The logical disconnect of wanting to trade Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown hasn’t lived up to lofty expectations this year, but can we pump the brakes on wanting to trade him?
Can we all relax about Jaylen Brown?
Seriously, he’s one of the best young players in the NBA, who could play under a team controlled contract for potentially the next five years.
Did he have a rough start to the season? Yes.
Is he taking longer than we expected to adjust to a lesser role? Yes.
But HE IS ONE OF THE BEST YOUNG PLAYERS IN THE NBA.
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He was the youngest Celtic ever to score 30 points in a playoff game. He has developed his jump shot, defense and playmaking quicker than any of us could have predicted as a raw prospect out of California. Don’t forget he’s also dealing with a right hand injury.
Do we realize how many teams would bend over backwards to get their hands on a player like Brown? Think about the playoff teams starving for two-way wings. Houston, Philadelphia, Indiana, Denver, Portland, New Orleans all need somebody like Brown. And you want to give Brown away for picks and a veteran who won’t be on the team next year?
Even if you don’t agree he’s one of the best young players in the league, and if you think trading him could fix the supposed problems with having too much talent, it still makes no sense to do it.
It’s a league driven by talent, especially at the wing position, and wanting to get rid of Brown just because he’s not living up to expectations doesn’t seem logical.
But hey, at this point let’s say you still want him gone. Maybe you like to root for roster moves more than the team on the floor. Let’s look at what a Brown trade would look like.
As of today, the Celtics are over the salary cap and into the luxury tax. That means they are not allowed to bring in any more salary than they send out in a deal. So if they were to trade Brown this year, they can only acquire a player(s) making the same or less than his salary of $5.1 million.
It’d be extremely difficult to find a player making that little money who’s both an upgrade over Brown and available for a trade. But if the player is an upgrade over Brown, how do we know the new player will be okay with a lesser role too?
Also, Brown isn’t playing poorly.
Jaylen Brown's averages his last 7 games for #Celtics:
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) January 10, 2019
15.9 PTS
60 FG% (10 FGA)
42.9 3P% (3 3PA)
72 FT% (3.6 FTA)
4.6 REB
26.2 MIN
Important as anything, consistency. Brown's shot at least 57% in 6 of the 7.
If you're into +/-, Brown was -26 the first 3 games, +62 the last 4.
It seems as if the frustration around Brown is connected to high expectations from last year. He had a great second year, and an even better postseason, going from 14.5 points per game to 18 when it mattered most. It’s okay to expect him to play at that high a level this season, but wanting to get rid of him and ignoring the context of why he hasn’t lived up doesn’t make sense.
Next. Marcus Morris' quietly masterful shooting season. dark
So let’s hold off on the Brown crucification for the time being. He’s a smart guy, he’ll figure things out and force everyone to remember why we were all so excited about him this offseason. A poor stretch of play doesn’t outweigh the body of work Brown put together the last two years.