Will Celtics talent & depth limit or block Jay-Team's ceiling?


Jaylen Brown is really the wild card here. His improvement from year-one to year-two was remarkable, and the best part is that he did it out of necessity. The team needed that improvement from him when he was given the extra floor time.


But we can not put a finger on exactly how good Brown can be. In my interview, Brian Scalabrine compared portions of Jaylen's game to what we saw from Michael Jordan. Scal was not saying that Brown was the equal of Jordan, nor that he would become that. He was just stating that Jaylen had similar moves and abilities.

The one factor that might block the two Jay-Team members from reaching their ceilings is both the talent and depth of the Celtics team. Minutes and production from both players will be limited. But Jaylen did show that he has star potential when he was pushed to more playing time and a larger role with the injuries to Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. I would be amazed if we didn't see him as All-NBA, Second or Third Team at least once during his career - and much more prestigious, or numerous, achievements (Defensive-Player-of-the-Year) would not surprise me in the least.


We knew we had a potential star in Jayson Tatum, but we never thought he would be this good so soon. He got the starting gig right off the bat and just kept getting better and better. Scalabrine pegged him as a possible Second-or-Third-Team All-NBA even this season. I find it hard to agree with Jayson ranked 39th in SI's Top-100 NBA players for this season - particularly when Ben Simmons is at #26. Tatum's SI rank is too low.

So my answer to the question posed in the title of this article is No, talent and depth won't limit the ceilings of the two Jay-Team members, but it may take longer to get there. That is one consequence of being picked up early in the lottery by a strong team with a General Manager famous for pulling off outrageous trades. But the fans will take it every time.

Follow Tom at @TomLaneHC and Facebook

Photo via Frank Franklin II/AP Photo

Share