Jaylen Brown will be financially secure when he reports to the Boston Celtics’ training camp. Okay, so he was already doing fairly well, but his new supermax contract, which is worth about $300 million, would bump him up to No. 2 on the list of highest-paid players when it begins in 2024–25 and should keep him there through 2026–2027.
Brown’s numbers have improved in recent years, and last season he averaged 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists to be named to the second team of the NBA. Theoretically, this places him among the Top 10 NBA players, but it would be difficult to find anyone in the league who would describe him as one.
One scout told me, “Definitely in the top 25.” “Top 20, you might argue. Top 15? He’s not there, no.
And he won’t be, most likely. Due to the fact that until other players sign bigger contracts, which they will do shortly, Brown will always be judged in relation to his compensation, Brown will have to accept that the new contract will bring with it a new level of criticism. For the time he will very certainly be found wanting in the future.
Brown has done well to make the most of his potential as an NBA superstar, developing his ability to score despite his limited court vision and his well-documented ball-handling flaws, particularly in the postseason (he averaged 4.8 turnovers in the Celtics’ four losses to the Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference finals). He won’t be able to get any better at certain facets of his game. However, after speaking with NBA coaches and scouts, it is clear that Brown still has room for improvement in a few key areas.
And he really ought to improve in this area given the amount of money he will be paid in his extension beginning next season:
first, the left hand. “A lot of players are not excellent with their off hands,” said an NBA assistant coach. “This is the obvious thing about Jaylen, and it probably gets overstated. But all he needs to do is be wise about it. Jaylen’s issue isn’t so much that he isn’t as skilled with his left hand as it is that he refuses to acknowledge it, so he continues to try to make plays with it. To avoid being detected by defenses, he needs to discover just one solid move to his left. He doesn’t have to act like Meadowlark Lemon there.
2. Security. NBA scout: “His rookie season, he only played because he was so dedicated on defense, and it’s clear that he has the skills to be a terrific defender. He has slightly backed off from that, which makes sense because players like Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James, who were excellent defenders when they were younger, have backed off and now only play outstanding defense occasionally. However, they possess offensive weaponry. He can give up a little of his offensive effort in order to really shine on the defensive end, more like Klay Thompson as a two-way player. He merely needs to choose where to focus his energy; he doesn’t need to work on anything for that.
3. Convergence. He is among the top players in the league during the transition, according to an NBA scout. Once more, he doesn’t need to focus on it. Simply put, you want to see him on the court whenever the Celtics are on the break. He performs best when he is on that break and heading downhill. I simply want to witness him doing that whenever he can.
4. Direct hits. “There are more guys than you would think who shoot the ball better when they have someone on them,” said an NBA assistant coach. For instance, they like physical contact and a man within a few feet. One of them is Jaylen. Naturally, you want to challenge him every time since you don’t want him to feel too at ease. But we know he will shoot at the same percentage as having someone up on him, if not worse, if no one is within four or five feet of him. He could improve his numbers simply by being a little bit better when we leave him open, albeit overall he has to be better from the outside.
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