Assessing Jaylen Brown's Rookie Year

[Beat LA]

First, I'd like to apologize to everyone for wanting Kris Dunn last year.  I'm terribly sorry, guys.  As big of a fan I am of his, even I have to admit that it doesn't look good right now, and while I would like to know who gave him the bright idea to change his shot (sarcasm), I'm not going to try and make excuses for him.  I was wrong (as usual).  Plain and simple.  Sigh.



Anyway, since I did miss most of the year, a few games, including his first career start against the Cavs, and checking of the box scores notwithstanding, I guess I'd just like your views on his rookie campaign.  You can grade him if you want, make comparisons, analyze his strengths and weaknesses (and I do still have big concerns about him), make projections about him next year in terms of role, minutes, increased production, etc., do whatever you like . I guess that I'm just curious to see what everyone thinks about the guy.   

Thanks .

[Somebody]

I'd grade him a B+. Guys were going nuts and screaming in the forums about the pick, but he put up a promising year as an ok backup (starter even) on a playoff team that went to the conference finals and won 50+ games. Btw LA TP for owning up, I'm still looking for Clench and CoachBo.
As for expectations I expect him to improve to numbers like 13 PPG, 5 RPG and 3 APG in ~24 minutes per game. But hey I'm always hoping for him to become the next MJ

[Boris Badenov]

Positives:

1. He improved over the course of the year. Post AS he shot 49% overall and 39% from 3pt;
2. Very good shooting percentages for a rookie, better than any other wing in the draft class (including Jamal Murray, I'm not counting Brogdon who is four years older), and there have been only a handful of 20 year old rookies to shoot those percentages over the last 20-30 years;
3. Good poise, some clutch moments and a seemingly solid work ethic.

I can't think of anything that was a real disappointment, relative to my admittedly low expectations. I wasn't overly excited or disappointed in the pick.

I think he established himself as a solid pick at #3 and left open the door for progress to All-Star level.

What I hope to see next year is that he comes into camp with a mindset of being a lockdown defender. If he focuses on that first, his offense is going to come along just fine. He has the tools.

[KGs Knee]

He's got a long way to go to polish his game.  His ceiling looks to be complementary star (aka 2nd banana).  But that's okay, because he looks like he should be very good on defense with a year under his belt now.

Maybe a young Jimmy Butler type in the making.  He looks to be legit two-way player.

[LilRip]

He's much better than I thought he was. My impression was he was an athlete, not a basketball player. But more than his dunks and drives, I've liked him in the post. His handle is still super shaky but once he tightens that up, he'll be hard to contain.

[Monkhouse]

I think Jaylen Brown will end up becoming a staple of the Celtics future. He embodies everything that the Celtics are looking for. Young, intelligent, and hard working talented players who don't just loaf around, and let their talents waste away.

I think if he ever reaches his ceiling.

He could have a 22 PPG, 5-6 RPG, and 1-2 APG type of career with at least 6-7 trips to the free throw line. He's crafty, and his handle needs room for a lot of improvement. BUT---- Once he develops a more consistent shot, and handle, watch out world.

#banner18 #justgiveittous #injaylenbrownwetrust

[saltlover]

He's got a long way to go to polish his game.  His ceiling looks to be complementary star (aka 2nd banana).  But that's okay, because he looks like he should be very good on defense with a year under his belt now.

Maybe a young Jimmy Butler type in the making.  He looks to be legit two-way player.

I pretty much agree with this, although Jimmy Butler isn't my favorite comp, since I do think he slides down the defensive spectrum to a 3/4 type instead of 2/3 type in a few years.

He made a lot of improvement throughout the year.  At the beginning of the season, he got lost a ton on help defense, reliably losing his primary assignment when he started to help, without actually ever completely rotating to play the hep defense, leading to a lot of open lockouts, cuts to the rim, and offensive boards for whomever he was guarding.  By the end of the season, while those issues could occasionally pop up, he got caught in-between a lot less.  As an individual defender, I was peasantly surprised at his abilities, considering that was not his reputation out of college.  While he could occasionally be exploited as an overaggressive 20-year old rookie matching up against some elite NBA wings, his technique for the most part was pretty sound, and he was able to keep players in front of him the majority of the time, using his length to particularly bother most wings.

On offense, his jumper became much more reliable as the season progressed, and his athleticism led to some truly explosive moments.  If he can improve his handle, I think he could even be a top banana on offense.  There are times when I found myself very impressed at his ability to get to the rim so quickly, but just as many times when I'd shake my head as he found himself out of control.  Definitely still raw on the offensive end, but there's a ton to work with, and he truly seems like the type of guy who will put in the work.

He sort of reminded me of Otto Porter's 2nd year.  The differences are that it was Jaylen's rookie year, and Porter played two years in college instead of one.

By draft night last year, I had decided that Jaylen was who I wanted at 3, but sort of in an unexcited, I-guess-he's-the-best kind of way.  I thought his measurables and raw talent gave him a very high ceiling, but I was not remotely expecting him to be as useful on a 50-win team as he was this season. Now I'm truly excited for what he could become at this point, and pleased that while I wait to see him try to reach that ceiling, he will provide solid minutes on a competitive team.

[CelticsElite]

He had a very clear and consistent progression during his first year. First half seemed raw, lacked Confidence. Second half of the year  was a completely different player. Flashy dunks, nice flashy passes, runs well in transition and can cross the court super quick and gets to the hoop with ease. Then the playoffs came and was a reliable rotation player and he even got a little outspoken talking about not being scared of lebron. If he played the way he played in the playoffs all year, he would have been a contender for rookie of the year with enough minutes played


The progression we saw with jaylen was very important because some players, even those drafted around and above him, may never progress. Ingram got worse as the year went by. Go read a Lakers forum, many fans want to trade him he shot 20% from 3 at one point or something bad like that. And fan favorite player  Dunn that everyone on this board wanted aren't doing so Hot. Simmons is Odom without a jumper and didn't even play. Bender is garbage so far. Brown was very very good

[Csfan1984]

His defense, shooting, change of direction with the ball,  in transition shooting, passing and leadership has to improve. He could also try to improve his physical tools even more as he isn't at an elite level just yet. It is the easiest to boost that he can do.

[Beat LA]

I'd grade him a B+. Guys were going nuts and screaming in the forums about the pick, but he put up a promising year as an ok backup (starter even) on a playoff team that went to the conference finals and won 50+ games. Btw LA TP for owning up, I'm still looking for Clench and CoachBo.
As for expectations I expect him to improve to numbers like 13 PPG, 5 RPG and 3 APG in ~24 minutes per game. But hey I'm always hoping for him to become the next MJ

TP for the being the first to post in the thread.  We need to get you to triple digits .

As for your expectations/projections for next year, the rebounding and passing categories are the ones about which I'm most concerned.  While I have seen him make a few good/great passes, as well as make better decisions on the break than any of our guards (which is beyond pathetic, to me), the guy had stretches of 2, 3, and even 5 games in a row without recording an assist . How is that even possible, lol ?  Clearly he's been spending too much time with Avery Bradley (sarcasm).  Granted, I wasn't exactly expecting him to be Rondo or anything, but I find it alarming that, despite averaging 17.2 mpg, he didn't even register 1 assist per contest .

Additionally, if there's one thing this team desperately needs, it's rebounding, and again, I wasn't looking for him to be, well, even Rondo , on the boards, but you're telling me that with his athletic gifts and physical tools that he couldn't grab 10 rebounds in a single game?  Not one?  Case in point, in two starts against the Raptors in February he grabbed a total of...one offensive rebound, while also posting a combined...two assists?  Seriously?

Even in the playoffs, during game 4 against Cleveland, he played 20 minutes and yet somehow failed to corral a single rebound or record even one assist or steal.  Wat .

I guess what I'm trying to get at, here, is that he seems pretty limited as far as contributing to winning.  Like, if he isn't scoring, what else does he offer, which was one of the primary reasons why I liked, and still do like, Kris Dunn over him, because even if he doesn't score, Dunn will stuff the stat sheet, so to speak, and you know he's out there.  With Brown it's like, well, I guess it's easy to see that he's a Kobe fan, lol . Ugh.

[Beat LA]

He's much better than I thought he was. My impression was he was an athlete, not a basketball player. But more than his dunks and drives, I've liked him in the post. His handle is still super shaky but once he tightens that up, he'll be hard to contain.

These were, and are, my assessments, as well, TP . I wish that he'd go to the post a lot more, quite honestly.  It seems like he'll get a shot to go down and then decide that that's enough, when he should be exploiting that matchup every single time down the court, thus forcing the opponent to make an adjustment.  That's what Kobe would have done.  Did Jaylen somehow miss that, lol ?  Weird.

[Beat LA]

Positives:

1. He improved over the course of the year. Post AS he shot 49% overall and 39% from 3pt;
2. Very good shooting percentages for a rookie, better than any other wing in the draft class (including Jamal Murray, I'm not counting Brogdon who is four years older), and there have been only a handful of 20 year old rookies to shoot those percentages over the last 20-30 years;
3. Good poise, some clutch moments and a seemingly solid work ethic.

I can't think of anything that was a real disappointment, relative to my admittedly low expectations. I wasn't overly excited or disappointed in the pick.

I think he established himself as a solid pick at #3 and left open the door for progress to All-Star level.

What I hope to see next year is that he comes into camp with a mindset of being a lockdown defender. If he focuses on that first, his offense is going to come along just fine. He has the tools.

Yeah, anyone who takes the time to retool their mechanics/rebuild their shot, whether between seasons in college or before their rookie year in the NBA, for example, is the only kind of guy in whom Ainge should be interested, imo.  TP .

[gouki88]

Huge fan of his. Have been since his college days to be honest.

Both the progression of his play as well as his attitude to his development, as well as he way he talks about having to earn his minutes through defence impressed me. Incredibly poised for a 20 year old kid. Would probably give a B+/A, despite a few little rookie errors late in the year.

[Celtics4ever]

I think I would give him a solid B.

I get a feeling of potential for excitement when he strides on the court. To me he can be electrifying as a player.   He was a nice surprise and had a nice rookie season.  That being said, I would like for him to work on the following areas to improve his game

1) His handle, he has the speed and athleticism to create but  lacks a solid handle, this would make him more dangerous.  He has slasher ability and this would make him lethal.

2) His shot, he shot pretty well, but could stand to improve it some more.   This is good for everyone.

3) His defense.

If he improves in one of two of these areas then we have a nice player, if he improves in all three then we have a gem!

First, I'd like to apologize to everyone for wanting Kris Dunn last year.  I'm terribly sorry, guys.  As big of a fan I am of his, even I have to admit that it doesn't look good right now, and while I would like to know who gave him the bright idea to change his shot (sarcasm), I'm not going to try and make excuses for him

TP for being a man owning it and the like.

[Somebody]

I'd grade him a B+. Guys were going nuts and screaming in the forums about the pick, but he put up a promising year as an ok backup (starter even) on a playoff team that went to the conference finals and won 50+ games. Btw LA TP for owning up, I'm still looking for Clench and CoachBo.
As for expectations I expect him to improve to numbers like 13 PPG, 5 RPG and 3 APG in ~24 minutes per game. But hey I'm always hoping for him to become the next MJ

TP for the being the first to post in the thread.  We need to get you to triple digits .

As for your expectations/projections for next year, the rebounding and passing categories are the ones about which I'm most concerned.  While I have seen him make a few good/great passes, as well as make better decisions on the break than any of our guards (which is beyond pathetic, to me), the guy had stretches of 2, 3, and even 5 games in a row without recording an assist . How is that even possible, lol ?  Clearly he's been spending too much time with Avery Bradley (sarcasm).  Granted, I wasn't exactly expecting him to be Rondo or anything, but I find it alarming that, despite averaging 17.2 mpg, he didn't even register 1 assist per contest .

Additionally, if there's one thing this team desperately needs, it's rebounding, and again, I wasn't looking for him to be, well, even Rondo , on the boards, but you're telling me that with his athletic gifts and physical tools that he couldn't grab 10 rebounds in a single game?  Not one?  Case in point, in two starts against the Raptors in February he grabbed a total of...one offensive rebound, while also posting a combined...two assists?  Seriously?

Even in the playoffs, during game 4 against Cleveland, he played 20 minutes and yet somehow failed to corral a single rebound or record even one assist or steal.  Wat .

I guess what I'm trying to get at, here, is that he seems pretty limited as far as contributing to winning.  Like, if he isn't scoring, what else does he offer, which was one of the primary reasons why I liked, and still do like, Kris Dunn over him, because even if he doesn't score, Dunn will stuff the stat sheet, so to speak, and you know he's out there.  With Brown it's like, well, I guess it's easy to see that he's a Kobe fan, lol . Ugh.

The assists will go up when he tightens his handle, because a lot of assists has to do with actually handling the ball instead of looking to shoot or pass it up every time you have the ball. Jaylen's problem is that his handle isn't good enough for him to dribble the ball around and open up the passing lanes, which lead to few assist opportunities. Also the rebounding seems to be fine, he grabbed some in game 2 of the ECF iirc. Also with his high motor and good athleticism I think he'll be fine on rebounding. Btw I'm not yet at triple digits lol, still thanks for the tp, you've changed quite a lot imo, I was a lurker since the 12 13 offseason and I thought you were a bit of a troll. Obviously I was wrong and TP.