After battling through injuries last season, Jaylen Brown was asked after Monday’s practice if he was looking to reintroduce himself heading into this year.
“The world knows who I am,” Brown calmly responded.
Brown has nothing left to prove after being named the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP during the Banner 18 season. However, his role has shifted a bit since. When he raised the Larry O’Brien last year, he was flanked by veterans Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Jrue Holiday after President
of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens surrounded his young core with elder statesmen.
Now, the 28-year-old Brown is the vet in the locker room. The five old dogs that left Boston (including Luke Kornet and Torrey Craig) were all older than him and in their place, two-thirds of the Celtics roster has five or fewer seasons in the league with mostly garbage minutes between them.
“He’s a vocal leader and he’s stepped into that role it nicely,” newcomer Josh Minott said. “He’s not uncomfortable being in that position and it’s very easy to follow his lead.”
It’s a spot that head coach Joe Mazzulla has trusted Brown with since he became the bench boss with Brown becoming an extension of his leadership.
“He loves competing at a high level. He comes in ready, healthy, the best that he can all the time,” Mazzulla said. “If anything, he set the tone on all the intangibles — the way he’s been defending, the way he’s been rebounding, the way he’s been competing at a high level. He’s been tremendous throughout the first few days of training camp. A lot of it, just because of his effort. He’s done a great job.”
Considering the circumstances, this season poses a unique opportunity for Brown. In addition to the roster turnover, there’s the obvious absence of his partner-in-crime, Jayson Tatum, by his side. Despite that tectonic shift, Brown hasn’t made it about himself “stepping up” or “taking on a bigger load.” Instead, he’s embraced Boston’s new identity and lead by example in what he calls “the hardest preseason that I think I’ve had from a conditioning standpoint and a physicality standpoint.”
“Set the tone on defense, pick up the pace, the intensity from Day 1 is what I want to see,” Brown said of team’s first preseason game in Memphis on Wednesday. “We don’t want to ease into the season. From the first preseason game, let’s get right to it.”
Brown has acknowledged that the team in effect traded experience for speed and intensity over the summer and that to build new chemistry with his new teammates, it’s going to take reps to build up that familiarity and a collective discipline to create accountability. It’s early, but Brown remains confident that the Celtics will be a playoff team again.
“We’re working on some of those kinks in our timing. That’s the biggest difference in how you can determine chemistry. When you see a team that has great chemistry, they have great timing. It’s a big part of it. We really have to get that down.”
The Celtics travel to Memphis to face the Grizzlies on Wednesday night at 8 pm EST.
