Just a reminder to people concerned about Brown’s “lack of growth” or “regressions” from year 2 to year 3. In addition to the tumult of finding his role early in the season, he was playing with an injured hand for much of November and through December.
https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2018/12/boston-celtics-jaylen-browns-hand-injury-has-been-bothering-him-for-a-month-and-a-half.html
From January through the end of the season, he shot 39% from 3, looking much more like the player we expected after the 2017-2018 season, than he did from October to December when he shot 28% from 3, with his 2-point percentage also rising a little bit, from 51% to 54%. On the defensive side, his steals/36 increased by 40% from Oct-Dec to Jan-April.
Don’t underestimate the role that his injury had in forming your opinions of his play last year. It wasn’t the only thing going on, but since it didn’t cost him time on the court, it’s easy to forget it was bothering him for quite some time.
It's always easy to find excuses if you really want to, but facts are the facts - and the facts are that Brown just hasn't shown a whole lot of development from Year 2 to 3 despite having a pretty significant role.
In fact I'd argue that in some areas (particularly defense) he actually took a step back.
That's not to say he can't take a big step next year, or that he won't. Not by any means. I'm merely pointing out that he hasn't shown any evidence YET of being anything more then a good solid starter. He still has a number of areas to his game that, three years on, remain significant weaknesses.
- His shot is above average, but is not standout (nor is it very consistent)
- His ball handling ability is extremely limited, good enough to get by as a wing, but holds him back from effectively playing the 2 guard IMHO
- His rebounding is really on about average for an NBA SF, especially one with his strength and athleticism
- His passing ability is still limited
- His decision making is still questionable, as I still see him often putting his head down and driving blindly into traffic, then not knowing what to do next
- His defense has been very good in stretches, really poor in other stretches; ability is there but nowhere near consistent enough
- His ability to get to the line, initially one of his big strengths, has shown steady decline
- His ability to crate offense for himself is pretty limited; take away his drive to the basket and he can really only score via spot up jumpers off teammate assists
Very good player who could develop into an excellent player, but I still see too many limitations and that prevents me from being able to see him as the "future all star" that many seem to believe he is.