Jaylen Brown wanted to play in summer league, Brad Stevens declined
We won't be seeing Juice suit up in Las Vegas this summer |
Coming out of California, Brown was labeled as an athletic slasher who may never develop a consistent jumper. Now, he's turned himself into an elite defender while also improving his deep ball. Brown took 102 three-pointers during his lone season at Cal and made just 29.4% of them. He took 306 treys during his second season in the league while knocking down 39.5% of them. The labors of the grind have truly paid off for the athletic wing thus far in his career.
Brown is a true gym rat who's basically always putting in the work to improve. Last summer, he worked out up to three times a day while adhering to Ramadan.
The Marietta native is always looking for an opportunity to get better. Brown professed earlier this week that he didn't believe he was too good for summer league and wanted to play in a few games.
However, Brown's plans were quickly squashed by head coach Brad Stevens and it makes total sense.Celtics forward Jaylen Brown tells @TheUndefeated that’s he is “not too good for summer league” and he is considering playing in two games. Brown is in Las Vegas and hosting “The Experience,” which is a networking event over bowling with current and ex-players tomorrow.— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) July 9, 2018
The second-year pro played in a combined 88 games between the regular season and playoffs while seeing his total minutes just about double. Like Jayson Tatum, it's wise to let your younger stars rest after such a long season.Jaylen Brown says it was Brad Stevens who actually shut down his bid to play Summer League games this year.— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) July 12, 2018
Brown didn't have to deal with this predicament last season. He averaged 17.2 minutes per game over his rookie year and that number fell to 12.6 minutes in the postseason. Brown was a lot fresher after the season ended compared to this season, where he took on a much larger role.
We also know what Brown is made of. He would come into these games and likely dominate for Boston. Stevens and the rest of the front office seem more focused on developing potential role players like Semi Ojeleye, Guerschon Yabusele, and Jabari Bird for next season.
Brown wouldn't necessarily hinder their developments but he would take away offensive possessions from the trio if he was to suit up for the summer league. All in all, as exciting as it would be to see Brown this summer, it's better for Boston to give him some rest and see if any of the other young guys make a splash.
Photo by Mellisa Majchrzak/Getty Images
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