To say that Jaylen Brown has found his offensive rhythm lately with his partner, Jayson Tatum, on the sidelines would be an understatement. He poured in 42 points in Boston's loss to Philadelphia on Friday, hitting 57% of his field goals and 62% of treys.
In last night's 141-103 victory over Cleveland, he set an NBA record by scoring 33 points in 19 minutes of playing time in the game. He was 65% from the field and 75% from beyond the arc. That is offensive rhythm.
Jaylen Brown's 33 points in 19 minutes tonight are the most by any player in fewer than 20 minutes played during the shot clock era (1954-55). @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/UjAQB4gBUU
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) January 25, 2021
Jaylen's superior play lately has caught the attention of NBA TV's Isiah Thomas. In this morning's broadcast, Thomas labeled Brown as one of the top two-way players in the League right now.
Over the last three games, Brown's 33.7 PPG rank sixth in the NBA despite only logging 29 minutes per contest. All of the other players in the top-10 for PPG have averaged between 33-and-44 MPG. And it's not like a lot of plays are called for Jaylen. He finds his points in the flow of the game - from all distances - at all angles - and via a vast array of offensive moves.
Is he playing like an All-Star right now. No question about it. And he does his work on both ends of the court. He's worth every penny of that 4-year/$115 million contract. Looks like a bargain right now."Jaylen is a true professional who did a great job accepting his role last season, and he is a major part of our championship goals.” ☘
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 21, 2019
Full release: https://t.co/aCgwz2x15n pic.twitter.com/zfy4ihySiw
Great stuff Tom! I can't believe some "fans" said last fall Jaylen was only worth the contract given to Marcus Smart, wasn't better than Caris LeVert (a man two years older and far less durable who signed a 3/52.5 extension) and that at age 23 Brown should have been given an extension based on what he did years 2 and 3 in the league ages 21-22 and not what he'd be expected to do ages 24-27.
ReplyDeleteThat expectation should absolutely have been for a player better than his 2017-19 seasons, where he went for 13.8p, 4.6r, 1.5a and 1s on 46.5/37/65 shooting splits with a 13.6 PER. Those numbers got slammed as "below league average" for a kid with a 21.7% usage rate, and they may have been right. But hadn't he shown himself to be more than capable of improving those as he headed into his prime? I'd have liked him signed closer to the STEAL of a 4/77 deal the Pacers got Sabonis on, by why on earth wouldn't you wrap him up for less than the max when given the chance? His hometown Hawks had boatloads of cash this offseason. They gave Gallinari and Brogdon 38 million a year the next 3 years! You don't think they'd have maxed Jaylen out at 28/29 million a year?
I expected Brown to up his game to around 18/5/2 on 50/40/75 splits and be a 17-18 PER guy starting last season with Kyrie out of the way, and for his prime to be as a 20ppg+ borderline all-star. As this article shows, he's BLOWN past those numbers barely a year after his extension. His usage rate is up about 20% to 26.2, but his performance is a lot more than 20% better than in years 2 and 3. He's looking at All-NBA consideration. How lucky we in Boston are to have JB locked up for the next 3.5!