Boston Celtics: 3 Reasons Why We Need Jaylen Brown To Deliver

Perimeter Defense

What gets lost in any Jaylen Brown trade talk is how important he is to the team’s defensive scheme and high-level production.

At 6-foot-8, Brown is the rare athlete with the size and strength to bang with bigger wings, but the nimble-footedness to track smaller quicker players around on and off-ball screens. Jayson Tatum is a phenomenal player and athlete, but he can’t track Damian Lillard, or JJ Redick off a screen all night long like Brown can and has done.

Brown’s also shown the strength and lateral footwork to cover players such as LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard.

In the playoffs especially, Brown’s unique defensive versatility and shut down ability is incredibly value and difficult to replace. Marcus Smart is another rare guy who can do a lot of those things and has stepped into the starting lineup nicely in Brown’s absence.

Whether Brown comes off the bench or starts, however, he has incredible value the deeper this team goes in the playoffs. As you advance, players with obvious weaknesses on either end get exposed and Brown is a player who can adapt and thrive at the highest level.

Brown is too talented and hard working to be held down for long and if Thursday’s 21-point effort was the beginning of Brown being back, that’s a great sign for Boston.