Despite their on-court success, [Shams] Charania described a changing dynamic inside Boston after Tatum returned from injury. Brown had established himself as the team?s primary option, creating tension when Tatum returned to a leadership role he had held throughout his career.
?When Jayson Tatum was coming back to the team, like this was Jaylen Brown?s team and he made it clear that people knew it was his team and Jayson Tatum had to basically just slide in,? Charania said. ?But Jayson Tatum has always been a man in Boston.?
I talked about this a year ago, that it was going to cause a hierarchy conflict, because the dynamic between them would have changed. I didn't know if both players, more so JB, would be able to sacrifice to go back to the way things were again. But I didn't expect JB to be traded for that reason (I did, and do, see the reason for it from a financial/team building point of view).
In any case, it's now Philly's problem how he fits in with Maxey and Embiid in the usage hierarchy.
I think the hierarchy thing is stupid. That doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, but the two played nearly a decade together without any major problems. If Donovan Mitchell and James Harden can work nonsense like this out, why can't they?
Well they worked it out in 2024, and all the years before that, but back then Tatum was the clear 1 and Brown the 1A. But then Brown got a taste for being the featured guy, having the offense built around him and the shots he wanted to take. This is a gut feel but I'm guessing he probably wanted a scenario closer to what happened immediately after JT got back from injury and was playing more of a supporting role, only for that to change in the first round against Philly. Remember his comment "I wish we would have trusted what we had done before" and all the other ones about (I'm paraphrasing) "It's an adjustment having JT back but he's very important to what we're trying to do so I'm trying to do my best to adjust". I think that's what Shams was alluding to.
Not to say they couldn't have adjusted, but it's kind of like being in a company where you've always been the vice-president, working with the president, then the president has to take a year leave of absence and they put you in the top job, you like it because you get to run it the way you want, now he's back from leave and you have to go back to what you were doing before and he changes things back to the way it was done before, because that's what he's comfortable with. Some people can slide right back into the way things were, others might start advocating for more responsibility or even to be the one in charge.
I can sympathize with JB because I was in that position, where I got a taste for more responsibility and I liked it but when the boss came back they expected me to go back to the way things were but it was difficult for me because I felt I could do a better job than he could, and that I deserved my chance. Eventually I ended up leaving for another position elsewhere where I had more responsibility. It's not an exact parallel but I can kind of understand it if JB might have felt that way (again there's no evidence he did or didn't).
Possibly that's the scenario they envisaged, which might have reminded them of 2018-19 when individual power battles between Cryrie, the Jays, Smartacus, Hayward, Mook and Terry consumed the team. I'm certainly not suggesting that's the only reason, or even the main reason, JB got traded, but I'm guessing it was a factor, one among many, in the decision.
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