Celtics legend Bob Cousy isn’t convinced Boston’s future is in safe hands if Jaylen Brown becomes the team’s focal point.
Speaking to The Boston Globe, the Hall of Famer shared his blunt assessment of Brown’s ceiling compared to Jayson Tatum, and why he thinks the franchise could be headed toward a rebuild without its top star.
“In my judgment, Jaylen [Brown] is not quite at the superstar level that [Jayson] Tatum is at,” Cousy said in a chat with the Boston Globe. “Can he carry the load by himself? I see a major rebuilding effort here. Jaylen certainly won’t bring them to the promised land. Derrick White’s a good player and he’ll produce and he’ll be consistent, but his game doesn’t lend itself to carrying a team.”
Drafted third overall in 2017, Jayson Tatum is the true leading star of the Celtics, or at least he was until his devastating Achilles injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Tatum is projected to miss all of next season, and his game may never be the same again.
For Cousy (6x NBA champion), last season was their last best chance to win another championship, but they completely dropped the ball with their performance against the Knicks.
“You have to be there to have a sense of what’s going on, and I’m not,” he said. “I get the impression that Mazzulla did a good job and had their attention. But in the playoffs, in my experience, the best team wins. There are upsets occasionally, but I have no understanding of how the Celtics could collapse, especially against the Knicks. As the Knicks proved in the next round, they were not a legitimate contender.”
At 27 years old, Jayson Tatum is young enough to bounce back and make a full recovery, but there’s no telling when he’ll return, or how much of his game will change. When he does take the court again, the Celtics may be a completely different team, and their place in the East will be entirely uncertain.
The good news is, the Celtics can lean on Jaylen Brown to rise to the occasion and make up for some of what they lost. Unfortunately, his ability to carry a team as a primary option remains unproven. With averages of 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game last season, Brown was a sidekick for the Celtics, and he seems comfortable in the role that has suited him well for his entire career.
With Jaylen calling the shots and Tatum’s game forever compromised, it may be better for the Celtics to undertake a roster overhaul and start over. They did it back in 2013 with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, and it helped them get a head start on rebuilding.
If they pull a similar stunt this summer, it will mark the end of an era for Boston, but it also might help them build up for the next one. This group has already won a championship, and if they want to stay ahead of the game, they’ll take action now and make moves that’ll add to their future stockpile.
If Cousy’s assessment proves accurate, Boston could be facing a crossroads much sooner than fans expect. The Celtics’ core is still talented enough to be competitive, but without Tatum’s two-way dominance, their margin for error shrinks dramatically. Brown may be capable of carrying the offense in stretches, but doing it over an entire season, and in the high-pressure environment of the playoffs, is a different challenge entirely.
The franchise has navigated this type of transition before, shipping out Pierce and Garnett at the perfect moment to reset for the future. Whether they choose to push forward with Brown as the centerpiece or pivot toward another rebuild will determine not just the next few seasons, but the franchise’s trajectory for the next decade. In Cousy’s eyes, the decision may already be clear.
