It's really a side effect of his mechanical approach to the game. He was a bad shooter, became a good one through work and coaching (personal training). Same with handle. He's learning to pass right before our eyes this year. He fixes flaws and takes them to the court, albeit methodically and sometimes slowly.
This is all true, but one area where he is less mechanical is how to attack the basket in transition. A lot of pure athlete guys get charging calls, Brown almost never get a changing call. Most of his offensive fouls are by him shoving or hooking a defender out of his way. I think he’s better than most at that, and maybe was held back by the lack of handle in the early years.
His handle is still a work in progress, but he's light years ahead of where he was. Jaylen is now a very gifted volume scorer and a very valuable one. Where he is still limited on offense is his tunnel vision (great point by ben h) and what I believe is a low basketball IQ. He almost never seems to think more than 1 step ahead once he has the ball, which is why he turns it over so much when defenses collapse on him. Passing is an after thought, although he has shown some signs of improvement there too.
Yeah that's a good point. I still think that's one of the areas where he put in specific work to get better. But it is definitely the most natural part of his game.
I agree with this. A bit of a wandering eye is mitigated when the passes can't get through as easily and when your teammates aren't getting beaten with regularity.
The good thing about Brown is that he's added some limited but meaningful playmaking ability. Watch this play, particularly the end.
I liked the way he just used his dribble to step right around 2 defenders closing out. The next step is to realize after doing that that he's got a 5-on-3 for a few seconds. And looking for Rob in those situations is a way to sort of fake being a playmaker.
+1. Nash put in Griffin to give their offense a shot in the arm, and it worked for a minute (the fact that KD/Kyrie needed Blake Griffin, a 29.3% 3 point shooter hitting from outside in the 4th quarter of a must-win playoff game, is delicious). He gave it back so easily on the other end, I can't imagine we see him again. At least the other guys on their roster can move their feet a bit, Griffin may as well be a chair on defense.
I'll never fully understand why folks watch JB and often think that he's having a poor game. Then we look at the numbers at the end and realize that has hasn't.
Classic case of focusing on what a very good, but not superstar, player can't do rather than all the things he can.
It feels like Brown is hurt by the natural comparison and contrast to Tatum in some regards - its almost an extension of the "can they play together narrative" that is hopefully dead by now. That said, you are spot on. Yesterday he was relentlessly exploiting every mismatch like a lion hunting its prey. It was glorious.
He didn't have a 'poor' game, or anything close to that, obviously, so if the conversation is "Is Brown very good?" or even "Is Brown a max player?" then there should not even be discussion. But he happens to play alongside another young wing who is better in nearly every way including decisionmaking. There was a point in yesterday's game where Brown was guarding Durant... and he helped off of him to double Bruce Brown leading to a Durent three. No way that Tatum or Smart or Horford would make that mistake. Marcus had a turnover late in last night's game because Brown had his man sealed away from the basket but didn't realize that all he needed to do was make the obvious cut and he's have an uncontested layup. Instead, Marcus' pass sailed harmlessly out of bounds. On the following play, Marcus ran the same thing with Tatum and got the layup.
Except I was specifically speaking to this one game, and how I had perceived he was playing prior to when he took the game over at a critical time in the 4th Q. He really seemed out-of-sorts to me earlier in the game. Do people think he had a good first half?
I sure didn't mean my post as a criticism of your or Eddie's posts. I posted that people seem to notice JBs flaws and gloss over that he had a great game. If you noticed that he turned a so-so game into a good game with a streak in the fourth, I trust you in that observation. Often JB has a 20 point first half and is relatively quiet in the second. He is streaky. This time seems to have been the opposite.
I'd argue that as good as Tatum is; there is something about the explosiveness and physicality of Brown as an athlete that makes him a better choice to exploit mismatches like going against Griffin. The Celtics could have easily gotten Tatum v Griffin if they wanted too, but it was Brown who was tasked with playing Griffin off the court and he did it masterfully. Tatum is a better shot maker, dribbler, smoother offensive player overall, but Brown's stamina and burst make him a superior player in some ways to exploiting mismatches.
Jaylen is definitely an excellent one on one player. He gets into problems when he's in a crowd or in any situation where he has to make a non obvious pass.
Right: before Jaylen started going after Griffin, Tatum did it first. And it ended with a jump ball.
He's been there in the 4th for each of the 3 games: 9, 10, and 9 points. Leading 4th quarter scorer in the first 2 and second to Tatum's 14 in the third.
Maybe, but this might be a Brooklyn specific thing. They are a team wuith pretty unique limitations.
I wouldn't jump to too strong a conclusion from one play.
I did take it as (very mild) criticism, so thank you for further explaining your points.
This has been a trend in the series; Brown turning it on in the fourth and really exploiting the lack of wing defenders Brooklyn has. Especially if Durant is stuck on Tatum and can't really help; it's a great matchup for Brown to exploit and he has risen to the occasion each time, in a variety of ways. He was torching Griffin thanks to Griffin being slow; but Brown's handle has improved so much over the years, he was able to start-and-stop and get anywhere he wanted. He's developed his skills from being just a raw athlete in a way few NBA players can really claim. Giannis is obviously the pre-eminent "guy who was just a raw athlete who turned into a great player" and then Kawhi, but Brown has really elevated himself from who he was when he first came into the league.
You nailed it in the first post, his stamina can be a weapon. Now obviously he doesn’t play quite as much as Tatum, but there’s no question he’s been fresher looking early in the 4th of every game. Him being able to pick up that slack while Tatum gets his wind back has been massive, and wasn’t the case in the regular season. In the 4th quarter this year, he had a 48% TS. In these 3 games, it’s been 74% lol, he’s been unreal, and at the biggest moments.
I think it’s a near certainty that the handle is markedly improved next year.
Its been really impressive how they’ve been able to pick each other up this series.
Them learning how to play off eachother, and fully stepping into the Batman/Robin roles has been beautiful.
