I am thrilled with Brown's progress, and when we made that pick, I was one of the people who wasn't happy with it.....hopeful, but not happy.
I watched almost all of Brown's (and Rabb's) games at Cal.
They had one real suck coach in Cuonzo Martin. He stunted both their developments, and, I think ruined Rabb.
Not only was old Cuonzo a lousy teacher of the game, he was a crap tactician.
He misused both Brown and Rabb, and except for Jabari Bird, rarely surrounded Brown with shooters that he had at his disposal, which would've helped Brown's game tremendously.
Rather, he would send Brown to the right corner, and either have him shoot the 3 or drive to the basket, often double teamed and often pushing off with his left arm, especially when he got in the paint.
Brown was a stud coming out of high school and got WORSE in some aspects of his game at Cal. This from Draftexpress:
The sizeable role Brown played in Cal's oversized but underskilled lineups shined a spotlight on the good and bad elements of his offensive game, particularly in the half court. Coming out of the high school ranks with the reputation as a productive scorer, Brown shot 52% inside the arc, 39% from deep, and 70% from the line in the 50 games of stats we have for him in our database spanning his three seasons on the summer circuit at the prep level. Flashing the ability to make jump shots with range, but doing most of his damage as a slasher, the Georgia native with nothing short of spectacular at times on the AAU circuit.
Shooting 48% inside the arc, 29% from three, and 65% from the line for the Golden Bears, Brown didn't have the easiest time translating his game to the college ranks. With 51% of his shot attempts in the half court coming from the perimeter, the mechanical issues with Brown's jump shot became clear. Timing his release differently shot-to-shot whether he's pulling up off the bounce under pressure or shooting catch and shoot jumpers in space, Brown's mechanics are not particularly reliable at this stage. He casually fades away on some attempts unnecessarily, sometimes holding the ball longer than others at the top of his shot. His combination of mechanical issues resulted in the unimpressive 31% he shot from the perimeter overall.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Jaylen-Brown-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-and-Video-Breakdown-5477/That regression in college was on Cuonzo.
Brown's defense, 3 point shooting and finishing have improved substantially in just a year and a half.
Let's not judge Brown's progress on Tatum's. Not saying that that is what's being done here, but that's an easy trap to fall into.
Hated the pick....love it now. Danny saw what Brown was and can be and looked past that year of regression at Cal.