Summer League Recap: Jaylen Brown Shines in Debut

The Boston Celtics started Summer League out with a 102-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers

There wasn’t much defense being played in the Boston Celtics first Summer League game against the Philadelphia 76ers. With 40 minute games, a lot of them don’t get out of the 70’s. Although, the Celtics and 76ers put together a normal NBA score as Boston was able to edge out Ben Simmons and the 76ers 102-94.

The Celtics got off to a slow start, however recovered quickly. You could tell they had butterflies and played a little tight to start the game, but once they got going there were many positive signs.

The opinion of rookie Jaylen Brown has already started to change for many. He did a little of everything in his first game, just as we all expected. He blocked a Ben Simmons’ layup, almost had two thunderous dunks and finished an alley-oop. However, the highlight of his debut was getting to the free-throw line a game-high 17 times.

He went 11-of-17 from the line, so there’s room to improve. Although, he only shot 65.4 percent from the line in college, so he’ll only continue to improve from the line the more he gets to it. That should be often if he plays like he did on Monday night. Brown was attacking the basket and drawing contact on nearly every drive.

Even though he was able to get to the line 17 times, Brown did try to rely on his strength a little too often. You could tell he was playing like he did in college, where he would try to overpower the opposing team when going up for a layup, and a lot of the time there was no call and he put up a crazy shot. Obviously it’s only his first game and he’ll improve as his rookie season progresses, but it’s definitely an area he needs to improve on.

Brown finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks in a team-high 28 minutes. The other player the Celtics relied heavily on was Terry Rozier.

We knew they would use Rozier heavily and see if he could produce as a point guard. Rozier was up for the challenge in the first game of the Utah Summer League. In 27 minutes, Rozier scored a team-high 18 points, grabbed a team-high six rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists. He also committed three turnovers, however that’s not terrible for a second-year guard in almost 30 minutes.

Rozier had a couple of nice threes (2-of-4 from three) and drove the lane well. He played with a lot of confidence, which Boston was hoping to see, and ran the offense very well. Not to mention his solid defense, although he was only able to record one steal.

I was very impressed with his play and eager to see if he can consistently put together great games like he did on Monday. If he can then Boston may take him off the roster and give the reigns to Demetrius Jackson.

On most Summer League teams, there is always one surprise player. A player that no one is expecting a lot out of but end up putting together a couple of really good games. On Monday, that was Malcolm Miller.

He played 24 minutes off the bench and finished with a game-high plus/minus of +20. He had the job of guarding Ben Simmons when they were in the game, and he did a very good job. Simmons did finish with an impressive 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his debut, but Miller played him tough.

He took a charge in the fourth quarter when Simmons was driving to the basket. On offense, he was a catalyst off the bench. Unlike most of Boston’s roster, he didn’t settle for threes. He took it to the basket or found open looks from 15-to-18 feet out. He ended up shooting a very good 6-of-8 from the field, – 6-of-6 from two-point range – finishing with 14 points.

For all the good, there was still some bad. R.J. Hunter committed five fouls in the first half, but luckily it takes 10 fouls to foul out in Summer League play. He ended up committing seven fouls, one more than Guerschon Yabusele, and wasn’t overly-impressive on either end.

He finished with 17 points on a respectable 5-of-12 shooting – 3-of-6 from three – but he had a lot of wild shots and one that hit off the side of the backboard on a corner three. Maybe I’m nitpicking, but Hunter came up short on a lot of his shots and wasn’t as aggressive attacking the rim as I would have liked.

As impressive as the Celtics were, the 76ers’ great ball-movement kept them in the game. T.J. McConnell stole the show as he flashed his true point guard skills. He finished with a game-high seven assists and also contributed seven rebounds. For as well-rounded of a player Simmons is, McConnell was just as impressive.

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He showed great control of the offense and set up his teammates very nicely. It helped Richaun Holmes and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot finish with 13 points each.

Christian Wood stole the show, though, as he finished with 20 points in 15 minutes off the bench. He had great paint presence on offense was able to draw a lot of fouls.

Of course, the man of the hour was the first overall pick Ben Simmons. He battled cramps in both legs all game, and eventually had to leave the game in the fourth quarter for that reason. For only having one practice under his belt, he was very impressive. He made everyone around him better, impacted the game in many ways and made a lot of nice passes. Still, Jaylen Brown ended up stealing the show.

Next: Breaking Down the Celtics Summer League Roster

The Celtics will be back in action tomorrow at the same time taking on the Utah Jazz. Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier will once again be under the microscope for Celtics’ fans, and Boston will want to see bounce back games from R.J. Hunter and Guerschon Yabusele.

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