Detroit -- The last few days have been quite special for Jaylen Brown. Friday, he had his jersey retired at Wheeler High School, a place that helped shape who he is today. Saturday, he put 41 points on the board in a homecoming win over the Atlanta Hawks. Two days later, he earned a starting nod in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in his career.
Before that evening's matchup against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena, the hosts' head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, shared what has stood out to him as Brown thrives while shouldering more responsibility this season.
"He's a hell of a basketball player," said Bickerstaff. "A guy you talk about having to do certain things and having to carry the load of scoring the way that he has, his usage rate, like, all eyes on him defensively, and he's still figuring out a way to impact winning. And I think he's playing some of the best basketball that I've seen him play. But we always, as coaches, find impactful, is how it impacts winning. And that's what he's done, is [he's] shoulder that burden, but hasn't made it just about himself. He's figured out a way to help this team continue to get better and win games."
A critical area of Jaylen Brown's growth
For Brown to handle a higher usage rate while elevating his game and the play of his teammates, he had to continue his development in a crucial area.
Joe Mazzulla cites the work Jaylen Brown puts into making the right reads and being able to adjust on the fly as a critical part of what has made him so impactful with a higher usage rate this season.
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"To me, it's kind of where I think the game is headed, is being able to make reads, on-ball or off-ball," said Joe Mazzulla before Monday's matchup between the Celtics and Pistons, the top two teams in the East. "And I think, for the great players in this league, they see different matchups, different coverages each game, and it's constantly changing. Sometimes, heading into the game, you have an idea of what teams are gonna do, but you don't know, and you have to be ready to make those reads in real time.
"So I think he has really taken pride in that over in his career, but I think this season has taken pride in knowing as much information as you can going in, but then adjusting on the fly to the matchup, to the coverage, making the right read every time."
That growth has led to Brown averaging the third-most drives per game, ranking in the top four in shots made from the mid-range, per NBA.com, and dishing out 4.8 assists per contest. The latter would represent his most in a season.
Brown's maturation has seen him ascend to a top-five MVP candidate on NBA.com's MVP ladder and now, a starter in the All-Star Game.
"Really happy for him," said Mazzulla. "I think for him it kind of started in the offseason, with just the way he approached it, the professionalism he had with the work ethic, one, to getting healthy, two, to coming in and kind of setting the tone for the building and working with each guy separately, and to get that honor is cool."
Encapsulated within that answer from Brown's bench boss is the leadership and commitment to collective success that Bickerstaff highlighted. It speaks to the validation of the former Finals MVP's belief that he could drive a team to these heights if given the chance to do even more for a franchise.