In Bleacher Report’s latest MVP Power Rankings, writer Grant Hughes lists Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown as an ‘honorable mention.’
Despite a reletively underwhelming start to the 2020-21 season, the Boston Celtics find themselves slotted in the fourth seed out east with a record of 6-3.
In the midst of a three-game winning streak, the shamrocks have been on an absolute tear of late and, while a large portion of praise belongs to the team’s All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, there’s an argument to be made that fellow wing Jaylen Brown has been just as impactful, if not even more so.
Following up an All-Star deserving/ career 2019-20 season, the 24-year-old is finding himself scorching hot in the early stages of 2021. Through nine games, Brown is posting stellar averages of 26.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and just under a block per game on 55 percent shooting from the floor and 41 percent shooting from deep.
Shooting a league-best 71.4 percent on mid-range jumpers while hitting 67.3 percent of pull-up attempts thus far, the fifth-year wing is keeping this injury-riddled roster booming on both defense and offense, and even posted a career-high scoring total of 41 points during their New Year’s Eve blowout victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
With his performance, it should come as no shock that the media has been all-in on hyping up Brown, with consistent talks of him being in the running for such accolades as All-Star, All-NBA, and Most Improved Player.
However, perhaps the biggest accolade he has been attached to in some capacity has been in Bleacher Report’s self-titled Way-Too-Soon NBA MVP Rankings where writer Grant Hughes tabbed him as an ‘honorable mention.’
"Jaylen Brown is fifth in the league in player efficiency rating (without spoiling it, that’s ahead of the guy we’re going to rank first) and is averaging a career-high 26.9 points per game on 58.1 percent shooting from the field. Even if Jayson Tatum remains Boston’s alpha, Brown has been better than his teammate through the early part of the season."
Though in all likelihood Jaylen Brown’s usage will go down once All-Star point guard Kemba Walker returns, which, in turn, would push him even farther away from this highly-coveted individual award, the fact that we find him even mentioned in such a conversation is something worth commending.
We here at HH have been pleading for the budding star to receive his bright spotlight from the media. With this, it appears they are making moves in the right direction in terms of proper acknowledgment for the talented baller.