting traded after being a key player for Boston during their Finals run, was as simple as it gets: “Smh”. Two months later, head coach Ime Udoka was reported to have a scandalous relationship with a member of the Celtics’ staff. A lot went on behind the team’s closed doors this offseason, and so it’s difficult to not buy into the narrative that all of that drama will affect the team’s performance this upcoming season. The player that I think will have a huge impact on the success of the Celtics this year is indeed Jaylen Brown. The UC Berkeley product is similar to Kawhi Leonard as being a tremendous development project with his growth to who he is as a player today, and he has a chance to be a special player for a long time.
Coming out of his freshman year of college and declaring for the draft, Brown came into the league as a raw prospect at the wing position. There were many parts of his game that needed work, but anyone could tell that he had elite physical attributes that almost every star perimeter player had. After improving his ball handling, shooting, and feel for the game every off season, Brown has turned into a bonafide star for the Celtics, who is now paired with another young star in Jayson Tatum. The one glaring trait that was exploited for Brown was his ball security. I did say he improved his ball handling by a lot so far in his career, but it was almost nonexistent when he entered the league. He averaged 3.1 TOs in the playoffs, and they were caused mostly by him getting into the lane and not really thinking out what he was going to do when he got there. Smart defenders like Draymond Green and PJ Tucker were able to easily strip the ball from him and create scoring opportunities on the other end. As long as there is effort on his end to clean up that part of his game, along with a more consistent shot from beyond the arc, Brown could be competing with Tatum as the best player on the Celtics this season.
Before their massive turnaround as a franchise last season, the Celtics looked dead in the water. It would have been year 4 of this core of not really getting past the initial honeymoon face of a young, rising team. There comes a certain point during a core’s growth where they have a breakthrough and become one of the best teams in the NBA. The Spurs core with Duncan, the Warriors with Steph, and now today with the Celtics, and at some point the Grizzlies, have faced or will face that point. We’ve seen Duncan and the Spurs do it, and we’ve seen Steph and the Warriors do it as well. It seemed as though Brown, Tatum, and the Celtics did it just last year, but we are only about 10–11 months since NBA people were entertaining the idea of trading one of them to build the team around. The duo of Tatum and Brown made it to the ECF in the bubble, and had the chance to face LeBron and the Lakers in the Finals, but Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro were able to hold them off. This year, they were able to get through the Heat this time, mainly because of Jayson Tatum ascending to a new level as one of “the guys”. Even though I watched every minute of this year’s Finals, the idea of Tatum and Brown as a duo still feels like they’re missing a bridge. Maybe new addition Malcom Brogdon can be that bridge, but the duo’s games do not entirely mesh well like other star duos. Both players are fundamentally scorers, not facilitators. It is in their DNA to be the guy to initiate and finish most plays. Other than a couple skip passes and drop off dimes to Horford or Rob Williams, the Celtics ball dominant style is mostly handled by either Tatum or Brown. How much better can Brown get in the next two seasons for the Celtics to get over the hump and win a title? It feels like this year could be harder with a fully healthy Bucks team, the Warriors on the title defense, and teams like the Sixers and Cavaliers gunning for them. On top of that, the drama from the trade request, the interim head coach filling in for Udoka, and another year of wear and tear for their trusted and important veterans.
The idea of Brown on another team is intriguing. He is a ball dominant wing scorer with supreme athleticism, a scorer’s mentality, and most importantly, a contract that is almost at the end. Brown is a free agent during the 2024 offseason, one year from the anticipated new NBA television deal. There is a possibility that he can sign a 1+1 contact (one guaranteed year with a player option). This gives him the flexibility to decline the player option in 2025 to receive an unreal max contract from another team. If he chooses to do this, it would be a huge bet on himself, something he has already done multiple times during his career already. A TV deal means the salary cap will sky rocket like it did in 2016, where we saw guys like Allen Crabbe get massive contracts. If a team believes that Brown could be their next superstar that can be the cornerstone of a title contender, then he will certainly be able to get that big contract. With his mentality, the idea of him starting something new on a different team could get more and more realistic if the Celtics are not able to win a title soon, or if he is in trade talks more. As fans on the outside, it can be easy to believe in this notion of loyalty and trust in an organization from a player’s perspective, but true character is revealed in competition. Only time (and success) will tell how committed Brown is to staying in Boston.
