Jaylen Brown has by no means been generally known as a lot of a facilitator. His lack of repute in that regard is properly earned. Brown has averaged a measly 2.7 assists per 36 minutes for his profession, simply barely topping his common of two.4 turnovers per 36.
Nonetheless, Brown has improved over the course of his seven years within the NBA. He’s tightened up his deal with significantly from when he entered the league and adjusted meaningfully to the velocity of the sport. He’s a lot much less liable to dribbling the ball off his leg or firing random passes out of bounds or to opponents as a result of he’s merely hit the fuel too exhausting with out an precise lane to the ring, however to say that Brown has been even a mean creator for others can be an overstatement.
That actuality could also be starting to shift.
Within the month of March, Brown dished out 4.1 assists per recreation, by far the very best month-to-month mark of the season and one he achieved whereas lowering his turnover price (2.5 per recreation). Main as much as March, Brown had posted a 1.05 help/turnover ratio for the 12 months. Over the course of the final month, that mark was 1.5.
Such development might not appear monumental in an absolute sense, but it surely’s an almost fifty % enchancment, and if it holds, it means Brown has remodeled himself from a reasonably dangerous facilitator to a high-quality one. A month is much too small a pattern to assert such growth, however the movie exhibits a participant that appears to have discovered a level of simplicity that hasn’t at all times been current in Brown’s recreation.
The Celtics have been serving to him get into advantageous spots. Only a few of Brown’s March assists have required him to probe towards an opposing protection because the lead ballhandler or function in isolation for any cause apart from to attain. Most of his assists within the pick-and-roll come from pitchbacks to popping bigs.
There may be nothing incorrect with that. Brown is an impressive particular person scorer, with a lightning-fast first step and a fast set off jumper that extends properly past the three-point line. He’s at his finest as a passer when he can leverage the menace he poses to open up simple passing lanes. Boston will put him in actions off the ball with different shooters to create chaos for opponents and make his reads very easy.
The Celtics may leverage their spacing mixed with Brown’s athleticism to suck in defenders after they make the most of him as a roll man.
The identical is true when Boston will get him the ball on the transfer just about wherever close to the paint. Brown can actually take off for the rim at a second’s discover, mainly from the free throw line. Opponents have to honor that and usually give up easy kickouts after they do.
A few of this may occasionally sound important, but it surely’s meant as a significant praise. Brown merely isn’t the identical degree of passer as lots of his teammates, however he’s so athletic and such an excellent scorer that he creates conditions the place much less passing talent is required. Marcus Sensible, for instance, may certainly make just about all of the reads that Brown’s assists come from, however he can’t create the chance to take action by drawing in assist defenders the best way that Brown can simply by making a step towards the ring.
Brown and the Celtics deserve a ton of credit score for locating methods to leverage what he does finest to shore up a facet of his recreation with clear limitations. Or at the very least they do if the progress he confirmed in March holds. A greater passing, much less turnover susceptible model of Brown can be an enormous enhance to the Boston offense heading into the postseason.