Jaylen Brown's athleticism lands him on the Celtics


Going into last night with high hopes for a franchise altering night, many Celtics fans got seriously salty with the selection of Cal's Jaylen Brown with the third pick. A few years from now this high upside, high character pick could very well be a core part of the race for Banner 18. But for now, Brown is the anti-firework, the guy we probably could have gotten at 7 or 8, the guy we might need but not the guy we wanted.

(Quick sidetone: There is a super-small, hyper athletic hypothetical lineup of Smart/Rozier/Bradley/Crowder/Brown that I'd like to see Stevens take for a test-drive this pre-season.)

So after all the hand-wringing, what is there to like about Brown?

Here we go.

He's someone who the Celtics think is going to hit the ground running in their culture:


His binkie as a kid was leathery and round and had seams on it:


The Celtics think he can shoot:


He's got an NBA body and is ready to play defense now. He's a 19 year-old grown man.


Oh, and he's already the best athlete on the team?


Look we had depth in our front court last year, but the quintet of Amir Johnson, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller, and Jonas Jerebko are not the most athletic bunch to say the least. Clearly the Celtics brass wanted to upgrade the athleticism at forward through the draft this year as they've been doing with their guards in prior years.

Brown's going to be a rotation player because of his athleticism and defense. If he learns to shoot (and with two workouts for the Celtics he must have proved that his mechanics are there) he could be two-way star for this team.

Everyone knows the Celtics need stars. Danny Ainge believes that Jaylen Brown has the best chance to become one for the Celtics. Let's hope he's right.