Jaylen Brown has gone viral following his recent comments regarding the Celtics’ performance this season and his reflection on his own season.
“This group is a special group. I’m so proud of this group and the way we play. I wish we trusted that style of play more, but I know the playoffs kind of shifted our rotations and what we wanted to do,” said Brown, which was rather surprising since the only major change to their player rotations was including Jayson Tatum.
“But I’m so proud because it was my favorite year of my basketball career,” Brown further added despite the Celtics’ first-round exit.
“One, chat, talking to you guys was awesome. Being able to talk to y’all was like therapy, every single day, or once a week, whatever I was doing. Just being able to get on here and give you guys a perspective on how all these narratives were going left and right, giving it to y’all straight from the horse’s mouth,” Brown added on how streaming helped him improve his mental health.
“But then also just being able to be a part of a group that, through the uncertainty came in to fight and compete, came into the war. I’ll take a team like that any day of the week,” Brown concluded.
These comments did not sit well with the Celtics’ fans, who saw this on social media. They flooded the comments with remarks about how Brown is sounding a bit selfish and doesn’t have a results-oriented outlook towards the team.
“Cares more about first option hoops than winning a chip.”
“How does no one realize how selfish and hypocritical and weird he is?”
“This wasn’t better than our championship year.”
“He literally won the Finals MVP two years ago.”
“Cause he didn’t have to share it with Tatum. He got to be the main guy. Wouldn’t be surprised if he gets traded.”
He should have been clearer with his words since there is also a possibility that this is in response to the media saying the Celtics were a lottery team without Tatum, and he proved them wrong by leading them to the second seed in the East. In that context, his words make sense.
Even when Tatum was coming back from injury during the regular season, Brown shared some statistics on social media that made the fans think that he was happier on the team without Tatum, while that was not the case.
The former Finals MVP finished the regular season averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field in 71 games, making a case for himself to be named MVP.
But during the playoffs, his numbers fell to 25.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field. And instead of reflecting on his shortcomings, he seemed happy with his own performance.
Brown needs to understand that team goals should be prioritized over personal achievements, and even though he won the Finals MVP just two seasons ago, saying a season was your favorite when you threw away a 3-1 lead in the first round is not a good look for him to the perfectionist Celtics fans.
Moreover, the media will always compare him to Tatum and try to somehow pit them against each other. Since neither of them publicly accepts being the second option and constantly say that they are equally important to the team. And he couldn’t pull of a Game 7 win without Tatum.
So if he does not explain such comments, they are bound to be twisted by the fans, especially when it hadn’t even been 24 hours since they got tossed from the first round when he made these remarks.
