Despite everything the Boston Celtics went through this season, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum put together career years for themselves. They built upon last season, improving as playmakers, passers, and scorers while doing their best to lead a very underpowered roster in a poorly spaced environment.
The Celtics’ struggles this season have birthed many questions, some of those being what is Kemba Walker’s future with the C’s, should Stevens bring back Robert Williams, what will happen to Evan Fournier, and is this the right time to trade Jaylen Brown?
This article will be about addressing that last question. Should they keep Brown…and if so, why? Should they get rid of him, and if so, for who? I’ll be answering all those questions and more as I lay out what Brown does well, how it can help the Cs moving forward and if those strengths and weaknesses are worth keeping around.
To begin, let’s talk about why the Boston Celtics should keep Jaylen Brown.
The fifth-year pro out of Cal has been nothing but a blessing to the Cs so far. He’s showed up in every playoff series the Celtics have played in, played through injury, signed a bargain for a contract, and has made great strides in social justice reform in the city of Boston as well as the NBA as a whole. He has no off-the-court issues and is a clear asset to the Celtics on the court. All that means is Jaylen Brown is not negatively impacting the Celtics cap situation, their locker room, or their play on the floor.
At six-foot-six and 223-lb, Brown has the physical tools to be a marquee defender. He’s made his namesake off of his on-ball defense and it has massively helped the Celtics over the years on the biggest stage.
See the 2020 Raptors series in the bubble for an example. On offense, Brown has come a long way since entering the league. What once was cutting and dunking that made up his offensive arsenal has become elite 3-point shooting, mid-range shooting, and finishing with a much-improved handle and the ability to make very basic reads out of play types.
He’s not afraid to attack the rim but he has the tools to counter teams walling up. This offensive repertoire has made Brown one of the most resilient scorers in the NBA. That means when one shot is not falling for Brown, he has two or three other ways to score. He’s an excellent off-ball player, shooting 43.1% on 4.6 catch and shoot threes per game as well offering great cutting from the 3 point line towards the basket.
Players like these are necessary to championship success. they can provide offense if the best player, in this case, Tatum, is having an off-night but can also coexist with him when he’s(Tatum) locked in. This was the dilemma with Kemba, he could not succeed when Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were and why he is not fit to be Boston’s second option moving forward.
There’s also the friendship factor, which is largely overstated but still needs to be considered. Jayson Tatum has spoken of his friendship with Brown on multiple occasions, saying he bonds with him on and off the court and even has had Brown’s brother watch his young son Deuce Tatum. They trust each other, they have good chemistry, and that chemistry has proven to lead to wins in the playoffs. Most, if not all of their shortcomings have been because of the talent around them.
This year is a good example of that.
Now comes the hard part if you are a proponent of trading the Boston Celtics trading Brown.
The C’s current roster has some gaping holes in it that may only be solved by trading Brown.
For one, they don’t have another premier star to pair with Tatum. Say what you want about Brown, he’s not a top 15 player and it’s hard to win without front-loaded talent, especially in a conference with the Brooklyn Nets.
Although Jaylen Brown is not this caliber of talent, many teams would be willing to trade a top-15 or even better player for him such as Damian Lillard or James Harden, although that offer has since passed.
The idea of pairing Tatum with an elite playmaker sounds extremely attractive and at some point, the Celtics are going to have to find that playmaker no matter what happens. Every big wing to win a championship has had an elite playmaker by their side or been an elite playmaker themselves which Tatum simply isn’t and is not likely to be.
The other issue, even though given his track record it may not end up being much of an issue, is Jaylen Brown’s ceiling. If the C’s were to hold onto him and keep him and Tatum together, what is that duo’s ceiling?
That depends on Tatum’s ceiling, which is not in question here but Brown’s future might just be as important. If Brown remains around this level, which is being an elite scorer, below average playmaker, and slightly positive on defense, is that good enough to help Tatum win a championship?
Like I said, given Brown’s track record I don’t think he remains at this level but there’s no way of knowing how much better he will get. Will he ever solve his off-ball defense issues? Will he ever figure out his turnover rate? Will he ever be able to make high-level reads out of traps and doubles? There’s no way of knowing until it either happens or doesn’t.
My verdict: Keep him.
Not only do I think the Boston Celtics’ front office agrees, it just seems like the most logical course of action. Breaking the two up this early in their career seems short-sighted and impatient and it could have long-term repercussions on the C’s ability to attract free agents. Refer to the Isaiah Thomas situation for an example.
There’s also the matter of who Brown would be traded for, let’s use Damian Lillard and Harden for examples. Boston passed on trading Brown for Harden for two reasons: One, the front office was concerned with his personality and did not think he would fit well, they did not want another Kyrie Irving situation.
The second reason? Harden would likely walk after just two seasons with the C’s, meaning their championship window would be tight. There are a multitude of other reasons such as Brown averaging 27 points per game at the time and looking like a top 15 player, as well as the team’s level of defense if they were to trade for Harden, but those two were the biggest reasons.
Now let’s shift our attention to Damian Lillard, who it sounds like won’t be requesting a trade from the Blazers anyways. Does trading Jaylen Brown for Damian Lillard make the Boston Celtics the best team in the East?
No, they are still an inferior team to the Nets. So, the Celtics would just be making a trade to make one and not to increase their likelihood of winning a ring. The result of trading Brown for Lillard is a third-round exit instead of a first-round exit does not sound like a very good return on investment.
Make no mistake, this article is not deeming Brown untouchable, he is very much tradable but the C’s have to be diligent about who they trade him for and when they pull the trigger. They are only two seasons into the era of “The Jays” and blowing it up seems impatient.
The pair needs time to grow, mature, and improve before the Boston Celtics should think about moving one of them. They need to be surrounded by talent, then their ceiling as a duo can be judged. But the fact remains Brown and Tatum’s last playoff run as bonafide stars that are the lead guys on their team, they didn’t have the talent to win.
With Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker hurt and the Boston Celtics having no big man to anchor their defense or pop threat to help space the floor, they had no chance of winning a ring.
If and when Boston puts together a well-balanced, championship-caliber roster and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fail to hoist the finals trophy because of their shortcomings, then we can revisit this. But for now, there are no players on the market worth moving Brown for and there’s no reason to support moving him for anyone else at this point in time.