The Boston Celtics have been up and down this season much like their third-year wing Jaylen Brown.
Following a successful sophomore season in the NBA, Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown entered the season confident and full of bold predictions. But the team’s mediocre start and his own struggles offensively quickly set Brown back to reality.
That reality is that Jaylen Brown still has a lot of his game to work on and so does his team. Part of the Celtics getting out of their funk was shifting the lineups to find combinations that work. That meant eventually taking Brown out of the starting lineup and have him come off the bench.
As a reserve Brown has had some great games offensively but has still been inconsistent. In ways it seems the demotion both motivated and frustrated a player who just a year ago was being considered for the All-Star team.
Brown voiced some of that frustration in an interview with ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan in early December.
"“It’s probably been the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with so far in my career,” Brown admitted. “Just coming from a position where you had so much responsibility, and now that responsibility is lessened. Expectations have been raised, but your responsibility goes down, so it’s hard to reach those expectations when you aren’t being asked to do as much.”"
In inserting Gordon Hayward back into the mix, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was presented with a challenge. That challenge was getting Hayward back into the flow of the offense, while sacrificing the minutes and role of a couple of his younger players. Jaylen Brown’s inconsistency this season proves he has been the player impacted the most.
What does he need to do better to re-establish the amount of responsibility he held on the team last year?
Here are three things he can start with.
Let the offense come to him
This one is simple, but Jaylen Brown has to play within the offense to be successful.
As a player who improved his shot, particularly his three-point percentage, during his second year in the league, Brown has taken a step back when it comes to his offensive output this season.
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Averaging 11.4 points this season, Jaylen Brown’s production has taken a dip as he averaged 14.5 point in the 2017-18 NBA campaign, but much of that was to be expected with the return of both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
What Brown needs to do to become a more consistent scorer is not force shots. He has to simply allow the Boston Celtics ball movement to get him the open shots. Another way he can improve is take the ball to the hole and actually finish. There have been many times where he is either blocked at the rim or missed a dunk. You can’ knock his aggressiveness in those situations, but he has to find a way to be niftier around the rim.
In all, getting out and running and taking shots within the realm of the offense will help Jaylen Brown become a more consistent scorer and ultimately may lead him back to the starting lineup.
In the meantime, he needs to embrace his role and give the Celtics a scoring punch off the bench.
Defend, defend, defend
If the shots aren’t falling, Jaylen Brown has the athleticism to impact the game in other ways.
Much like teammate Jayson Tatum, Brown must turn to other aspects of his game when the offense isn’t there.
As a wing, Brown’s importance on defense is magnified given the type of talent he is up against on a nightly basis. On a team led by Brad Stevens, defense is what is going to earn Brown the minutes he feels he deserves.
Like his rookie season, consistent defense will earn trust from Stevens. That defense also has a way of impacting how things go on the offensive end. In a league where the three-point shot is more prevalent than ever, the length and athleticism of Jaylen Brown in his ability to defend the 3-point stripe will help re-define his role on the team.
He also needs to develop a consistent aggressiveness and mindset to stay locked in on the defensive end. Even if Jaylen Brown does not score the ball, he can still help the Boston Celtics win games with energy and effort on the defensive end.
Stay humble
In helping lead the Boston Celtics to within a quarter of making it to the NBA Finals, Jaylen Brown was feeling himself a little bit in the offseason.
If the Celtics didn’t already have a lot of pressure on them entering the 201-19 season, Brown added to that pressure by guaranteeing the team will make it to the finals. With two All-Stars returning to the mix, Brown had every reason to feel confident, but making it public just added salt to the wound once the team got off to a slow start.
To compound things, Jaylen Brown then predicted he would win multiple championships why the time he is 27. Outspoken, and not afraid to speak his mind, Brown was suddenly doing more talking off the court than he was doing with his play on the court.
Certainly, a learning curve for a player who has seen success early in his NBA career. But, staying grounded and staying humble will help fuel his success and the success of the Boston Celtics.