Few among us know NBA basketball like the players who make up that league. And while that may not come as much of a surprise to most fans of the sport, the fact that recency bias can warp the perception of historical greatness ought to not come as much of a shock either given not all of us (NBA stars or otherwise) are scholars of league history.
So when new Minnesota Timberwolves guard LaMelo Ball paid former Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown near the top of the mountain when it comes to all-time great Celtics on a recent episode of the semi-eponymous "Ball in the Family" podcast, one can hardly blame him, especially considering he was not all that far from the truth. "I have got to see all the accolades," said Ball (h/t to Yahoo Sports' Gautam
Varier) with an understandable caveat, "but if you line up Boston's best players ever, he's in my top five."
Now if you were to say top at his position, that would be a more reasonable argument given the existence of players like Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. There are reasonable arguments to rank him three or maybe even four of those names, but after that it gets tough given all these Hall of Fame players accomplished in Boston. Ball seemed to acknowledge this dynamic, shifting the frame to a more positional one.
"Only two wings is better than him is Paul Pierce and Larry Bird," said the Minnesota guard. Hondo and White would like a word, but to be fair neither looms as large in the lore of the wider league as they ought to. Perhaps most interestingly, Ball also thinks Boston dealt their best player to the Philadelphia 76ers.
"I think Brown's a little better," said Ball. "He's low-key frying Bird ... I don't want to be disrespectful… Bird is baking him too, but he's baking Bird. Bird is baking him, too, but he is also getting to it ... Jaylen Brown has a better chance of guarding him than he has of guarding Jaylen Brown."
Forgive us if we're quite skeptical of the latter take. But for at least last season (and arguably until proven otherwise), Ball has a leg to stand on in the Jayson Tatum-Brown debate. But so long as the St. Louis native has two healthy legs to stand on, we're of the opinion that debate will soon be quashed in Tatum's favor as well – as good as Brown may be.
Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on:
Blue Wire:https://tiny.ee/CdKp
iTunes: https://tiny.ee/RK47
YouTube:https://tiny.ee/cOW3
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: LaMelo Ball says Jaylen Brown better than Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum, maybe Larry Bird
