From Nickagenta:
This is a pretty humorous take on Brown. His passivity ..lol. You must have missed the entire Raptors series where his passivity completely shut down a 2nd team All-NBA player and was one of the main reasons the Celtics won that series.
And offensively, if the other players let him actually touch the ball, he is one of the more aggressive offensive players we have. Pretty tough to be aggressive offensively if the coach sits you in a corner, doesn't have you move as part of the offensive set and the other players refuse to get you the ball.
I have said this a couple times on this site...the lack of touches for Brown in this series is disturbing. It's not him being passive, it's his team mates freezing him out. And it's not like he can go steal the ball from his team mates or blow up the offensive set by moving out of position to demand the ball.
Your entire narrative here is just not in line with the reality on the court that just about every other person sees. You are clearly just not a fan of Brown and using this made up nonsense as a reason for it.
Wow, a lot to unpack here, many false assertions and incorrect assumptions:
1. No humor intended because it's not a "humorous take", it's a spot on analysis. This year, Jaylen has improved his defensive effort, improved his passing, his rebounding and his scoring. These achievements are great. However, the fact remains he is wildly inconsistent with his effort, his grit, his motor and his heart on a night to night basis. I again would venture a guess that is very much what Smart lit into him about. "That inconsistency" is the main reason he is a "good" but not great player yet. Tatum plays with more consistent tenacity than Brown does on both ends of the court, on a night to night basis and it is a big part of the reason he is currently an all star, on his way to superstardom.
2. Oh boy, with the "Jaylen shut down Siakim argument". This is a very problematic assertion. Let's not get carried away and assert that Siakim is the offensive dynamo tantamount to the likes of Lebron James, Durant or Harden. That guy can barely dribble, is a poor outside shooter (35% from three) and isn't much of a passer (3 assists a game). So...if you jam him up outside he can't shoot over you very well, nor can he drive past you with any consistency. His main offense skill is shooting over people in the paint. Jaylen Brown should have easily been able to shut him down. He's faster, just as strong and long enough to bother an outside shot if Siakim tries to heave one over him because he can't get around him.
3. I don't buy his teammates freezing him out. That's a cop out. Jaylen Brown needs to attack the basket when his opportunities present themselves. In Game three, Jaylen was actually in attack mode and it paid off. Nobody's "freezing Brown out". All these guys get a fair amount of looks in Stevens' offense. Tatum and Kemba probably get more but there's a reason for that.
4. You mention my entire narrative is not in line with reality or in consensus with the opinions of the larger Celtics fan base. I do apologize as I didn't realize that you A) currently possessed a monopoly on the true reality of what I'm seeing and B) had conducted extensive surveys so as to ascertain a consensus of the Celtics fan base's collective perception of Jaylen Brown as a basketball player.
5. You again assert with authority that I simply must not be a fan of Jaylen Brown if I don't see his game the way you do. Moving forward, please refrain from assuming you have a monopoly on what I think - it is a wildly inaccurate assertion. I am in fact a "major" fan of Jaylen Brown. He has great promise and has made great strides. I have friends who grew up with him. By all accounts he is a super kid, super intelligent, clearly a phenomenal athlete. He's someone you can't point to as a person to admire for who he is as a person. That said, his heart, grit, motor and physical intensity remain wildly inconsistent. Last night in Game three, he played with force and intensity the entire game - finally. He attacked the rim relentlessly, with good results and he was super disruptive defensively. Smart, or someone got into him and got him fired up. However, that energy is not what you get from Jaylen every night - it's more like two in five nights if you're lucky. He still drifts for too much. A guy with his physical advantages, even versus most other NBA guys, should be imposing his offensive and defensive will fairly regularly -as he did last night. He should be bullying guys in the past, attacking the rim and stifling guys with D. He does this when dialed in. The problem? He's not dialed in often enough. He's pegged as the second piece with Tatum - that means he has to lead by example - particularly in the "consistent effort category" He has all NBA potential - he needs to act like it.
Lastly, there's nothing made up about what I'm saying. Jaylen Brown needs to play like a pit bull, not a Collie, to reach his highest ceiling in the NBA. He has to be more Smart than Tatum. The main reasons for this are that unlike Tatum, he does not have a natural feel for the game nor does he have the highest BBQ IQ. However, he possesses physical advantages, in bunches, over most other NBA players - a unique combination of run/jump athleticism with strength and length. But he needs to ride those advantages with consistent heart, grit, motor and physical force play if he want to become an all star and/or make an all NBA team - depending on how consistently hard he plays, and how often.