CelticsBlog exit interview: Jaylen Brown

Final offseason was a dream for Jaylen Brown.

A Finals (and Convention Finals) MVP, Brown silenced considerations that he and Jayson Tatum may collectively be the faces of a Banner 18 run. Then, apart from an outspoken conflict with Nike and USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill, the excellent news saved on rolling.

Brown debuted his personal signature shoe model, collaborated with A$AP Ferg to drop a track known as “Simply Do It,” and began the inspiration Boston XChange.

Expectations have been excessive coming into this season, each for JB individually and for the crew’s quest to interrupt the 6-year drought of getting a repeat champion. These expectations have been wiped away due to mounting accidents, poor taking pictures and a number of late-game collapses to the New York Knicks, including one more 12 months to the streak of a brand new NBA champion.

Brown’s Finals follow-up was removed from good, but in addition removed from a disappointment. For a 3rd straight season, Brown earned an All-Star nod, nevertheless it got here in a 12 months the place he shot the bottom 3-point effectivity of his profession (32% on 5.7 makes an attempt) and had the second lowest eFG% (51.5%) that was simply forward of his rookie season.

Brown’s mid-range sport has additionally seen a slight decline in effectiveness since he transformed on 47% of these appears to be like within the 2022-23 season, however his 40% effectivity this 12 months was his lowest because the 2018-19 marketing campaign when he got here off the bench. In non-restricted space paint scoring, Brown nonetheless transformed at a decent 44.7% of his 295 makes an attempt, nevertheless it was once more a step down from final 12 months’s unimaginable total manufacturing, when he transformed on 52% of those self same appears to be like on 264 makes an attempt.

That could be a whole lot of adverse big-picture parts to his season, however Brown was nonetheless, regardless of that, able to placing up a blinding scoring efficiency, ending with 9 video games of 30+ factors. Solely a type of scoring outbursts noticed him shoot under 50%. One of the best of the bunch was a 44-point gem towards the Pacers on Dec. 27, a sport which got here throughout an early-season tough patch for the Celtics. His 44 factors was the fourth highest level whole in his profession, and he transformed on 16/24 shot makes an attempt, nailed six 3-pointers and hit all six free throw makes an attempt throughout the win.

Scoring manufacturing could have taken a step again, however different areas of Brown’s sport improved. After a rocky 2024 season from the free throw line, Brown elevated makes an attempt on the line from 4.3 to five.1 makes an attempt per evening and hit them at a 76% clip, which aligns nearer to his manufacturing from 2020-2023.

Essentially the most important leap got here from Brown’s playmaking. Brown’s 4.5 assists per sport have been one of the best in his profession, all whereas holding turnovers all the way down to a modest 2.6 per evening, only a slight uptick from final season (2.4). With the gravity and repute as a play-finisher, Brown used that to his benefit, attacking collapsing defenses with kickouts, massive man layoffs and submit skip passes.

Previous to this season, Brown had simply 13 video games in his common season profession the place he recorded 8 or extra assists. He had seven such video games this 12 months, together with a nine-assist efficiency towards the Pistons on Dec. 4.

What many will keep in mind about Brown’s most up-to-date marketing campaign is the postseason grit he confirmed. Brown performed 36.5 minutes in 11 playoff video games on {a partially} torn proper meniscus. The quickness and lack of liftoff was noticeable throughout the run, and within the video games main as much as the playoffs, however Brown hardly complained, placing up a robust collection towards a bodily Orlando crew that was headlined by a 36-point masterpiece in Sport 2 with Jayson Tatum out with an injured wrist.

For the primary spherical, Brown shot 49% from the sector, 44% from three and 84% from the road.

The Knicks collection was a distinct story, each for Brown and his fellow starters. His taking pictures splits dropped to 40/29/68 with 4 turnovers a sport.

When Tatum went down together with his Achilles damage, Brown did play a key function within the crew’s impressed Sport 5 efficiency, pulling down 9/17 photographs for 26 factors and 12 assists, which might be his career-high each within the common season and playoffs for his profession.

That sport additionally featured a single second that defines the trouble Brown put in throughout the postseason. Simply over a minute into the second half, Brown fought over a Josh Hart display screen, stripped Jalen Brunson clear, then laid out towards the Boston bench to maintain the ball inbounds earlier than leaping up, re-entering the motion on the opposite finish, and incomes a visit to the free throw line.

Once we look forward to this offseason, some robust choices will should be made, each to create cap flexibility and to retool the roster for Tatum’s return. The choice round Brown needs to be a straightforward one. With so many questions of who’s staying and who’s going, Brown’s tenth season (and past) ought to stay in Boston, the place he’ll have to determine the right way to be the No. 1 possibility for the primary time in his skilled profession.

The most important development space, his passing, will should be centerstage this upcoming season. His gravity as a scorer is plain, nevertheless it now takes a success with Tatum and presumably different key scoring choices off the ground. Meaning extra eyes on Brown.

Even in a season that didn’t pan out because the smash-hit Hollywood blockbuster sequel to Banner 18, Brown went to conflict for Boston, similar to he mentioned he would on draft evening. He was additionally the one to maintain calm and look forward, regardless of the gloomy ending.

“This isn’t the top,” he mentioned.

Dropping to NY could really feel like dying, however subsequent 12 months is a recent begin. When you’ve guys like Brown that can go to conflict for his or her crew, and show it by way of their actions on the ground, the long run doesn’t look so gloomy.