Celtics’ Jaylen Brown doesn’t understand why everyone is surprised by his shooting improvements
"People are attributing growth to the offseason this year. It wasn’t no offseason."
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Every time Jaylen Brown is asked about the offensive improvements to his game — which is nearly every time he sits down in front of a Zoom camera this season — he is quick to point to opportunity rather than offseason work.
The reason he’s asked is obvious: Brown is scoring a career-high 27.3 points per game with 52.8/43.8/76.9 shooting splits.
The reason for Brown’s deflection is simple too: He didn’t have time to work hard this offseason.
“Like, I’ve for sure gotten better,” Brown said on Wednesday. “But there was no offseason. So what time did you expect me (to improve)? I didn’t do anything. I probably rested for about a month, first of all. So people are attributing growth to the offseason this year. It wasn’t no offseason. I’m just glad I got the opportunity to be in the position I’m in now, but I feel like I’ve always had game, and it’s now just being able to get displayed.”
Brown might have some reason to be annoyed at the occasionally surprised tone of his coverage this season. He was the No. 4 prospect coming out of high school — a freak athlete whose ESPN recruiting profile lauded his motor and offensive potential. At Cal, he struggled behind the arc but showed flashes elsewhere of the player he could become.
Brown has been on everyone’s radar for years.
“I always felt like I could shoot the ball,” Brown said. “Nice form, came off my hands feeling well. I didn’t shoot it as great in college, and I was only there one year, so everybody just jumped the gun and said I was a non-shooter. But in my draft workouts, every year I’ve shot the ball great, I don’t know what the big surprise is.”
Brown had another solid night as a shooter (24 points, 3-for-6 from three) on Wednesday, but it wasn’t enough for the Celtics, who fell 110-106 to the San Antonio Spurs. Brown finished one point behind Jayson Tatum, who dropped 25 as Boston’s core four — Tatum, Brown, Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker — all shared the floor for the first time this year.
Concerns that Brown might not get enough touches with Walker, Tatum and Smart faded away, but other concerns replaced them. Most notable: Why are the Celtics struggling so badly on the defensive end? The numbers are fine, but unremarkable — Boston surrenders 110 points per 100 possessions, which is 10th in the NBA. But the Celtics put up minimal resistance against San Antonio’s boundless energy and athleticism on Wednesday, as Lonnie Walker and Keldon Johnson combined for 32 points along with DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge’s 21 and 20 points respectively.
“I don’t know, man, it’s been an interesting season,” Brown said, when asked about the team’s defensive struggles. “We’ve had guys out, guys hurt. Now guys are back and we’re still just trying to put everything together. We’ve definitely got to be a lot better on that end of the court if we want to be a good team, and tonight wasn’t our best night.”
Tatum amplified Brown’s sentiments.
“It just seems like everybody’s not on the same page,” he said. “If there’s three guys one possession, two guys not. If there’s four guys, one is not. Obviously people know what we’re capable on the defensive end, but we’ve just got to figure it out. We’ve got more than enough guys that are, I guess, elite defenders. That’s kind of what we hang our hat on being on the Celtics, is competing and defending, and honestly, we’re just not doing that right now. And we’ve got to figure it out.”
Plenty of excitement built prior to Wednesday’s game to watch Tatum, Brown and Walker together for the first time this season. The trio played 1,481 possessions together last year and outscored opponents by an impressive 9.7 points per 100 possessions, but this year feels different. Tatum looks less stoppable. Brown has morphed into a potential All-NBA selection. Walker looks quick and healthy, even though his minutes are limited. All of those facts made Wednesday’s dud feel particularly noteworthy.
Tatum recognizes the need for improvement, but he wasn’t concerned.
“We know what we need to do,” he said. “Especially the core group of guys that play a big chunk of the minutes. We’ve played together, we’ve been here for enough time that we know what we need to do.
“Yeah, we’re going to figure it out.”
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