Boston Celtics: B/R believes Jaylen Brown could be an MIP candidate

After an opening night thriller, fans and media alike are having themselves some knee jerk reactions to what they say, with B/R being high on Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown.

For those of you who were worried coming into the year — ourselves included — that things could get ugly rather quickly with the abundance of injuries and roster shakeups on the Boston Celtics from this offseason, after one game of action fears seem to have subsided… for now, at least.

In real thriller fashion, the Cs beat the Milwaukee Bucks to the tune of 122-121 thanks, in large, to Jayson Tatum‘s 3-point buzzer banker and a few missed free throws by reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With this anxiety-inducing victory, Boston’s faithful all find themselves in the honeymoon phase of the season, as they are now “undefeated” and have taken down the presumed top-dog in the East.

After such a game, overreactions are a quite common theme and Bleacher Report took part in pushing out an article covering 10 of said overreactions for various teams, including the shamrocks.

In regard to Boston, writer Dan Favale stated that his overreaction for the franchise after just one game is that fifth-year wing Jaylen Brown will find himself finish within the top-3 in the voting for the Most Improved Player award come season’s end.

His reasoning read as follows:

"Looping him into the Most Improved Player debate is at least comparably ambitious to All-NBA aspirations. That award is usually reserved for less established guys, or for those on the cusp of megastardom.Brown is trending, convincingly, toward the latter.Scoring 33 points in the Boston Celtics’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks (after a slow start) is certainly part of the optimism. His jumper looks good; he remains a lethal spot-up threat and may have spruced up his off-the-dribble in-between game.Defense is, as ever, ingrained into this projection too. He continues to guard up, can break up plays even while backpedaling and is among the league’s most opportunistic, furtive shot-blockers.Mostly, though, this is a vote in favor of his playmaking. Gordon Hayward’s departure and Kemba Walker’s left knee injury have created a void Boston will fill by committee. Brown is part of the solution. He dropped four assists while appearing more self-aware on his power drives and, as his drop-off to Tristan Thompson in the first quarter proved, more capable of methodically breaking down set defenses."

To many, the belief is that Brown was wrongfully snubbed from an All-Star nod last season, as he saw career-high averages of 20.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and just over a steal per game on 48 percent shooting from the floor and 38 percent shooting from deep.

Him being in the Most Improved Player race would be a tremendous achievement for the 24-year-old but, to us here at the Houdini, it’s merely just another reasonable expectation. He’s proven to the Boston Celtics fanbase — and for those who simply care to watch him, as a matter of fact — that he is a star on the rise.

Heck, last season we believed he deserved consideration for the MIP award but, sadly, only received three votes, as of which were for a third-place finish.

It seems as though the world keep sleeping on this title-contending Boston Celtics stud. To us here at HH, a run for the Most Improved Player award come season’s end is not an overreaction — at the very least, it’s deserved.