Brown accepts new summer job
SALT LAKE CITY — He took about a week off after that final playoff loss to Cleveland, and once his sore hip started to feel better, Jaylen Brown bounced back onto the floor as if he was made of rubber.
But this youthful exuberance to compete, no matter what, took a pause last night. The coaching staff advised the 20-year-old forward that in the name of health, it was his turn to take a break after only two games.
Make that two very different games.
Brown kicked off the summer league season with a 29-point, 13-rebound double-double against Philadelphia. A night later he came back to earth with a rather hard fall, finishing with six points, but also eight rebounds against San Antonio. He also had 11 turnovers over his first two games, much to the chagrin of Jerome Allen, the Celtics’ Utah Summer League coach.
But just as last season’s opportunity of quality playoff minutes gave Brown an education that few NBA rookies experience, he’s back in the laboratory again. If Brown has stumbled a bit trying to make plays this week, it’s the price for attempting to stretch his game.
“Part of this platform is for him to get comfortable with pace and angles, and understanding and trying to develop as a basketball player,” said Allen. “That said, you have a margin for error sometimes. He’s trying to figure out what the best plays are for us at both ends of the floor. Jaylen’s doing fine.”
That’s why it’s perfectly fine to put more weight on Brown’s opening night performance.
Once the regular season starts, his chances of scoring and exploding from all spots on the floor, as he did Monday, are naturally going to diminish.
But for a player of Brown’s stature, summer league should be about showing flashes of dominance. Allen believes he has seen enough to be sufficiently excited.
“Oh man, he drove me crazy with a couple of turnovers, but with that being said, it’s his strength, athleticism, the deep ball, posting up,” Allen said of that first night. “Making pull-ups in the paint — he made a number of different plays that one year ago he wasn’t making. Credit goes to him, the guys on the staff, coach (Micah) Shrewsberry, who worked with him every day.”
One noticeable difference, of a short sample size, has been the improvement in Brown’s 3-pointer, including a smooth, fluid pull-up 3 that he hit in transition.
Transition 3’s were clearly not part of Brown’s repertoire last season. That doesn’t mean the shot is brand new to his game, though.
“Yes and no,” Brown said of the perception that he didn’t have that shot before. “A lot of people who watched me play in high school would be like, ‘That’s the JB that we’re used to.’ But in the NBA it’s a different level. So I’m just trying to integrate the two of them and just try to show that I can still be a diverse ballplayer, can handle the ball, score the ball at every level, and make plays for others.
“It feels good. It’s always felt good,” he said. “It’s just about getting out there and having the confidence in the system where I’m allowed to do something like that. Summer league is the time to work on my game and I felt like I shot it pretty good last year. I think I’m shooting it better off the dribble and I’m gonna keep shooting.”
And in the process, Brown’s role will expand, now with rookie Jayson Tatum in the role of his understudy, just as Brown was Jae Crowder’s pupil last season.
“With a good team there’s a lot of stuff you can’t show,” said Brown. “There’s a lot of stuff your team doesn’t need you to do. Last year my job was to play defense and hit corner 3’s and that’s what I did and I think I did that pretty well. This team, it’s a summer league team, my job is to be a playmaker, to score the ball, make plays for others and score in transition. So I’m gonna do that.”