Jaylen Brown describes ‘different’ feeling he gets from wearing his own shoe brand in games
"It's pretty awesome being able to look down and be like 'that's me'. It's different."
Sneakers have been a big part of basketball culture for a long time, and when Jaylen Brown found himself bored during the offseason he decided to create a brand of his own.
Brown, who scored a team-high 30 points in Monday’s win against the Bucks, described the feeling he got from wearing shoes from his own brand during the game.
According to its website, Brown’s company 741 is a performance brand whose mission is to empower athletes and provide consumers with quality, stylish designs that elevate performance.
The 7 stands for Brown’s Celtics jersey number. The 4 stands for hard work, stability, and practicality. The 1 stands for new beginnings, creativity, and independence.
741 launched its first signature shoe, the 741 Performance Rover “Black Moon,” on Oct. 22 ahead of the Celtics’ season-opener against the Knicks.
“It’s an honor. It’s so cool,” Brown said. “There’s so much that goes into the process of the ins and outs and learning how to create and develop your own sneakers, company, from A-to-Z. I’m really hands on, so I was a part of the whole process. Every approval. Every design from the shoebox to the tissue paper.”
“So, a lot of energy and time and effort has gone into releasing my first iteration of the 741 and it’s pretty cool,” Brown added. “It’s pretty awesome being able to look down and be like, ‘that’s me’. It’s different. When you design your own shoe and it’s your own company and you’ve got your own decisions that you can make rather than somebody telling you what you need to be doing so that’s pretty cool.”
The move to create the brand also comes in the aftermath of Brown being left off Team USA for the Olympics. Following the announcement of the roster, Brown tagged Nike in a tweet saying “this what we doing?”
During a recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, Brown said the emotions he felt being left off the team were “a lot.”
“I’ll tell you this,” Brown said to Smith. “If I have to sign to Nike to increase the likelihood of playing for USA Basketball, I’ll pass.”
“One, I think the essence – you see it in our grassroots,” Brown continued. “Kids instead of enjoying the game of basketball are like forced to pick a side. I look at our global game and Europe is closing the gap. I believe that we should focus more on the development of our youth in grassroots and I think shoe companies should have less control over the industry.”
Brown said he sees a correlation between the sneaker politics at the high-school level and the way things are handled at the highest levels of the sport, including the Olympics.
He mentioned his involvement as a vice president of the NBPA and his time meeting with commissioner Adam Silver while explaining his take.
“I know corporate sponsors, what their pedigree is like,” Brown said. “I know what the relationship is like. I know how those conversations go on. Anybody who thinks sports and politics are not cohesive, you’re lying to yourself.”
Brown said he mentioned Nike because they’re the lead sponsor for USA Basketball. He said the industry needs new energy, creativity, and options.
Hall-of-Famer Grant Hill, who is now the managing director of USA Basketball, was sitting courtside at TD Garden Monday night calling the game for NBATV.
Brown posted 30 points, six rebounds and four assists in the win.
“Great player,” Hill told Boston.com after the game. “I think what I saw from him [Monday] night is what I’ve seen from him the last couple years. He just plays good ball, good defense, he can score, he’s unselfish.”
After hitting a layup over Bobby Portis that put the Celtics up by four late in the third quarter, Brown pointed to his bicep and flexed for the crowd. There will be plenty more of that this season, Brown said.
“Over the course of the year, you’ll see me flexing a lot,” Brown said. “That just comes from using my physicality and being able to take advantage of matchups. I’m not sure if I pointed to the scorer’s table or not, but over the course of the season look out for that because that’s not going to stop.”
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