Jeannine Russell, the widow of the late great Bill Russell, sees Jaylen Brown as the Boston Celtics player who reminds her most of No. 6.
“Jaylen Brown has such a special place in my heart because of the whole spirit of how he conducts himself on the court, off the court, and what he does in the community. It just reminds me so much of Bill. I just think he’s just really underrated,” she said (h/t The Boston Herald). “All the guys on the team, and I think Bill would think, too, they’re all in the right place to win because the mind frame of being a team and putting the team first, I think is what’s going to really put them over the top to win the championship.”
Jeannine hashtagged Brown and Jrue Holiday following Game 2 to indicate her desire to see one of the two win the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award -- an award that was renamed a year after the last Cs title, and thus, one a Celtic has never won.
“That just would really mean the world to him. It meant so much to him when David had given that honor to him. He took great pride in the fact of his finals record and Game 7s. I think that he would just really be ecstatic that it would go to a fellow Celtic,” she said.
Jaylen Brown on his way to becoming most beloved Boston Celtics star
The Jayson Tatum discourse has grown out of control at this point. Fans around the NBA have successfully labeled him as a big-game shrinker who doesn't deliver when the lights are brightest despite averaging 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 8.5 assists through the first two games of the Finals.
Most any other player would be lauded for a near-triple-double in the Finals with your team up 2-0, but Tatum is in the same boat as Russell Westbrook when it comes to criticism.
With the public having turned on Tatum, Brown is now getting more respect as a legitimate superstar and not just a sidekick. Those who have watched Boston for years have known that the two are interchangeable on any given night when it comes to who the C's best player is, but the narrative is shifting for those who don't watch.
Jason Kidd even acknowledged that Brown is worthy of the "best Celtic" label, though you can't trust that he didn't say that just to create a divide between Boston's two best players. Unfortunately for the Dallas Mavericks head coach, no one on the Cs took his bait. Holiday certainly didn't.
Pretty much nothing positive has come from the asinine narratives surrounding Tatum, but Brown getting more respect is the silver lining of it all.
From the looks of it, Brown can ride that silver lining to becoming the most beloved member of the Celtics.