Three Summer Leaguers That Could Start for the Boston Celtics
There are two ways to look at Brown’s rookie season. You can check out all his statistics and try to quantify the kind of player he was, and that would paint an underwhelming story. He never put up gaudy numbers in any area, was an inconsistent shooter and the advanced statistics do him no favors either.
If, however, you accept that a 20 year old kid could not have possibly been given the kind of role to have trustworthy statistics, and you look at the approach he took, and the eventual trust Stevens showed in him, then you would not be able to contain your excitement about him. All you need to do is watch one of Brown’s NBA games, and you can see that he could easily have the most raw talent on the team.
Talking about how eager he is to play in the summer league is yet another indication of the work ethic that has carried Brown throughout his rookie season. There has never been a moment that Brown has not been fully committed to his coach’s vision, and helping his teammates. Brown has put in the kind of work and obviously has the physical tools. It really feels as though it is just a matter of time before Brown puts everything together, and then the Celtics would have no other choice than to start him.
Brown has the defensive confidence to go head to head with LeBron James and, more importantly, Stevens trusted him with the toughest assignment in the world in the biggest games of his tenure.
It is not a fluke that Brown was given such a huge role later in the playoffs, but it was a bit surprising to see it immediately after he was taken completely out of the rotation.
Brown is the kind of rookie that any coach dreams of having because of the approach he takes to the game. He is also the kind of rookie that any coach dreams of having because he has every single physical tool you could imagine, and they will all be getting better.
If Brown makes another leap this off season and follows up a dominant summer league as a great contributor early on, then it may be Brown that the starters have to worry about taking their position, not the generational talent rookie.