Jaylen Brown is a great player; there’s no doubt about it. The Celtics have big shoes to fill, but the whole point of this trade is to diversify things and make sure so much usage isn’t tied up in two players, Jayson Tatum and Brown. So, there’s a lot to replace with Brown leaving, but there’s nobody who’s going to step in as a 1:1 replacement.
Paul George will likely slot into his starting spot. He can replace some of the scoring and will give you strong defense, but he’s not going to be an offensive hub who’s running the show consistently. He’ll take some of those reps, but Tatum will tick up his usage, Payton Pritchard should get a big bump, and we could see more opportunities for Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez on the ball.
In terms of off-ball scoring and creation, the Celtics should be just fine. PG and a lot of their other wing options are better catch-and-shoot options and should be seen as bigger shooting threats by the defense. George can still run secondary offense and attack a closeout - maybe not quite as well as Brown - and this will be something for the other wings to work at.
Celtics' young wings ready to step up on defense
On the defensive end, Brown was the stopper. He was the guy who would often step up and guard the other team’s best player. PG may be a better overall defender, but he’s not going to guard the league’s elite players on every possession anymore.
Instead, the Celtics will likely lean on their young, feisty defensive wings and have at least one of Gonzalez, Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, or even Ron Harper Jr., or the rookie, Dillon Mitchell, on the court to hound elite perimeter players.
None of those players are close to as good as Brown overall, but when it comes to simply locking someone up on defense, they can all fill that void in bursts.
Tatum, Mazzulla, Robinson, and Conley need to lead by example
The biggest void may be with leadership and in the locker room. Tatum is going to have to be more vocal and take on a more central role as the clear pillar of the team going forward. There are plenty of other veteran voices in the locker room as well. It’s a great opportunity for PG to lead; Mitchell Robinson can bring fresh championship experience; Mike Conley has seen it all in the NBA.
And of course there’s Joe Mazzulla and his staff. In a lot of ways, the Celtics were Brown’s team last season, but it was really Joe’s team. He has been empowered even more and should own that role completely.
Nobody is replacing everything Brown did for the Celtics last year. But when you break down what he did into specific roles, those roles can be filled by committees of different guys. We’ll see how much they miss him, but with a total team effort, they should be able to replicate most of what he did, and perhaps even more.
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