Author Topic: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense  (Read 15074 times)

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Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« on: February 17, 2018, 06:35:06 PM »

Offline Big333223

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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22459076/zach-lowe-10-things-like-including-great-nba-tank-race
Quote
6. Jaylen Brown, block-by-block

Brown cemented three things as a rookie: He could defend almost every position, hit corner 3s, and post up smaller guards. Those ingredients alone make for an exciting modern NBA wing.

Brown has built atop that foundation. He's letting fly from above the arc, dusting dudes rushing to close out on him, cramming on fools in transition, and dipping his toes into secondary pick-and-roll duty:

...

Brown is 16-of-37 on shots out of the pick-and-roll after venturing just 18 such attempts last season, per Synergy. He's tentative and robotic, as you'd expect. He has coughed up the ball at an alarming rate. Even that floater above is a little awkward. Brown pauses early, forfeiting a chance to accelerate at Jonas Valanciunas, and almost bumps Aron Baynes. He ends up shot-putting a weird, long-distance runner.

But Brown is trying the right stuff, and you see some nascent feel -- the instinct to change pace, keep his defender on his hip, Chris Paul-style, and manipulate the defense. That floater is a handy break-in-case-of-emergency weapon.

Most players don't develop a bunch of high-level offensive skills at once. They build brick-by-brick, using one skill to enable another. Once you can shoot 3s, you can drive around defenders who run you off the arc. The leap from there to functional pick-and-roll work might be the hardest for wing players. It can take years. Some guys never make it. Brown entering the early stages already is a huge win for Boston.

Psst: Boston ranks 28th in points per possession since Jan. 1. They are 29th in the league during that stretch in shot attempts within the restricted area, and dead stinking last in field-goal percentage there, per Cleaning The Glass. Only Sacramento has generated fewer free throws per shot attempt.

Boston will rebound. The Celtics always surge after the All-Star break under Brad Stevens. Tatum will hit 3s again. But it's fair to wonder if these guys can squeeze out enough points against dialed-in postseason defenses.

I love how Jaylen has looked this season. He's still terrible at reading a defense and knowing which move to go to in a given situation but he's developed some real moves and as the game continues to slow down for him, he could still develop into a very special player.
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Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2018, 07:02:48 PM »

Offline Jiri Welsch

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2018, 07:08:05 PM »

Offline moiso

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2018, 07:15:00 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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Brown has had a great year developing. He's 21, of course he is going to be inconsistent. But he's been a lot more consistent than most 2nd year players, especially since his actions are leading to winning whereas most other young players play for losing teams and just concentrate on scoring.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2018, 07:18:33 PM »

Online tazzmaniac

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Psst: Boston ranks 28th in points per possession since Jan. 1. They are 29th in the league during that stretch in shot attempts within the restricted area, and dead stinking last in field-goal percentage there, per Cleaning The Glass. Only Sacramento has generated fewer free throws per shot attempt.
This is the important nugget.  Not going to have a good, consistent offensive when we're just settling for jumpers. 

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2018, 07:28:47 PM »

Offline SCeltic34

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Jaylen has been nothing short of impressive.  He's improved from his rookie year in pretty much every area where I've had question marks about his game.

- Pick and roll.  Got next to zero opportunities in his rookie year.  In the few reps he's had this year, he's looked far better than I would have expected.  Moves with pace and switches speeds, keeps the dribble low and uses his body well when he's in front of the guard defender to create space/protect the ball.
- Passing.  This was probably the biggest question mark I've had.  This year he's shown some really nice passes after beating his man off the dribble or when he's double-teamed in the post.  Some nice passes in transition and as the ballhandler in PnR too.  Much better than I'd expected.
- Shooting off the dribble or off of movement.  Midrange jumper off the dribble looks good.  He's hit a few shots after squaring up on off-ball movement.  He's already a good spot-up shooter from 3.
- Decision making.  Still shaky and commits a lot of errors especially in transition, but he's showing progress and pulling the ball back rather than forcing the issue.  I love his aggression and I don't get upset by his mistakes - he's a 2nd year player.
- Ball handling.  Better but obviously needs to be tightened up.  He's shown advanced moves and good footwork.  What's lacking is polish.
- Defensive awareness.  Good man to man defender.  Improved defensively but still prone to being caught out of position or blowing a PnR coverage.

The one area he's regressed is FT shooting, but I'm not too worried about this at this point in time.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2018, 07:29:02 PM »

Offline rocknrollforyoursoul

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Psst: Boston ranks 28th in points per possession since Jan. 1. They are 29th in the league during that stretch in shot attempts within the restricted area, and dead stinking last in field-goal percentage there, per Cleaning The Glass. Only Sacramento has generated fewer free throws per shot attempt.
This is the important nugget.  Not going to have a good, consistent offensive when we're just settling for jumpers.

Boston's two primary problems on offense are the absence of Hayward, and the heavy reliance on outside shooting. The Hayward part will change sooner or later; the latter part can change any time, if the team would simply decide to do so.
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Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2018, 07:39:19 PM »

Offline Rondo9

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Psst: Boston ranks 28th in points per possession since Jan. 1. They are 29th in the league during that stretch in shot attempts within the restricted area, and dead stinking last in field-goal percentage there, per Cleaning The Glass. Only Sacramento has generated fewer free throws per shot attempt.
This is the important nugget.  Not going to have a good, consistent offensive when we're just settling for jumpers.

Or if their best shooters aren't making them. They'll be fine.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2018, 08:20:10 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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Boston's problem isn't that they take a lot of threes, their problem is they don't make a lot of threes. They do a real good job of getting open looks. They just don't knock them down.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2018, 08:35:34 PM »

Online Roy H.

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Yeah, I see ups and downs typical of a sophomore, but not an ounce of Sleepy Jeff Green.


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Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2018, 08:52:58 PM »

Offline Jiri Welsch

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Yeah, I see ups and downs typical of a sophomore, but not an ounce of Sleepy Jeff Green.

Hmm.. wasn’t trying to say Jaylen’s inconsistency is atypical. Rather, that he is an inconsistent player—regardless of his year(s) in the NBA. It’s tough to get extremely excited about Brown when he disappears so often.

The first player that came to mind who typified inconsistency and a 15PPG contribution was Green. I could have chosen a less polarizing comparison, but my point would have remained: Its tough to be excited about a player who is all over the map like Jaylen Brown is.

« Last Edit: February 17, 2018, 09:04:20 PM by Jiri Welsch »

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2018, 09:07:28 PM »

Online Roy H.

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Yeah, I see ups and downs typical of a sophomore, but not an ounce of Sleepy Jeff Green.

Hmm.. don’t remember saying that Jaylen’s inconsistency was atypical. The observation was simply that he is an inconsistent player. It’s tough to get extremely excited about Brown when he disappears so often.

The first player that came to mind who typified inconsistency and a 15PPG contribution was Green. I could have chosen a less polarizing comparison, but my point would have remained: Its tough to be excited about a player who is all over the map like Jaylen Brown is.

If you don’t find it atypical of sophomores, then why are you discouraged?

I see a guy who, in his first season getting consistent minutes, is an above-average starting SG.  I don’t see a comparison to Jeff Green, who rarely played with passion or intensity.


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Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #12 on: February 17, 2018, 09:11:42 PM »

Offline Chris22

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Boston's problem isn't that they take a lot of threes, their problem is they don't make a lot of threes. They do a real good job of getting open looks. They just don't knock them down.

Bingo.
Brad should end every practice with a three point shooting contest.
The Knicks did this a few years ago and really improved their three point shooting.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2018, 09:16:33 PM »

Offline keevsnick

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Yeah, I see ups and downs typical of a sophomore, but not an ounce of Sleepy Jeff Green.

Hmm.. wasn’t trying to say Jaylen’s inconsistency is atypical. Rather, that he is an inconsistent player—regardless of his year(s) in the NBA. It’s tough to get extremely excited about Brown when he disappears so often.

The first player that came to mind who typified inconsistency and a 15PPG contribution was Green. I could have chosen a less polarizing comparison, but my point would have remained: Its tough to be excited about a player who is all over the map like Jaylen Brown is.

I have a really tough time respecting the NBA intelligence of people who make this comparison. Jaylen Brown in his short time in the league has dunked on Lebron, clapped in Curry's face, destroyed Porzingus, flexed on Cousins, blown kisses at 76ers and earned the Warriors respect. He has alot of heart, a fire Jeff Green didn't really have. In terms of player type they have little in common besides a J first name and a color last name. The big knock on Jeff was he settled for too many jumpers, Jaylen is at times too agressive. Jaylen is already better at 21 then Jeff Green was. Keep in mind that the Jeff Green you saw in Boston was mid twenties. Jaylen is 21, he's gonna be inconsistent. That's part of beibg young. Comparing their consistency at different ages makes no sense. Part of his inconsistency is the simple fact he doesn't have the skills to put up 20 eveynight, but as Lowe points out he may be getting there. If people aren't high on Jaylen fine, at least use a player comparison that makes even a little bit of sense. The Jeff Green one is lazy.

Re: Zach Lowe on Jaylen Brown and the Celtic's Offense
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2018, 09:17:35 PM »

Offline Boris Badenov

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Like Zach Lowe. But don’t like his take here. Brown is a disappearing act with the occasional good game thrown in. We need better than Jeff Green 2.0
Thats not what I see at all.

Yeah, I see ups and downs typical of a sophomore, but not an ounce of Sleepy Jeff Green.

Hmm.. don’t remember saying that Jaylen’s inconsistency was atypical. The observation was simply that he is an inconsistent player. It’s tough to get extremely excited about Brown when he disappears so often.

The first player that came to mind who typified inconsistency and a 15PPG contribution was Green. I could have chosen a less polarizing comparison, but my point would have remained: Its tough to be excited about a player who is all over the map like Jaylen Brown is.

If you don’t find it atypical of sophomores, then why are you discouraged?

I see a guy who, in his first season getting consistent minutes, is an above-average starting SG.  I don’t see a comparison to Jeff Green, who rarely played with passion or intensity.

And, at Jaylen’s age Jeff Green hadn’t even played his first year in the league, where he began as a 10ppg, 28% from 3pt player. I’ll go out on a limb and say that next year, Jaylen will be both better and more consistent than rookie Jeff Green.