Jaylen Brown and the Celtics are hosting the Nuggets tonight, who do not have Nikola Jokic, Cam Johnson, or Jonas Valanciunas on their roster tonight. Even the Celtics are short-handed without their perennial All-Star Jayson Tatum, but the Celtics have maintained a winning record even without him (23-12) and will look to extend their four-game winning streak to five games after tonight.
Their solid regular season form is courtesy of their second All-Star on the team, Jaylen Brown, who is arguably having an MVP-caliber season.
Before tonight’s game, the Nuggets head coach, David Adelman, spoke about Brown and detailed his understanding of the Celtics player’s game. He was impressed with not just his performance on the court but also who he is as a person.
“The elite shooting from mid-range is such a big deal in our game, it’s the late-clock ability, his overall size, his ability to play in the middle of the floor, which is really hard to come double people and not give up the three point line to a team like they have, I would just say his continued evolution in his game,” said Adelman on what gives Brown an edge over defenders.
“He’s an elite, All-Star player, two-way player. I just watched him grow over the years, not just the championship year, but with Jayson Tatum, obviously out, more responsibility falls into his hands, and I thought they did a great job building around him for this particular season, with all the shooting that surrounds him.”
“He’s a problem. He’s not fun to watch on tape when you have to play against him. I’m a fan of his, just as a pure basketball person, not just as a coach. Actually got to spend some time in Africa, and he was such an impressive person. He’s good for the NBA. He’s going to be a problem for us tonight,” Adelman further added.
Then the Nuggets head coach dove deeper into their past relationship and how he coached him at an exhibition game in Africa.
“There was an Africa game that I coached in, that he played in. They used to do that yearly in South Africa. It’s an amazing event. He came down there for that.
“And some of the events that we had to do — humanitarian stuff, you go out, and you see these communities, and just to see his investment in it was really impressive. And he was at a much younger age back then. And I remember him in the bubble, speaking up at meetings and things like that.”
“Some people are born to lead. He definitely stands out as one of those people,” said Adelman in conclusion.
Jaylen Brown’s contributions to society are one of the key reasons he is highly respected across the league. He is also the Vice President of the Executive Committee of the NBPA (NBA Players’ Association).
The Celtics superstar is currently averaging 29.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists in 33 games played while shooting 50.1% from the field and 36.3% from beyond the arc.
According to former Celtics player Kendrick Perkins, Brown has significantly contributed to the Celtics’ season so far that he deserves to be considered for the MVP Award solely because he did more with less.
In terms of having a nearly equally important member on the team, Tatum, gone for the season, most expected the Celtics’ regular season results would dwindle severely. However, Brown has stepped into the leadership role and helped his team maintain solid playoff contention while Tatum recovers from his injury.
The Celtics will hope to capitalize on Nikola Jokic’s absence tonight and win this game. While I anticipate the game to be neck-to-neck, the Celtics should come up ahead down the stretch.
Do you think Jaylen Brown deserves MVP recognition for his contributions? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
