Boston Celtics: Taking a look at Jaylen Brown’s revised offensive tendencies

Year after year, the Boston Celtics find a way to put themselves in the running for game of the year, only this time they did so on opening night.

Jaylen Brown broke the NBA’s record for most points scored in an opener, and Robert Williams played 45 minutes without suffering a season-ending injury, but it wasn’t enough as the Cs fell in double overtime to the New York Knicks behind missed shots, cold stars, and blown coverages.

It always hurts to lose, but their loss to the Knicks should have given the Celtics more cause to hope than to worry. Jayson Tatum going 7-30 was an outlier, but his aggression was not.

Once he starts translating that shot volume to shots around the rim and gets his shooting touch back, he’ll be the MVP candidate many expected him to be.

The same goes for Aaron Nesmith and Dennis Schroder.

Once those two get their legs under them and figure out how to make an impact, Boston won’t need to worry about ancillary production.

The biggest hope that stemmed from the Knicks’ loss was Jaylen Brown. Despite coming off a season-ending wrist injury and then COVID a week before the season kick-off, Brown looked like an entirely different player.

Let’s look at what was different about the Boston Celtics franchise cornerstone and what you can expect from him moving forward.

In 2016, Danny Ainge’s swing at Jaylen Brown with the third overall pick was considered one of the biggest blunders by a GM in recent draft memory. Brown was a hyper-athletic wing with questionable ball-skills and an overall questionable ability to impact high-level winning.

He was clunky and had no idea how to leverage his physical gifts on the court, leading to a struggle on the offensive end early in his career.

Fast forward to now, and Jaylen Brown’s handle development is on track to be one of the biggest mysteries in league history. Every year since his rookie year, Brown has taken leaps as a ball-handler but has remained below average to average up until now.

Brown’s dribbling repertoire has expanded beyond comprehension, and his pace has followed, making him an unstoppable force going downhill.

The other night against the Knicks, we saw multiple instances of crazy body control and otherworldly burst in isolation, both of which came off the dribble. In years past, you would only hear those two things about Brown if he was coming off a cut or running the floor in transition.

Additionally, Brown’s shooting has seemingly taken another leap. Although he was cold against Toronto, Brown’s pull-up shooting improvement was clear while maintaining his high-level spot-up shooting ability.

His seasoned ending wrist injury has shown no signs of slowing down his shooting when in fact, he’s not only sustained his already high-level shooting but improved it.

Adding a faster and more reliable pull-up jumper is crucial for Brown’s scoring and playmaking ceiling.

Last season, Brown hit just 31 percent of his pull-up 3-pointers. I know that sounds like a cold mark, but considering how hard the pull-up triple is and how much harder it is for guys Brown’s size, this mark was promising for the future.

Through two games, Brown has cashed 57 percent of his pull-up treys. That’s not a sustainable value, but his comfortability so far points to an improved percentage from last year.

I expect Brown to finish the year around 36 percent on pull-up triples, which is incredible considering where he’s coming from.

An improved handle and better shooting, who cares — at the rate Jaylen Brown has improved, why should these two things matter any more than before?

I have never seen Jaylen Brown pass the ball like he has been this season, ever. We’ve grown accustomed to Brown getting his man dancing and looking to get his own that his newfound passing ability has caught us all off guard.

Sure, Brown’s flashed some nice dump-offs and one-handed baseball bounce passes in transition, but he rarely made the right decision on consecutive possessions when asked to become a passer rather than a scorer.

Now he’s doing so, and he’s not just making the right decision, but sometimes an even better decision.

His improved pull-up jumper and handle are making defenses even more afraid of him, and thus he’s garnering more defensive pressure. The old Jaylen Brown would lead the league in contested shots if he were getting the kind of pressure he has this season, but 2021-22 Jaylen Brown is instead going to be atop the league in kick-outs at his position.

He’s beating his man, getting downhill, forcing the rotation, then finding the open man for a good shot. Jaylen Brown is fulfilling Ime Udoka’s promise to bring the Boston Celtics back to pass-heavy basketball.

We’re only two games into the season, and I know a 0-2 start isn’t much to be happy about, but I’m excited for what else Brown has to show us for the next 80 games. Ime Udoka will figure out a way to get everyone on the same page, and eventually, the Boston Celtics will break through.