Jaylen Brown
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Jaylen Brown
Jaylen Brown has not been shy about celebrating the Boston Celtics‘ unexpected success this season.
He recently shared a post to his Instagram account, showing the similarities between last year’s team and this year’s team at the All-Star break. However, not all Celtics fans saw Brown’s post as it was intended.
There was a section of the fanbase that believed Brown’s post was a shot at Jayson Tatum. After all, Brown is playing some of the best basketball of his career.
When speaking with Noa Dalzell of CelticsBlog, Brown addressed that discussion point, noting that he’s spoken highly of Tatum all season and is proud of the team’s accomplishments this season.
“The thing I posted, that was about celebrating our group,” Brown said. “People make it seem like it was about me, because that’s what people wanted it to be about. But in reality, I’m just so proud of our group. I’m extremely proud.”
Brown continued.
“…If you hear me talk about anything in my most recent streams, I mentioned how proud I am of my team, I mentioned how proud I am of JT’s progression,” Brown said. “It’s all that type of stuff.”
Brown and Tatum have spent their entire careers together in Boston. They’ve enjoyed considerable success together. His comment to Dalzell makes it clear that he’s celebrating team success, not poking at Tatum’s absence.
Brown Reveals Preseason Meeting With Joe Mazzulla
During the offseason, Brad Stevens made the decision to begin retooling the rotation. Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday left the Celtics via trade. While Al Horford and Luke Kornet were allowed to walk in free agency.
During the same interview with Dalzell, Brown revealed that a preseason discussion with head coach Joe Mazzulla set the stage for the impressive season we’ve seen from the franchise.
“Before the season started, Joe had an idea of what he wanted, how he wanted to coach the team,” Brown said. “I had an idea of how I wanted to lead the team. and we kind of had to meet in the middle before the season even started. We had an idea of how we were going to both work together. Because if we don’t work together, if it would have been me not buying into Joe, none of this would work. Me being able to be on the same page with Joe has allowed us to be in the position that we’re in now.”
The conversation clearly worked. Brown is playing at a near-MVP level. And the rest of the rotation is thriving in Mazzulla’s new-look system.
Celtics Could Get Jayson Tatum Back
In a recent episode of “The Hoops Collective” podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon discussed whether he expects to see Tatum back on the court in the near future.
“I get trying to temper expectations…but the fact that the guy is playing 5-on-5 with two months remaining in the regular season, and the Celtics are where they are in the standings, it’s not hard not to anticipate that Tatum is going to come back at some point this season,” MacMahon said.
Tatum has been steadily progressing through his rehab. He was recently cleared for 5-on-5 work, albeit in a controlled environment. There’s a growing expectation he will be back in early March.
If Tatum can get back to near All-Star level by the playoffs, the Celtics will undoubtedly be a threat.