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Jaylen Brown Setting the Standard for Incoming Rookies

By Joshua Bateman

Mar 19, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Robert Covington (33) and Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown (7) battle for a loose ball during the third quarter of the game at the Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won the game 105-99. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 19, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Robert Covington (33) and Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown (7) battle for a loose ball during the third quarter of the game at the Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won the game 105-99. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jaylen Brown set an example of the commitment and approach needed for a rookie to be successful in Boston

The Boston Celtics have established a core of players that has been about the youth since the rebuild began. Since Brad Stevens has taken over, young players have been a main part of the rotation, including certain rookies each season.

The Celtics present a unique situation to rookies. Especially for the higher selected ones, the best young talent in the league expects to come into the NBA and be given a role they can prove themselves in. With the Celtics. it is the opposite process. You need to prove yourself before you can be given any kind of role, and that will be emphasized even more as the Celtics establish a strong core.

Marcus Smart may be the exception. Stevens allowed him to come in as a rookie and play through a lot of issues, and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, the Celtics had the space. The talent level when Smart joined the team pales in comparison to right now, and Stevens really did not have any other options.

Secondly, even though Smart had a lot of issues and was often a liability, he always found a way to make positive plays, and now that has evolved into arguably his most important trait. It starts with Markelle Fultz (hopefully) but goes far beyond that considering these players are the future.

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The Celtics are not a bottom dwelling lottery team. The number one seed in the Eastern Conference and last team standing this season not named the Warriors and the Cavaliers is not in a position to carry along rookies as they fight through their issues.

The first step for any rookie is making sure they put in that hard work, otherwise they will not see the court at all. The good news is that the Celtics have the kind of leadership to make sure these incoming rookies know that the standard for playing time is going to be different, and Brown knows that better than anyone else.

The process Brown went through as a rookie is the same kind of process that any incomming player should expect to go through. The role will begin by being minuscule, but there will be opportunities. There is not much out there on Fultz considering how young he is, but that was also the case for Brown whose injury gave the Celtics even less to work with.

Rest assured, Fultz is talented enough that Stevens will find something he loves immediately, and then he will find a time for Fultz to be able to exploit that ability. That being said, if Brown’s remarkable rookie season taught us anything, it is that nothing will be taken for granted.

There have been multiple occasions where teammates have praised the work ethic of Brown. He turned down an opportunity to give his name the biggest boost possible by turning down the dunk contest to focus on the regular season.

Brown made all the mental sacrifices on the court and that will always be step one. The number one thing for any incoming rookie is to make sure they first thing his team notices is the work ethic and the commitment to being both the best player for his abilities, as well as the most serviceable he can be to a team that has championship aspirations. Even if Fultz is the future of this team, the priority of the team in his first season will not be his individual development, it will be finding out how to use him to put them in the best possible position to win.

Brown also sacrificed his minutes any time he needed. to. There will always be some sort of rookie wall. These young players will inevitably struggle at some point and Brown realized that if he is struggling he will have to sacrifice minutes. The key is always how they respond to losing those minutes.

Stevens had his minutes all over the place and completely in and out of the rotation, right down to the playoffs. Brown was unfazed, he did not let any minutes restrictions get into his head, and even after being taken out of the rotation completely, he put in the utmost preparation, which allowed him to be at his best when Stevens finally turned to him in the playoffs.

On top of the unparalleled attitude and work ethic culminating into the kind of dedication that a coach dreams to see out of a 10 year veteran player, Brown brought the kind of competitive edge that helps separate the Celtics.

The Celtics saw right away that Brown had some issues. Defensive confusion and inconsistent offensive play got in his way all season long. That being said, nothing and I mean absolutely nothing impacts his mental focus. Brown played with the kind of competitive fire that allowed the Celtics to overachieve in previous year, and if Fultz does not come in with that rabid dog mentality, then he will fall behind.

Brown set a standard for incoming rookies, and has given them a blueprint to have success as such a young player on a team that does not have much room for younger players. Brown has made it clear that if you come in with the right work ethic and buy into everything that Stevens asks of you without any kind of hesitation, then both the player and the team will get the most out of each other.

Fultz is coming in as a better prospect with more raw talent that Brown, but Brown had something that is even harder to find. The mental maturity of Brown, that gave him the kind of confidence to go head to head with the best player in the world, was a part of everything he did, and that is why he impressed and improved every step of the way.

The process could be very different for a player as talented as Fultz, but Brown has shown him all the other off the court things that will allow him to come in and be a part of a championship contending team, something he had to take a bit of a hiatus from with the lack of success of the Huskies.

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If Fultz takes an approach similar to Brown, focuses on getting better on defense first, makes all the sacrifices, puts in all the hard work and is the most confident player on the court whenever he needs to, then Fultz could be in line for a special rookie season.