Who is better, Jaylen Brown or Donovan Mitchell?

[Roy H.]

And, what's the difference in their trade value?

Why I ask...  Donovan Mitchell is another of the "designated rookies", meaning he can't be traded to Brooklyn unless Ben Simmons is moved. 

Is there any scenario where we decide to play facilitator, with us taking Mitchell + other compensation, and moving Brown to either Brooklyn or Miami?  What would it take for the deal to make sense?

[slamtheking]

don't like that idea at all.  Would take Brown over Mitchell without a second thought.  Brown's superior defense is miles ahead of Mitchell's slightly better offensive skills.  that, and Mitchell is a guard which we have plenty of now whereas JB is a wing where we're really thin.

[C3LTSF4N]

Brown’s the better player imo.  We’d lose a ton of size, Mitchell is only 6’1”.  Mitchell is a terrible defender and a worse 3 point shooter. 

I’m not in for trading a wing for another guard, the fit doesn’t feel right at all.  I’d rather keep spending to improve than trade ‘down’ for Mitchell and a draft pick.  I wanna see us use picks and not get more unless another move follows it.

[Goldstar88]

Brown is better on both ends. Mitchell is overrated, IMO.

[Jvalin]

Mitchell is a superior #1 option cause he's a better shot creator in the half court. That said, I don't think he's good enough to lead a team to a championship cause he's undersized. The only player at his size who led a team to a championship is Isiah Thomas. Brown is a superior #2/#3 option cause he's better suited for an off-ball role. It remains to be seen whether he's good enough to be the 2nd best player on a championship team. Long story short, I believe Mitchell is a more talented player, but Brown is a more enticing piece from a team building perspective, if this makes any sense.

[cons]

jaylen is better

dont even want to think about moving him for mitchell

[Vermont Green]

Donovan Mitchell is good.  He has outstanding quickness that gives him very high level shot creating ability.  He is probably better at that than either Brown or Tatum.  He is a very intriguing player.  I like him slightly better than Beal for example.

But I can't see the Celtics getting involved in this with Brown (which it is likely what it would take).  Why do a lateral trade to fix a problem that doesn't really exist.  Yes, Mitchell would bring additional end of the game shot creation, something we would benefit from, but as others have said, we give up size, defense, and other intangibles.

[Atzar]

I prefer Brown by a decent margin.  I'm not the biggest Mitchell guy, admittedly. 

I acknowledge that Mitchell is a better shot-creator than Brown is.  Quicker, much better handle.  I dislike the rest of his game.  He doesn't play defense, he goes through serious bouts of tunnel vision where he just doesn't see his teammates for entire quarters at a time, and it appeared that he brought his beef with Gobert onto the court.

[Moranis]

I'd rather have Simmons than Mitchell (on the court), but I wouldn't trade either for Brown unless there was some other major trade happening where making that trade made sense.  Mitchell does excel at shot creation for himself.  He'd be far and away the best player on the team at that because of his elite quickness.  I just don't like the rest of his game very much and I don't think he'd be all that good next to Tatum. 

[bello_man09]

I take brown based off the size and defense. yall have good points but Mitchell was clearly trying to play his way outta Utah- dude was playing hero ball like crazy during the playoffs and did not defend.

[Donoghus]

Must rather have Jaylen next to Tatum than Mitchell.

[droopdog7]

Brown’s the better player imo.  We’d lose a ton of size, Mitchell is only 6’1”.  Mitchell is a terrible defender and a worse 3 point shooter. 

I’m not in for trading a wing for another guard, the fit doesn’t feel right at all.  I’d rather keep spending to improve than trade ‘down’ for Mitchell and a draft pick.  I wanna see us use picks and not get more unless another move follows it.

Yeah, to me it comes down to size.  You can quibble about this and that but Brown is just bigger, and that matters.

[keevsnick]

The Athletic just released their 125 bets players in the NBA. They had Jaylen Brown in the "3A" tier and Mitchell in the "3B" tier, so pretty similar but Brown a little higher ranked.

Just one opinion.

[jambr380]

I just hope the Celtics are keeping an open communication line with Jaylen. I also prefer him to Mitchell (slightly), but I am worried about him moving on to other endeavors after his current contract. Not that I think he hates it in Boston, but he definitely seems open to experiencing a variety of things in his life.

[perks-a-beast]

Brown is better, but if Celtics management believe Jaylen might leave when his contract is up in 2 years, Mitchell would make sense since he's under contract for longer and good pals with Tatum.