I was always a big-time believer in Jaylen Brown and what he brought to the Boston Celtics. But I never thought he was a better No. 1 option than Jayson Tatum, and that's going to be proven next year.
The Brown vs. Tatum debate was always a ridiculous one to me. There was never any need to pit the two against each other, and they each needed the other one to bring Boston another championship in 2024.
But that's a different story now.
Brown had a career year last year, mostly playing in Tatum's absence (who had missed most of the campaign due to an Achilles injury), finishing sixth in MVP voting and leading Boston to the No. 2 seed in the East, even though so many had counted the team out.
But does that mean he's a better No. 1 on this Celtics team? No, it doesn't.
Jayson Tatum is a better fit in Boston than Jaylen Brown was
I have always had a fondness for Brown, and I don't see that going away, even after the trade and the fact that he's in Philly now.
He's a tremendous two-way player who has exceeded expectations and silenced doubters so many times (he was booed on draft night, many thought he didn't deserve his 2019 or 2023 extensions, and he was memed to death for "not having a left hand" before ultimately winning Finals MVP in 2024 and then having the year he had last season).
But I also wouldn't trust him to lead my team to a championship over Tatum, especially on this specific Celtics roster.
The Duke alum is a better all-around scorer, rebounder, playmaker (by a country mile), team defender (Brown probably at least gets the advantage in one-on-one situations), and he is better off the ball. He elevates the rest of his teammates in a way that Brown doesn't. Plus, there have been way more concerns about Brown's effort (particularly defensively and in off-ball situations) than Tatum's.
And in Joe Mazzulla's system, Tatum is a better fit, given that he's a better career three-point shooter on higher volume and is better at moving the ball around.
Jayson Tatum would've led Boston to success if the roles were reversed
Let's pretend that it was Tatum who was Boston's unquestionable No. 1 option last season and that Brown only appeared in 16 regular-season games.
The Celtics still would have been a top seed. Tatum would have finished as an MVP candidate (he had finished top-10 in MVP voting in each of the prior four seasons... with Brown also having a big role). And they may have gotten even better performances from their role players because of the St. Louis native's playmaking ability.
(They also probably would have still lost in the first round of the playoffs, just to be clear.)
It's true that there were times when Brown picked up some of Tatum's slack (the 2022 NBA Finals immediately come to mind), but there was never a time when he was confidently the better player or leader.
I will always root for Brown's success, even in Philadelphia. But if the Celtics had to choose between him and Tatum to lead their franchise for possibly the next decade, there is no doubt in my mind that they made the right decision this offseason.
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