An incredible season for Jaylen Brown sees him further validating himself as a superstar in the NBA. The Boston Celtics missing Jayson Tatum due to injury and trading away other starters for contractual reasons led to minimal optimism for the team to have another great season. Boston has dramatically overachieved thanks to Brown having one of the best overall seasons of any player right now.
However, Brown went a step further when making a case for being the best overall player in the league:
“I believe I’m the best two-way player in the world. I’m going to be honest. No disrespect, no diss to those guys, Shai or Brunson. Neither one of them had a better month than I had. People just tell me ‘maybe if you keep your mouth closed, maybe you’ll win some awards.’ That’s exactly why I’m gonna keep talking.”
Brown believes that his defense puts over him the other players having All-NBA seasons who get discussed in the “best player in the world” debates. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Jalen Brunson are some of the names that get mentioned over Brown. The comments naming two of them show that Brown believes he should be considered in the same conversations.
Is Jaylen Brown Right About This?
The most recent performance by Brown against the Los Angeles Clippers felt like a statement game to back up all his claims. Brown tied his career high of 50 points to lead his team to a victory, but his defense slowing down Kawhi Leonard showed dominance at that end as well.
The past two months have seen Brown playing the best overall basketball of his career and being the engine for an overachieving team having a surprising chance to contend in the East. Brown even mentioned feeling disrespected at Brunson getting voted the Eastern Conference Player of the Month over him.
Between expressing frustration there and saying his defense makes him the top overall player in the league, Brown’s confidence is higher than it’s ever been. Many people across the league have wondered if Brown could take his game to another level if he didn’t play behind Tatum, and he fully proved it already this year.
Jaylen Brown Called Out The Media
Another interesting thing from Brown’s quote about being the best two-way player fired at the media’s perception of him. Brown said that others have told him to stop speaking his mind if he wants to do better in things that require media voting, like the aforementioned Player of the Month Award.
The great play this season and the team results proving it have helped validate everything Brown believes in. A growing belief that Brown deserves to be in the MVP race continues to improve, especially since Jokic’s injury will likely rule him out from qualifying to remove a top contender.
Brown thinks that the media often votes against him, but time will tell if he can take home any awards at season’s end. The bare minimum should be a high All-NBA placement, if Brown stays healthy and keeps playing like this. Tatum is working hard to return and give the Celtics a fighting chance at contending in the postseason.
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