Jaylen Brown appreciation thread

[Moranis]

all the success tatum/brown have had together and fans here still claim the guy is a bum and doesn't contribute to winning. ridiculous.

right now hes having his best playoffs ever. between defense, passing, scoring he's a monster on the court. and has proven to be very clutch basically winning us 2 of those games down the stretch.

but somehow fans have some glorified vision of Murray because they only watch him play a handful of games per year.

Murray also gets to play with perhaps the single most impactful offensive player of our generation in Jokic. I really wonder what we'd think of Murray if he had to function in a less optimal offensive setting.

He'd be a poor man's Trae Young.

Murray is a much better shooter than Young. From 2 and 3 and has been at every stage of their careers. That wouldn't change with Murray in a bigger role.

isn't that still something that's heavily influenced by Jokic though?

not from what I've seen when is on the floor without Jokic.  He was also a much better shooter in college, you know when Jokic wasn't on his team.  Murray is much closer to Curry as a shooter than Young.  Now maybe if he was taking 9 a game instead of 6 a game, his percentage would suffer, but I just don't think it would.

[kraidstar]

Murray is a bad defender. He got exposed big time against Minnesota, the first good team they played in years.

He'd be nothing without Jokic.

[green_bballers13]

Back to JB- I'm so happy that the Celtics stayed the course and decided not to panic by trading JB. Resilience and determination pays off. 4 more wins.

[green_bballers13]

Bill Simmons made the point that those that are critical of JB haven’t been paying attention. He’s been our best offensive player over the last month. He’s playing better after getting the Brinks truck. Good job signing him Brad!

[Vermont Green]

Bill Simmons made the point that those that are critical of JB haven’t been paying attention. He’s been our best offensive player over the last month. He’s playing better after getting the Brinks truck. Good job signing him Brad!

I agree with this and said it above (even as I was saying that I think Murray is really good too).  Brown got his big contract and got better.  That really says something.  I think he has also found a way to lead alongside of Tatum.  He has a little KG in him, Tatum the more quiet leader.

But there is still a difference.  Tatum is doubled most of the time, Brown is not.  That said, there is no reason for Tatum to have shot 29% from 3 in the playoffs.  Brown has shot better from 3, but I am not sure otherwise you can say that Brown has been the better overall player or even better offensively, if you take into account how the defense plays against them.  They have both been plenty good.

Brown is better from 3 and overall better FG%, but Tatum is taking and making more FTs as well as significantly more assists.  Tatum also creates more offense for others due to screens.  That is all part of offense.  You could say that relative to regular season averages, Brown has ticked up his game some and Tatum has ticked down a little but to me, that just pulls them more equal since Tatum's baseline is better than Brown's.  But kudos to Brown for ticking up his game in the playofs, that is really something.

[W8ting2McHale]

I don’t know why Tatum is shooting so poorly from 3? He’s had the excuse of a wrist injury in the past, but I haven’t seen him wearing a brace recently or heard anything concerning his wrist lately.

I did notice that Nesmith appeared to target his wrist a couple of times in the Pacers series, so maybe he does have an issue? Or Nesmith just knows from practicing against Tatum as a Celtics that he’s sensitive to getting hit on the wrist?

If he does have a wrist injury that is still bothering him and causing him to shoot worse for the past 3 seasons than he did his first 4 years in the league than that is something that needs to be addressed this offseason.

[Kernewek]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

[green_bballers13]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

Pay him $100m per year!

[Neurotic Guy]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

It amazes me that some remain reluctant to acknowledge  JB’s performance this year. He had a brief early struggle but since has shown exactly what people here had hoped. He’s cut down on over-dribbling, handle has somewhat improved, reduced his three attempts, has distributed better, and most importantly, has stepped up his defensive intensity.  He’s finishing at the rim better than ever and is scoring with efficiency consistently.  He’s also projecting positive energy and what appears to be a greater dedication to winning.  His steal and three to force OT in the Indy series is worthy of space in Celtics history.  Ok, free throws.

[Roy H.]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

It amazes me that some remain reluctant to acknowledge  JB’s performance this year. He had a brief early struggle but since has shown exactly what people here had hoped. He’s cut down on over-dribbling, handle has somewhat improved, reduced his three attempts, has distributed better, and most importantly, has stepped up his defensive intensity.  He’s finishing at the rim better than ever and is scoring with efficiency consistently.  He’s also projecting positive energy and what appears to be a greater dedication to winning.  His steal and three to force OT in the Indy series is worthy of space in Celtics history.  Ok, free throws.

Nailed it.  JB is at 98% of his absolute max potential, and he's still got his critics.

[SHAQATTACK]

Jalen has played at another level at playoffs this year.

Now keep pouring on coal !

[Kernewek]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

It amazes me that some remain reluctant to acknowledge  JB’s performance this year. He had a brief early struggle but since has shown exactly what people here had hoped. He’s cut down on over-dribbling, handle has somewhat improved, reduced his three attempts, has distributed better, and most importantly, has stepped up his defensive intensity.  He’s finishing at the rim better than ever and is scoring with efficiency consistently.  He’s also projecting positive energy and what appears to be a greater dedication to winning.  His steal and three to force OT in the Indy series is worthy of space in Celtics history.  Ok, free throws.

Nailed it.  JB is at 98% of his absolute max potential, and he's still got his critics.

Was sent this reddit comment while catching up on the discourse this morning and I think it sums up the 'big four' of the series, and Brown's place within it, quite nicely:

In terms of raw talent, Luka is a phenom. He has nothing that makes him good, yet he's so good. You saw tonight there were 4 Celtics on him and he made a shot fall while he fell. It's like he made some deal with the devil to get shots to fall. The only other explanation is that he's naturally good.

Kyrie is a maestro of ball handling. There's sincere talent there, and it's like he's just naturally good at it.

Tatum seems to have all the talent in the world but is a slow pace player, doesn't want to be aggressive. There are too many times he's standing around or walking up the court and only putting in 50% effort/energy.

Brown is historically the least hyped of all these guys, but he's worked his ass off to be where he is. He's hit the strength and conditioning better than any of the other guys. When Brown takes a break he's going 80%. When he's locked in he's going 110% on both ends of the court for 8 minutes at a time without resting. He literally took over the game defensively on multiple occasions in Game 1 and looked like he expected to. There was a point when he checked in during someone's FTs and his posture and presence was like he was just ready to impose himself.

His first play of the game was diving on the floor before anyone had taken a shot. He dove on the floor 2x in the first quarter and both times led to Celtics baskets. He dove to save two out-of-bounds balls in the first. He played serious defense and had 2 steals in the first quarter. Then in the third quarter when things are seriously looking bad and like the Mavs would crawl back into this game like Celtics teams of the past have allowed so many times, Jaylen Brown takes over again and has 3 blocks - that's 3x the blocks of the entire Mavs team over the entire game, but Brown did it in a span of UNDER TWO MINUTES. He really is that dude. You don't see guys his size impacting the ball on both ends of the court that well in big games unless they're genuine superstars, and not phony "I'm a PG with 1 AST who doesn't play defense" or "I'm also a PG who can't score, pass, or play defense but I can dribble lawl" stars.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bostonceltics/comments/1d9zw3w/comment/l7hnhd4/

[LilRip]

Brown was a monster in stretches in Game 1. Give him the game ball. In an 18-pt blowout, there’s no moment to be “clutch” but I think he was pretty clutch in righting the ship when Mavs went on their run. He stomped that fire out and C’s never looked back

[Roy H.]

It's only one game, so on so forth, but the difference between Brown's performance this year and last year has been tremendous to follow.

It amazes me that some remain reluctant to acknowledge  JB’s performance this year. He had a brief early struggle but since has shown exactly what people here had hoped. He’s cut down on over-dribbling, handle has somewhat improved, reduced his three attempts, has distributed better, and most importantly, has stepped up his defensive intensity.  He’s finishing at the rim better than ever and is scoring with efficiency consistently.  He’s also projecting positive energy and what appears to be a greater dedication to winning.  His steal and three to force OT in the Indy series is worthy of space in Celtics history.  Ok, free throws.

Nailed it.  JB is at 98% of his absolute max potential, and he's still got his critics.

Was sent this reddit comment while catching up on the discourse this morning and I think it sums up the 'big four' of the series, and Brown's place within it, quite nicely:

In terms of raw talent, Luka is a phenom. He has nothing that makes him good, yet he's so good. You saw tonight there were 4 Celtics on him and he made a shot fall while he fell. It's like he made some deal with the devil to get shots to fall. The only other explanation is that he's naturally good.

Kyrie is a maestro of ball handling. There's sincere talent there, and it's like he's just naturally good at it.

Tatum seems to have all the talent in the world but is a slow pace player, doesn't want to be aggressive. There are too many times he's standing around or walking up the court and only putting in 50% effort/energy.

Brown is historically the least hyped of all these guys, but he's worked his ass off to be where he is. He's hit the strength and conditioning better than any of the other guys. When Brown takes a break he's going 80%. When he's locked in he's going 110% on both ends of the court for 8 minutes at a time without resting. He literally took over the game defensively on multiple occasions in Game 1 and looked like he expected to. There was a point when he checked in during someone's FTs and his posture and presence was like he was just ready to impose himself.

His first play of the game was diving on the floor before anyone had taken a shot. He dove on the floor 2x in the first quarter and both times led to Celtics baskets. He dove to save two out-of-bounds balls in the first. He played serious defense and had 2 steals in the first quarter. Then in the third quarter when things are seriously looking bad and like the Mavs would crawl back into this game like Celtics teams of the past have allowed so many times, Jaylen Brown takes over again and has 3 blocks - that's 3x the blocks of the entire Mavs team over the entire game, but Brown did it in a span of UNDER TWO MINUTES. He really is that dude. You don't see guys his size impacting the ball on both ends of the court that well in big games unless they're genuine superstars, and not phony "I'm a PG with 1 AST who doesn't play defense" or "I'm also a PG who can't score, pass, or play defense but I can dribble lawl" stars.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bostonceltics/comments/1d9zw3w/comment/l7hnhd4/

That pretty much sums it up, yeah.  I think a lot of fans don't understand how rare it is to see a player show consistent growth  for eight straight seasons. 

[Moranis]

Brown was +12 in 37 minutes, team +6 in the 11 minutes he was on the bench. In other words, the team was again better when he was on the bench.

Tatum was +19 in 42 minutes and the team was -1 in the 6 minutes he was on the bench.

Brown has played very well (including in game 1), but it doesn't really matter to the team's actual success.