A week ago, the NBA released the first fan return of the All-Star voting, and Boston Celtics stud, Jaylen Brown, did not have enough votes to crack top-10 in the Eastern Conference guards.
In the second fan return of the All-Star voting, superstar Kevin Durant, deservingly, lead the way for the Eastern Conference frontcourt with over four million votes.
In the backcourt, DeMar DeRozan finds himself in the lead with over 2.9 million votes and in the Western Conference, LeBron James leads the frontcourt with over 4.3 million votes, while Stephen Curry leads the guards with over 4.4 million votes.
Out of all the players that have received votes for the All-Star game, the Boston Celtics guard has the second least, just squeezing in with 217 thousand, with only LaMarcus Aldridge having less.
Despite having another productive season, Brown is once again being disrespected by the casual NBA fans. This season, the All-Star wing is averaging 24.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and three assists per game all while shooting above 38 percent from 3-point range and above 46 percent from the field.
Hopefully, the one time All-Star can find a spot on this year’s squad and further prove to people who want him traded that it wouldn’t be in the C’s best interest.
Brown is playing well this season, and frankly, he’s outlaying some players who have received more votes than. With this in mind, here are 3 players in specific:
Player No. 1) Damian Lillard (364,217 All-Star votes)
Earlier in the season, there were speculations that Brown was going to be traded in a package that would, in return, send Damian Lillard to the Boston Celtics.
While at the time some C’s fans would’ve been excited about it, if you look at their numbers this year, Brown is performing better than Lillard.
First off, when it comes to season averages, Brown has more points per game (by half a point) and is averaging 2.5 rebounds per game better than Dame.
Brown is also shooting 46.3 percent from the field while Lillard is only shooting 40.2 percent. On top of this, the point guard does have more total points on the season, but it’s only an eight-point differential.
You also need to take into account that Lillard has shot 14 more times than Brown.
Brown, on the other hand, is also playing better on defense, averaging more steals and blocks per game. While Damian Lillard isn’t not playing well, JB is just playing a little better.
I believe the only reason that Dame has more All-Star votes than Brown is simply because of the caliber of player that he is known to be. Hopefully, as the voting continues and if Brown keeps outperforming the Portland star, he can catch up and even have more votes than him.
Player No. 2) Anthony Edwards (224,293 All-Star votes)
Another bright young star that will one day dominate the league, Anthony Edwards had an impressive rookie season last year and, this year, it has been no different.
The only problem is, he isn’t better than Jaylen Brown.
Edwards is averaging less per game in points, rebounds, and field goal percentage. Edwards has the edge when it comes to assists, sure, but it’s only a small margin of a .7 difference.
Edwards has played seven more games than Brown, but only has about 40 more field goals made. With Brown averaging almost nine field goals per game, he would presumably have 20 more made than Edwards if they had the same amount of games played.
Anthony Edwards is playing well and the future is bright in Minnesota, but this season Jaylen Brown is outplaying him and deserves more All-Star votes than Edwards.
Even though it will be well after All-Star voting is over, the Boston Celtics are taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves in March and this will give Jaylen Brown a chance to show people that he is better than the young Anthony Edwards.
Even though they aren’t in the same conference, I would love to see Brown surpass Edwards in All-Star votes.
Player No. 3) Klay Thompson (749,038 All-Star votes)
I mean absolutely no disrespect towards Golden State Warriors guard, Klay Thompson, when I say this, but he is by no means deserving of an All-Star vote this season.
Everyone knows how dangerous and great Klay Thompson is, and that he has already proven to be better than Jaylen Brown throughout their careers, but this season he has played all of two games, and the fact that he has more votes than Brown is simply ludicrous.
It doesn’t mean much to compare stats because of the amount of games Brown has played this season in comparison to Thompson but technically, Brown is outplaying Thompson this season significantly.
JB has more points, steals, rebounds, and assists per game. He is also shooting significantly better than Klay.
So much for one of the greatest shooters of all time, huh?
Alright, with all jokes aside Brown has 530 thousand fewer votes than a player who has barely played this season. Because of the difference, I do not think Brown will catch up to that number but I would love it if he did because he deserves more votes than he has right now.
Player No. 4) Derrick Rose (373,039 All-Star votes)
Another great veteran in the league, lastly we see former MVP point guard, Derrick Rose.
This season, Rose is only averaging 12 points per game on 44.5 percent shooting from the field in a high-end bench role on the Knicks. Brown blows these statistics out of the water with his 24.5 points on 46.3 percent shooting.
Other than scoring, JB is rebounding better than Rose, who only averages three per game and he is also averaging more steals.
Rose does have a better 3-point average, but he has shot significantly fewer deep balls than Brown has. When it comes to efficiency, Brown has a better player efficient rating at 19.1 compared to Rose’s 17.7.
With Rose being a role player who generally finds himself coming off the pine, you need him to be as efficient as possible when he comes into the game. Brown has been more efficient when he plays which says a lot because Rose is another player who isn’t playing poorly, but he isn’t playing nearly as well as JB.
I think for his situation, Rose is playing well and I’m happy that he’s succeeding in New York as a role player and a leader for the team, but when it comes to who is the better basketball player right now, it’s Jaylen Brown.
I think as the voting continues, Brown will pass Derrick Rose and jump up in the charts, especially if he has another triple-double in him, which I know he does.