What is going on with Jaylen Brown's role?

[Rosco917]

IMO This year it's all about maintaining the trade value of young assets. Danny realizes that both Brown and Tatum aren't franchising altering talents. While Kyrie and Anthony Davis teamed together with the right supporting cast very well could be.

Browns "role" hasn't changed since he began coming off the bench. I agree he has shown positive signs of finding "the corner" to turn. I like Brown's motor better than Tatum's.

Brown is relentless, Tatum settles too often.

[blink]

What if Stevens isn't playing Brown, so his trade value plummets, and NOP would be forced to have to take Tatum only?

#staywoke

I don't know what it does for Brown's psyche but I applaud the conspiracy theory.

This was brought up in last night's game thread.  I guess there is a 0.00001% chance it is true. 

I am baffled by the whole minutes thing with Jaylen as well.  There has to be more to it than what we see as fans.  Because what a lot of us see is an improving player that deserves more minutes / touches / shots and a player that is probably playing about the 3rd best on the team behind Kyrie and Al.  Maybe he and smart are a 3A and 3B, not sure?  When we have guys that are getting 30+ minutes who don't appear to be helping the team get over the hump it is head-scratching.

[td450]

I've also been surprised that Brown isn't getting more minutes, so I agree with you there.

I'm not sure I'd agree that Brown is clearly ahead of Hayward now.

Over the last two months (Feb and March), the minutes per game are almost the same - Hayward has 25 mpg, and Brown 25.5.

Hayward is shooting 39.1% from 3, 53% from the floor, good for 11.6 points per game. 4 boards, 3.5 assists.
Over the same period, Brown has scored a little more, at 13.6 per game, but he's also taking more shots and shooting a lower percentage - 36% from 3, 48% overall. Brown has the same rebound total, but he's definitely less effective as a creator/ballhandler, with only 1 assist per game.

Brown is clearly the better individual defender, but I'd say he makes fewer headshaking mistakes in team defense/blown assignments.

Net, pretty close, different skillsets.

I would say that the defensive gap is pretty huge. Hayward misses his share of rotations too, and probably is the least effective defender of the four. He still looks slow laterally. Brown makes some mistakes, but his overall defensive impact is quite a bit better than any of the other rotation wings.

It also appears that the C's demand far more conservative play from Brown that the other three. He's not the playmaker Hayward is, but he is actually a better passer than Tatum or Morris. He gets the least touches, and it looks like the team keeps him on the shortest leash as far as attacking the defense in the half court.

Stevens seems OK with some questionable isolation play from just about all the other rotation guards and wings, but not Brown. I actually think that has been OK, as he has learned to minimize a bad tendency to sometimes plow into defensive crowds and expose the ball. I just wish we cleaned up some of the bad habits of our other players too, and get more consistent ball movement.

[bdm860]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

[tonydelk]

Brown should absolutely be getting more PT then Morris.  I honestly cringe every time Morris gets the ball.  80% of the time the ball stops with him and he goes to ISO ball taking a bad shot.  Brown IMO is the superior player and the team is better with him on the floor versus Morris.  Morris is best versus another teams 2nd unit.  This is bothersome and I have no clue what is going on with Brown and CBS.

Most nights Baynes should be starting and get his 20 minutes of PT.  Brown should get 30 a night and Morris should be at the 18 mark. 

[smokeablount]

I haven’t read many replies yet because I’ve thought about this for some weeks now, and I’m wondering if it’s related to AD. Either to hide him from NO, or put him in a role where he looks great and can be substituted for Tatum in a trade. Because there’s no rational explanation for his minutes and I doubt CBS is that dumb.

Edit - I see a few others mentioned this possibility and others find it implausible. Well, I think it’s a very real possibility but not the only one. There certainly could be things going on behind the scenes.

[Sophomore]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

Tp.

He’s not the only one, but he seems to have the problem more often than most.

[Big333223]

IMO This year it's all about maintaining the trade value of young assets. Danny realizes that both Brown and Tatum aren't franchising altering talents. While Kyrie and Anthony Davis teamed together with the right supporting cast very well could be.

Browns "role" hasn't changed since he began coming off the bench. I agree he has shown positive signs of finding "the corner" to turn. I like Brown's motor better than Tatum's.

Brown is relentless, Tatum settles too often.

If Brad is taking trade value into account when deciding his lineups, he should be fired yesterday.

[footey]

Last night his first half minutes were affected by Tatum’s stellar play. Defensive brain fart at end of 3rd hurt his 2nd half minutes.

[Silky]

Its simple.

Hayward is Coach's pet, and needs to get back into old form (might never ever happen)

Ainge needs Haywards value raised up in case he needs to trade him,

Tatum needs his value as high as possible if he is being used in a trade for Davis( I would hope Hayward and Tatum for Davis + imo, Keep brown and Smart on the wings)

Jaylen is mature enough to handle the screwed up roles.

What about Morris then? Rozier as well.

Morris is because Brad wants to help his get a contract.

Rozier is because he wants his team in a routine come playoff time. Kyrie plays 35 minutes, if no Kyrie, need rozier to do the same to keep everyone else in the same minutes groove.

What? Isn't it in our best interests that Morris gets low offers to re-sign him on a cheaper deal? The Rozier one is okay I guess, but meh I'd rather get Jaylen into a routine first.

I dont think there is anyway Morris is back next season. Perhaps if he signed for 5 mill per season again, but he wants a payday, and no way should boston ever match. They got what they could out of Morris and they know it.

Then even less reason to play him over our young talent if it isn't conducive to winning then, which seems to be the case here with Stevens.

Oh, I agree, just trying to come up with possible reasons.

Perhaps when Danny signed him, it was at a discounted price with the stipend of maxing his value for his next contract.

Or perhaps he has compromising photos of Brad and Danny.

[Moranis]

Morris is a PF.  He plays almost exclusively as a PF.  I don't think it is fair to compare him to Brown given that.  The 4 wings are Smart, Brown, Hayward, and Tatum and in those 4 I don't really have much issue with either the touches or minutes.  Ideally Morris wouldn't need to play, but unless you move Tatum to PF basically full time, there really isn't much that can be done as Ainge really left this roster short on big men.

[td450]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

I think this is as good an explanation as any, but it does seem Stevens is harder on Brown than the other wings. The C's switch as much as anyone in the league, and there are a lot of fast decisions required. Brown does make some bad reads, but I've paid a lot of attention to this too, and I see lots of mistakes by everyone, even Horford and Smart. Brown is an aggressive defender, and they ask him to do a lot defensively.

Tatum and Morris seem to me to have more of these bad moments. Hayward just can't stay in front of a lot of guys.

In the end we don't know what Stevens is emphasizing to these guys.

[Moranis]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

I think this is as good an explanation as any, but it does seem Stevens is harder on Brown than the other wings. The C's switch as much as anyone in the league, and there are a lot of fast decisions required. Brown does make some bad reads, but I've paid a lot of attention to this too, and I see lots of mistakes by everyone, even Horford and Smart. Brown is an aggressive defender, and they ask him to do a lot defensively.

Tatum and Morris seem to me to have more of these bad moments. Hayward just can't stay in front of a lot of guys.

In the end we don't know what Stevens is emphasizing to these guys.

I'll say again, Morris is a PF.  He isn't taking any minutes from Brown unless you want to move some other wing to PF to take Morris' minutes.  Morris is getting as many minutes as he is because Ainge didn't put enough quality big men on the team.

[keevsnick]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

I think this is as good an explanation as any, but it does seem Stevens is harder on Brown than the other wings. The C's switch as much as anyone in the league, and there are a lot of fast decisions required. Brown does make some bad reads, but I've paid a lot of attention to this too, and I see lots of mistakes by everyone, even Horford and Smart. Brown is an aggressive defender, and they ask him to do a lot defensively.

Tatum and Morris seem to me to have more of these bad moments. Hayward just can't stay in front of a lot of guys.

In the end we don't know what Stevens is emphasizing to these guys.

I'll say again, Morris is a PF.  He isn't taking any minutes from Brown unless you want to move some other wing to PF to take Morris' minutes.  Morris is getting as many minutes as he is because Ainge didn't put enough quality big men on the team.

I think that honestly Brown/Tatum/Hayward playing "out of position" at the 4 is still a better option than Morris playing at the 4. I mean those guys may not have the size Morris does but I don't recall those guys getting roasted in the post by 4's, there simply aren't many guys in this league that are gonna pose that problem now or in the playoffs. And Morris is just bad on defense. All three of those guys are overall better defenders. Giving how his shooting has flatlined they are all maybe better shooters as well. We lose some rebounding, but I think the rest of what we get more than makes up. Our best lineup is Irving. Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, albeit in a small sample.

[keevsnick]

My personal opinion: for Stevens all mistakes aren't equal and defensive mistakes are the worst mistakes you can make.

With all mistakes not being equal, the biggest complaints for guys like Morris and Rozier from the fans seems to be their shot selection.  I think this bothers Stevens the least.  Also getting scored on or getting caught in a pick and roll or getting beat on a rotation, etc. doesn't seem to be as big of a sin as just flat out making the wrong defensive play.  Just my personal opinion of how Stevens thinks.  Also maybe he expects more from Brown so he's harder on him?

While Brown's a good 1-on-1 defender, I think he makes a lot of mistakes from a help/team defensive perspective.  Started noticing this when I asked the same question a few games ago.  And now I specifically see things like this from Brown now that I'm watching closely for them (but to be fair, not watching others with the same microscope, also there's a lot of plays where Brown plays stellar D as well):

Here's Brown sleeping on D against Denver (where he played <20 mins).

Here's Brown getting burnt playing terrible D a few plays later.

From last night where Brown played only <18 mins, here he is not switching on D to double Clarkson (who Morris clearly has covered) leaving Nance, a 35% 3p shooter open for a 3.

Here's Brown giving up an open 3 on a hand off and doing a defensive spin move (which I don't think is ever the right move) when the C's are known to switch everything.

Here's Brown not rotating properly and Scal explaining what Brown did wrong on the replay.

Here he is directing the Defense completely wrong, you can even see Yabusele throw up his hands in confusion and yell at Brown after the play.

I think if we were to go back and look at games where Brown doesn't play a lot of minutes, you'll see a lot of plays like these.  These are the plays that get him yanked by Stevens.  Do others make as many mistakes or as grievous of mistakes? I don't know.  But this is what I think keeps Brown from getting more minutes.

I think this is as good an explanation as any, but it does seem Stevens is harder on Brown than the other wings. The C's switch as much as anyone in the league, and there are a lot of fast decisions required. Brown does make some bad reads, but I've paid a lot of attention to this too, and I see lots of mistakes by everyone, even Horford and Smart. Brown is an aggressive defender, and they ask him to do a lot defensively.

Tatum and Morris seem to me to have more of these bad moments. Hayward just can't stay in front of a lot of guys.

In the end we don't know what Stevens is emphasizing to these guys.

I think this is simple. Who is a better, more impactful defender. Brown or Rozier/Morris? I don't the think it's hard, its Brown. Ya he makes mistakes, but so do those other two. And at least he can defend when he makes the right decision. I'd rather put up with an occasional lapse than watch Morris make the switch yet get roasted every time.

That said I think his lack of minutes last night had more to do with matchups, game flow and maybe a stealth rest. And I do understand why Steven's is reluctant to start him, that first starting stint was bad. He's been good off the bench. Asking a coach to mess with a change he already made that worked is hard. But again, I think it's simple. Play your best players more. Jaylen has been one of you best for like 3 months.