Surprise! It’s you!
C’s stagger Brown with No. 3 selection
NEW YORK — Jaylen Brown swears he didn’t know.
The Celtics had been on the phone talking to the 76ers, with the latter trying to pry away the third overall pick. Danny Ainge was said to be fielding offers, playing his cards very close to the vest. How close? “I had no idea,” said Brown, who rose and hugged his parents when commissioner Adam Silver called his name from the stage. “I promise you. I had no idea. I was actually sweating bullets when the final five seconds came in.
“But I knew they were heavily interested when they asked me to come back for a second workout,” he added, repeating a theme he’d offered the day before. Brown was back at the Celts’ facility in Waltham on Monday, and clearly the club wouldn’t have put the 6-foot-7 Cal product on a plane if they weren’t serious about him.
“But,” said Brown, “you hear different things every day. I mean, it changes every day, so I was not sure at all. But I’m glad to be here, and I think it’s the right fit.”
Beyond not sure, Brown had convinced himself at one point that he wouldn’t be a Celtic.
“What was going through my mind?” he said. “I didn’t think Boston was going to pick me for some reason. I don’t know. I was sitting there and I was nervous as all get-out. … I was sweating and I was nervous. But when they picked me, just a sigh of relief left me, and I’m happy I’m here.”
In what qualifies as an odd and interesting twist to the Celtics’ day, one of Brown’s bigger fans happens to be a guy the club has been chasing. Danny Ainge has been on Jimmy Butler’s trail, making a big run for him at least as early as last February’s trade deadline. The Celts couldn’t get Butler yesterday, either. But they got a guy who Butler has been praising these last few weeks.
“It feels good,” Brown said of the endorsement. “Me and Jimmy, we kind of have the same mentality. I met him in Chicago for the first time at the NBA combine, and we have the same trainer, and (the trainer) said we have similar work ethics, so he wanted to see for himself.
“So (Butler) cut his vacation short, got in the gym with me, we worked out, and then we ended up playing one-on-one, and we ended up being in there an extra hour. We ended up going tooth and nail at it. So Jimmy is a great worker, and it’s an extraordinary compliment from someone like that.”
As for how that matchup went, Brown said, “We played to three, because I guess he thought it would be easy. And then somebody won the first game and then he wanted to keep going. And so we kept going after that, then he won the second, then he won the third, then I won the fourth. We ended up playing all the way to 21.”
The feeling is that Brown has a lot of developing to do with his game, but he’s a bright 19-year-old who plays hard.
“(The) NBA is a faster pace, faster tempo, so it’s a lot of transition, and I feel like that’s where I excel, that’s where I thrive,” Brown said. “However, I do have to get a lot better. Decisionmaking has to get a lot better. But the NBA is a faster pace, a lot of versatility. Guys that can guard multiple positions are very valuable, and I think I add to that really well.”
From his first media moments, he made it clear he has no mixed emotions about coming to the Celtics.
“First off, I want to say I’m happy to be a part of the family,” he said. “I know Boston has a lot of history, a lot of tradition, and I want to add to that. I know it’s a playoff team, so I love playoff basketball, and I can’t wait to win. Boston is a great city full of culture, full of life, education, things that mean a lot to me. I’m super excited. I cannot wait to get there and can’t wait to get everything started, can’t wait for the season to start, and I’m happy to be a part of the family.”
His family is happy he’s part of it, too.
“I’m so proud and just excited and honored that he got to live out his dream,” said his mom, Mechalle. “This is a dream come true for him.”
His father, Marcellus, was even more excited that his son is going to the Celtics.
“Absolutely,” he said, stating his longtime Celtics fandom. “Larry Bird? Are you kidding me? The back and forth with the Lakers and Magic Johnson, that was legacy, man. Those were great games to watch when I was growing up as a kid, and for him to go to the Celtics, I’m very proud.”
Even more impressive is that Marcellus was a Greenheart in Georgia.
“I was a big fan of Dominique (Wilkins),” he said, “but I’m sorry. I’m a Celtics fan.”
His son had to do a lot of sweating to get to Boston. Even on draft night.