Just a few days in the past, Jaylen Brown talked about how he’s learning Paul Pierce’s sport. Watching how he will get to his spot. Studying the right way to play at a slower tempo. Brown and Pierce have very totally different ability units, and but, there are some similarities between them.
Certainly one of them is that, regardless of not being the very best participant on their workforce, they have been the Finals MVP in the one Finals they gained—due to excessive scoring quantity and defending the opponent’s finest participant. JB made a press release over the last Finals together with his protection on Luka Dončić, and again in 2008, PP had top-of-the-line particular person defensive performances towards Kobe Bryant (to not point out going up towards LeBron James earlier within the playoffs). Nonetheless, that is extra storytelling than the rest – so what can Jaylen Brown be taught from Paul Pierce’s sport?
Attending to his spot
Brown talked about Pierce’s skill to “get to his spot.” Each are gamers who wish to take mid-range photographs from the free-throw line, and each are nice at getting there. So that may not be the realm the place Brown can be taught from Pierce. Nonetheless, PP was additionally nice at attending to his spot off-ball, which could be the place JB can lean into his research.
Taking a look at Paul Pierce’s video games from the Massive Three period—when he needed to play subsequent to different stars—it’s apparent how easily he performed off the ball. After all, he was, to begin with, an excellent catch-and-shoot three-point shooter, particularly relative to his period. However what may very well be fascinating for Brown to discover is Pierce’s skill to acquire nice post-up positions.
Within the play under from the 2008 Finals, Pierce spun round Vladimir Radmanović to lure him behind as he ran towards the opposite facet of the paint to get a deep post-up place. As he will get the ball, Pierce isn’t static—his hips and ft are already positioned so he can drive from the catch and use the hole created on his matchup. He goes round Radmanović and finishes together with his proper hand.
One other instance from the identical Finals, towards the identical matchup. Right here, Pierce waits till he’s on the stage of the display screen from Ray Allen to trick Radmanović. As an alternative of working straight to the ball, he creates a spot by going nearly off the courtroom to get a deep place beneath the basket. As his matchup goes over the display screen, he will get sufficient house to complete.
This identical play, with extra spacing, may very well be turned from a post-up to a easy reduce—which was additionally one in all Pierce’s threats as an offensive participant. His craftiness wasn’t restricted to having the ball in his fingers. The Celtics legend was additionally nice at managing time and house with out the ball to search out straightforward buckets on the rim.
Jaylen Brown himself has grown as a post-up participant, from 0.5 post-ups per sport in 2022–23 to 2.3 in 2024. He’s utilizing quite a lot of his bodily dominance to attain from this space, and he may very well be much more lethal if he learns the right way to grasp tempo and house like Paul Pierce did. Regardless of not-so-great spacing, Pierce was calm and picked up in these post-up conditions, drawing the protection on the transfer and passing from there.
Sure, Jaylen Brown doesn’t have Pierce’s taking pictures contact, however I strongly imagine he might grasp the post-up play by leaning much more into it. And shifting extra towards being an off-ball and post-up participant might flip him right into a extra environment friendly scorer—like Pierce was.
Free-throws’ residual worth
Jaylen Brown’s effectivity has been a scorching matter for years—particularly through the present season—as he’s scoring with below-average effectivity. His relative taking pictures effectivity peaked in 2019–20 with a 103 TS+ (3% above league common). Alternatively, Paul Pierce’s profession common is a powerful 107 TS+ (7% above league common). However the place does the distinction between these two gamers’ effectivity come from? Why does Pierce’s common really feel far above Brown’s peak, regardless of each having elite offensive ability units?
The free throws.
Let’s dive into the information from Basketball-Reference.com to grasp why Pierce was way more environment friendly—primarily as a result of he bought to the road at a better price. Within the “Adjusted Taking pictures” part of a participant’s web page, there are “league-adjusted” stats with a “+.” Above, we talked about TS+, which is True Taking pictures relative to league common for that season, with 100 being the typical. The identical applies for eFG% (Efficient Area Objective %) or FTr (Free Throw Fee).
Within the chart under, we examine Paul Pierce through the Massive Three period and Jaylen Brown since turning into an All-Star alongside Jayson Tatum. What’s related is their relative eFG%. Each have been barely above common, principally attributable to tough shot choice. But, whereas their eFG% is analogous, their true effectivity (relative True Taking pictures) could be very totally different.
Paul Pierce being 10% above league common is sort of superb. For context, that’s the identical relative True Taking pictures as present MVP favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season. Through the 5 Massive Three seasons, Pierce scored with elite effectivity—and his profession common of 107 TS+ is much more spectacular than that five-year stretch.
So, we’ve got two gamers with related relative eFG%, however an enormous hole of their general scoring effectivity—solely attributable to free throws. Pierce’s relative Free Throw Fee was round 150, whereas Jaylen Brown is slightly below 100. In easy phrases, Pierce was attending to the road 50% greater than the league common, whereas Brown is under common in producing free throws. Why such a giant hole?
Nicely, first there’s Pierce’s skill to get to his spot, on and off the ball—however we’ve already checked out that. The second cause is persistence and management. Watching movie, the largest distinction between the 2 stars is that feeling of management.
Mastering the tempo and house
As Noa famous in his latest story on Jaylen Brown, his focus whereas learning Paul Pierce movie was on the Corridor of Famer’s skill to get to his spots and play at a managed tempo. Certainly, Pierce’s skill to regulate the tempo of the sport is actually outstanding. Regardless of being slower than most athletic wings, Pierce dictated the tempo of the sport—not the opposite means round.
Within the play under, from the well-known Sport 7 towards LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Pierce confirmed how good he was at altering tempo and managing house. First, he slowly strikes near P.J. Brown’s display screen. As soon as James and Žydrūnas Ilgauskas are about to shut in, he neatly adjusts his again foot to burst and break up the display screen. Then, as Joe Smith (one other former No. 1 draft choose) closes in, he gathers firmly with two ft and each fingers to take management of the ball and put himself in the very best place to go across the middle.
This sport is particularly fascinating to review, because it reveals how nice Paul Pierce was with the ball in his fingers as a playmaker. The Cavaliers utilized heavy stress in pick-and-rolls, sending two gamers on the ball-handler. This didn’t sluggish Pierce down. Within the instance under, he neatly steps away from the double, letting Ben Wallace get well to Kevin Garnett. Then he drives proper, and as LeBron James stunts, he spins again to his left, drives, and forces Ilgauskas to foul him on the rim.
Paul Pierce is a forgotten offensive monster. Few wing gamers might shoot, drive, put up up, and deal with the ball at his stage. Jaylen Brown is greater than proper to review his sport. What made Pierce particular was his skill to play alongside different stars whereas remaining environment friendly—with or with out the ball. He was additionally sensible and sneaky sufficient to pressure his option to the free-throw line. And, on high of that, he had a novel skill to regulate time, tempo, and house on offense.
If Jaylen Brown can grasp these expertise from The Reality, then the sky’s the restrict—as a result of that may make him top-of-the-line offensive gamers within the league.
