What is going on with Jaylen Brown's role?

[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.

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 somewhat disagree because I don't think that's how Steven's system works.

Stevens has said he only has 3 positions: ball handlers, bigs, and wings, and sometimes a fourth: swings

We know Stevens has no problem playing Hayward, Brown, Tatum together.  It's the C's 20th most used 3-man combination (with 307 minutes).  We've also seen the Irving/Rozier/Smart lineup a few times (103 minutes played together all year) for further evidence Stevens doesn't stick only to the "traditional" lineups.  It's something we've heard a lot that the C's are trying to do, position-less basketball.  Also many teams aren't playing the traditional PF.  For instance Charlotte played a lot of their game against the C's with a Bacon (6'8") / Bridges (6'7") / Walker (6'1") / Williams (6'9") / Graham (6'2") or Lamb (6'5") lineup.  Denver played Barton (6'6") / Harris (6'4") / Jokic (7'0") / Murray (6'4") / Craig (6'7") against the C's for a significant chunk of time.

Morris can absolutely be taking minutes away from Brown, especially with most of the Celtics ability to switch positions as well as more of a small ball trend being seen league wide.

But I partially agree, because no matter what Stevens says, the team still needs size, and somebody who can take on some of the beefer players better.  This is why Morris gets a lot of minutes, because he does have more of that traditional PF strength/size.



One thing I think is interesting is how Stevens has seemingly abandoned the Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford lineup, the lineup many were salivating over to start the year (and last year), as well as what many are clamoring to see return for the playoffs.  Through the first 20 games of the season, that lineup played by far the most minutes together with 137 (and for comparison the next 2 most played lineups had only 51 and 32 minutes together).  Over the next 55 games, that 5 man lineup ranks 78th playing a total of 7.2 minutes together.  It looks like the last time they played together was for 1.2 minutes against the Wizards on 3/1, and here's where Moranis might argue "because that lineup doesn't feature a good PF option, and Stevens has learned you need a PF out there!"   

[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.

I somewhat disagree because I don't think that's how Steven's system works.

Stevens has said he only has 3 positions: ball handlers, bigs, and wings, and sometimes a fourth: swings

We know Stevens has no problem playing Hayward, Brown, Tatum together.  It's the C's 20th most used 3-man combination (with 307 minutes).  We've also seen the Irving/Rozier/Smart lineup a few times (103 minutes played together all year) for further evidence Stevens doesn't stick only to the "traditional" lineups.  It's something we've heard a lot that the C's are trying to do, position-less basketball.  Also many teams aren't playing the traditional PF.  For instance Charlotte played a lot of their game against the C's with a Bacon (6'8") / Bridges (6'7") / Walker (6'1") / Williams (6'9") / Graham (6'2") or Lamb (6'5") lineup.  Denver played Barton (6'6") / Harris (6'4") / Jokic (7'0") / Murray (6'4") / Craig (6'7") against the C's for a significant chunk of time.

Morris can absolutely be taking minutes away from Brown, especially with most of the Celtics ability to switch positions as well as more of a small ball trend being seen league wide.

But I partially agree, because no matter what Stevens says, the team still needs size, and somebody who can take on some of the beefer players better.  This is why Morris gets a lot of minutes, because he does have more of that traditional PF strength/size.



One thing I think is interesting is how Stevens has seemingly abandoned the Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford lineup, the lineup many were salivating over to start the year (and last year), as well as what many are clamoring to see return for the playoffs.  Through the first 20 games of the season, that lineup played by far the most minutes together with 137 (and for comparison the next 2 most played lineups had only 51 and 32 minutes together).  Over the next 55 games, that 5 man lineup ranks 78th playing a total of 7.2 minutes together.  It looks like the last time they played together was for 1.2 minutes against the Wizards on 3/1, and here's where Moranis might argue "because that lineup doesn't feature a good PF option, and Stevens has learned you need a PF out there!"   

I might, but I do actually like that lineup (I actually like it better with Smart instead of Brown).  I've felt all along that Boston's starting lineup against most teams should be Irving, Smart, Hayward, Tatum, and Horford as I really like what that unit provides, especially Hayward's play making ability and lesser need to shoot for effectiveness.  I also have felt that Brown is best suited as the lead guy off the bench and think that unit could also use Morris' ability to create his own shot.

So if Boston is 100% healthy, I would love to see an 8 man playoff rotation with minutes roughly breaking down like this

PG - Irving 38, Smart 10
SG - Smart 24, Brown 24
SF - Hayward 36, Brown 12
PF - Tatum 38, Morris 10
C - Horford 35, Baynes 13

I see no reason for Rozier to be in the mix and wouldn't be upset against certain teams if Morris or Baynes was cut out as well (again match-up dependent).    That is one of the reasons I was a little surprised Ainge didn't trade Morris and/or Rozier at the deadline, especially given the ability to drop below the tax and pick up tradeable contracts this summer in the process. 

[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.

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 somewhat disagree because I don't think that's how Steven's system works.

Stevens has said he only has 3 positions: ball handlers, bigs, and wings, and sometimes a fourth: swings

We know Stevens has no problem playing Hayward, Brown, Tatum together.  It's the C's 20th most used 3-man combination (with 307 minutes).  We've also seen the Irving/Rozier/Smart lineup a few times (103 minutes played together all year) for further evidence Stevens doesn't stick only to the "traditional" lineups.  It's something we've heard a lot that the C's are trying to do, position-less basketball.  Also many teams aren't playing the traditional PF.  For instance Charlotte played a lot of their game against the C's with a Bacon (6'8") / Bridges (6'7") / Walker (6'1") / Williams (6'9") / Graham (6'2") or Lamb (6'5") lineup.  Denver played Barton (6'6") / Harris (6'4") / Jokic (7'0") / Murray (6'4") / Craig (6'7") against the C's for a significant chunk of time.

Morris can absolutely be taking minutes away from Brown, especially with most of the Celtics ability to switch positions as well as more of a small ball trend being seen league wide.

But I partially agree, because no matter what Stevens says, the team still needs size, and somebody who can take on some of the beefer players better.  This is why Morris gets a lot of minutes, because he does have more of that traditional PF strength/size.



One thing I think is interesting is how Stevens has seemingly abandoned the Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford lineup, the lineup many were salivating over to start the year (and last year), as well as what many are clamoring to see return for the playoffs.  Through the first 20 games of the season, that lineup played by far the most minutes together with 137 (and for comparison the next 2 most played lineups had only 51 and 32 minutes together).  Over the next 55 games, that 5 man lineup ranks 78th playing a total of 7.2 minutes together.  It looks like the last time they played together was for 1.2 minutes against the Wizards on 3/1, and here's where Moranis might argue "because that lineup doesn't feature a good PF option, and Stevens has learned you need a PF out there!"   

I might, but I do actually like that lineup (I actually like it better with Smart instead of Brown).  I've felt all along that Boston's starting lineup against most teams should be Irving, Smart, Hayward, Tatum, and Horford as I really like what that unit provides, especially Hayward's play making ability and lesser need to shoot for effectiveness.  I also have felt that Brown is best suited as the lead guy off the bench and think that unit could also use Morris' ability to create his own shot.

So if Boston is 100% healthy, I would love to see an 8 man playoff rotation with minutes roughly breaking down like this

PG - Irving 38, Smart 10
SG - Smart 24, Brown 24
SF - Hayward 36, Brown 12
PF - Tatum 38, Morris 10
C - Horford 35, Baynes 13

I see no reason for Rozier to be in the mix and wouldn't be upset against certain teams if Morris or Baynes was cut out as well (again match-up dependent).    That is one of the reasons I was a little surprised Ainge didn't trade Morris and/or Rozier at the deadline, especially given the ability to drop below the tax and pick up tradeable contracts this summer in the process.

Perhaps Stevens doesn't want to force him to learn a significantly different defensive perspective right now, but Jaylen is physically pretty elite, and is quite a bit stronger than Tatum. I think he could end up being someone who could give the team minutes at power forward.

Given the team's makeup, maybe the best approach is for him to do something a bit odd -play him at the two and the four, but not the three, leaving the small forward minutes to Tatum and Hayward, neither of whom is really suited to power forward minutes. I've never seen a player do that, but I think he might be able to.

[PhoSita]

The team needs Hayward's playmaking more than it needs Jaylen's 1-on-1 scoring; that's why Hayward gets more minutes.  It's not a teacher's pet thing.  Hayward is a better decisionmaker on both ends, as well.

Tatum is more efficient and fits better with the starters. 

I have no explanation for why Morris would get more minutes than anybody, at this point.  Same with Rozier, exception being games where Kyrie isn't playing.

[keevsnick]

The team needs Hayward's playmaking more than it needs Jaylen's 1-on-1 scoring; that's why Hayward gets more minutes.  It's not a teacher's pet thing.  Hayward is a better decisionmaker on both ends, as well.

Tatum is more efficient and fits better with the starters. 

I have no explanation for why Morris would get more minutes than anybody, at this point.  Same with Rozier, exception being games where Kyrie isn't playing.

I'm not sure Tatum is a better fit with the starters playing like he is now. And for most of the season Haywatds playmaking has been overrated, dishing out assists is nice but it hasn't led to good offense on the second unit in part because first the first 60% of the year Hayward wasn't a scoring threat. I think most of the reason hayward got minutes is to try to work him into shape.

[PhoSita]

The team needs Hayward's playmaking more than it needs Jaylen's 1-on-1 scoring; that's why Hayward gets more minutes.  It's not a teacher's pet thing.  Hayward is a better decisionmaker on both ends, as well.

Tatum is more efficient and fits better with the starters. 

I have no explanation for why Morris would get more minutes than anybody, at this point.  Same with Rozier, exception being games where Kyrie isn't playing.

I'm not sure Tatum is a better fit with the starters playing like he is now. And for most of the season Haywatds playmaking has been overrated, dishing out assists is nice but it hasn't led to good offense on the second unit in part because first the first 60% of the year Hayward wasn't a scoring threat. I think most of the reason hayward got minutes is to try to work him into shape.

I don't agree.  I believe the on / off stats support the notion that Hayward has been a positive for most of the year when he's out there.  His lack of scoring does hurt the team at times, but his ballhandling, passing, and quick hands in the passing lanes have been a boon. 

My biggest issue with Hayward is that some games he's really involved and other nights he seems to disappear.

But the same applies to Tatum.  Heck, it applies to most of the guys on the team apart from Horford and Kyrie (in a positive way), as well as Rozier and Morris (mostly in a bad way).

[Ogaju]

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.

Why would he be fired if the order came from his boss?

[ozgod]

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 noticed this last one too when I watched my DVR of the game...the news reports were blaming Yabu for "inexplicably" switching to cover Sexton but it was because Jaylen pointed at him to do so, which forced Terry to switch to the other guy. Sexton then proceeded to turn Yabu into a turnstile.

He tries hard, there's no doubt about that, and communicating to your teammate is a positive, but I think he makes too many defensive lapses when it comes to the team defense and so Brad doesn't fully trust him when it comes to that.

[bopna]

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 noticed this last one too when I watched my DVR of the game...the news reports were blaming Yabu for "inexplicably" switching to cover Sexton but it was because Jaylen pointed at him to do so, which forced Terry to switch to the other guy. Sexton then proceeded to turn Yabu into a turnstile.

He tries hard, there's no doubt about that, and communicating to your teammate is a positive, but I think he makes too many defensive lapses when it comes to the team defense and so Brad doesn't fully trust him when it comes to that.

Saw that play as well...pretty dumb that they let Yabu on sexton on that last 4 sec play. Brown was definitely to blame there.

Brown is definitely going to be used for the AD trade...if ever the Pels bite it would be all our first rounders, Brown, Timelord and perhaps Rozier Sign and trade.
 

[td450]

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 noticed this last one too when I watched my DVR of the game...the news reports were blaming Yabu for "inexplicably" switching to cover Sexton but it was because Jaylen pointed at him to do so, which forced Terry to switch to the other guy. Sexton then proceeded to turn Yabu into a turnstile.

He tries hard, there's no doubt about that, and communicating to your teammate is a positive, but I think he makes too many defensive lapses when it comes to the team defense and so Brad doesn't fully trust him when it comes to that.

Saw that play as well...pretty dumb that they let Yabu on sexton on that last 4 sec play. Brown was definitely to blame there.

Brown is definitely going to be used for the AD trade...if ever the Pels bite it would be all our first rounders, Brown, Timelord and perhaps Rozier Sign and trade.

I wound this one back more than once. Stop the video when Jaylen first comes into the frame.

Yabu is drifting towards the near side of the court and is pointing for Jaylen to pick up Sexton because he thinks he has to choose between Clarkson and Sexton, which was stupid. It was easy to see he should just take Chriss on the far side. There was plenty of time to see who was who.

Jaylen knows he should pick up Clarkson and is pointing to the far side of the court, not at Sexton, which was correct. Yabu apparently didn't realize Rozier was right behind him and tried to take Sexton. It was his fault, not Jaylen's. If anything Rozier should have shoved Yabu over.

[keevsnick]

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 noticed this last one too when I watched my DVR of the game...the news reports were blaming Yabu for "inexplicably" switching to cover Sexton but it was because Jaylen pointed at him to do so, which forced Terry to switch to the other guy. Sexton then proceeded to turn Yabu into a turnstile.

He tries hard, there's no doubt about that, and communicating to your teammate is a positive, but I think he makes too many defensive lapses when it comes to the team defense and so Brad doesn't fully trust him when it comes to that.

Saw that play as well...pretty dumb that they let Yabu on sexton on that last 4 sec play. Brown was definitely to blame there.

Brown is definitely going to be used for the AD trade...if ever the Pels bite it would be all our first rounders, Brown, Timelord and perhaps Rozier Sign and trade.

Ya except it wasn't Jaylens fault at all. Jaylen picks up the correct man, points at yabu to go to the far side of the court. Yabu never looks back to see rozier right behind him so he takes it on himself to guard Sexton and rozier shifts over. It was either on yabu to find him man, or rozier to step up and wave him off. Not everything is Jaylens fault.

[Csfan1984]

Right now Brown serves as a counter punch coming off the bench. His minutes should go up come playoffs but he won't get the start.

[smokeablount]

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.

Why would he be fired if the order came from his boss?

Yeah that's what I thought when I made my similar post after Rosco.  I find it very hard to believe that GMs can't dictate these kind of things because, well, tanking for one.

[mmmmm]

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):

....deleted stuff ...

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.

You can anecdotally find defensive mess-ups by any player you want if you go back and search for them.  Even guys like Al Horford make the occasional goof.

Since January 1, the team's defensive rating with Jaylen on the floor is 107.9 points per 100 possessions.   With Jaylen on the bench it has been a horrific 120.7.  That's a gigantic 12.8 point difference!

For comparison, the team defense has been 2.5 points worse with Morris on the floor as opposed to off.

That suggests that, in the aggregate, maybe Jaylen isn't anywhere close to the defensive screw-up that an anecdotal selection of plays would portray?

On an individual level, Jaylen is currently second on the team in shot contention, causing opponent's to shoot at a -3.5 differential FG%.  That's on 9.3 DFGA per game, which is a lot considering his minutes are significantly less than a full time starter.  That's reflective of the fact that he's often tasked with guarding one of the other team's better scorers.   He's third on the team in Defensive Win Shares per 48.

If Brad really is dinging Jaylen's minutes based on the occasional defensive mistake, without really understanding the overall aggregate impact on the team defense, then he's ... perhaps not as smart as many would like to think?

[liam]

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):

....deleted stuff ...

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.

You can anecdotally find defensive mess-ups by any player you want if you go back and search for them.  Even guys like Al Horford make the occasional goof.

Since January 1, the team's defensive rating with Jaylen on the floor is 107.9 points per 100 possessions.   With Jaylen on the bench it has been a horrific 120.7.  That's a gigantic 12.8 point difference!

For comparison, the team defense has been 2.5 points worse with Morris on the floor as opposed to off.

That suggests that, in the aggregate, maybe Jaylen isn't anywhere close to the defensive screw-up that an anecdotal selection of plays would portray?

On an individual level, Jaylen is currently second on the team in shot contention, causing opponent's to shoot at a -3.5 differential FG%.  That's on 9.3 DFGA per game, which is a lot considering his minutes are significantly less than a full time starter.  That's reflective of the fact that he's often tasked with guarding one of the other team's better scorers.   He's third on the team in Defensive Win Shares per 48.

If Brad really is dinging Jaylen's minutes based on the occasional defensive mistake, without really understanding the overall aggregate impact on the team defense, then he's ... perhaps not as smart as many would like to think?

Strictly going by the eye test I would say Jaylen is our third or forth best defender. I see these four as the best Horford, Smart, Baynes, Brown. Maybe evening that order but Horford and Smart are hard to compare for which on is better. I would say those are our four best defenders. I think I might even have to put Semi as #5 but his minutes are so small that it's a tough call.