Jaylen Brown just signed the NBA’s biggest deal ever. To get the Designated Veteran Player Extension, also called the “Supermax,” the Boston Celtics forward had to be chosen to the 2023 NBA second team.
Spotrac says that Brown’s new deal is worth $288.2 million over five years and doesn’t include any player options. But not even Celtics fans are sure if Brown’s new deal is worth the money.
Even though the Georgia native is one of the league’s most athletic wings and has become a major scoring threat, there are still big holes in his game. Brown will have to keep improving his skills if he wants to live up to the high standards and big price tag that have been put on him.
Before the new NBA season starts, Brown could work on these six things.
Six things Jaylen Brown needs to work on to get better
1. Focus on defense
When he’s focused, Jaylen Brown has everything he needs to be a great wing defender. He’s quick, strong, great at changing speeds, and has amazing jumping skills. But Brown is often caught napping, and his man cuts him off in the back.
There’s also the matter of Brown’s defense speech. The experienced wing loses track of his job way too often, especially when he’s supposed to switch on contact. In the early parts of Brown’s career, he looked like he might be picked for the All-NBA Defensive team.
However, those days are long gone, and Brown will now have to rediscover his love for playing tough, strong defense on the edges.
2: Speed of processing
This is what some people call court vision. Some people say “The game is slowing down,” but in the field of sports science, it’s called “processing speed.” The ability to see everything that’s going on the court, decide what to do, and then carry out that choice is what this means.
People who play faster can link these three mental acts together more quickly. This is called their “processing speed.” Brown is thought to be one of the smartest people in the NBA, but his body often moves faster than his mind.
Brown could quickly improve his decision-making by slowing down and letting his brain take over. This would help him stop making so many mistakes that put him in traffic every night.
3 Getting By
Giving Brown the job of starting the attack is a waste of time. During his NBA career, the Georgia native has almost always turned the ball over for an assist and has rarely shown improvement in his ability to control the game.
Brown has trouble passing in part because he processes information quickly and acts before he thinks about it. But the other thing is that Brown’s throwing skills aren’t great. Of course, there will be the odd swing pass that makes the crowd gasp. However, Brown often gives away possessions for too little money.
You can either take away Brown’s playmaking duties and let him focus on defense and scoring, or you can give him more playmaking duties until things start to work out.
4 The left arm
The thing that Boston Celtics fans will say is Jaylen Brown’s worst skill is that he can’t move left. Teams keep blocking Brown’s right hand and moving him from his spots. This makes Brown try hard to get his right hand back before he drives.
It is easy to slow down Boston’s fast-paced offense in the half-court by blocking Brown’s right-handed drive. This is because Brown isn’t a great passer. Consequently, the Celtics have started to use Brown’s skills on rip-throughs or hand-off moves like “Zoom,” something from their “21 series” or “quick series.”
If Brown can get better at dribbling with his left hand, he will quickly become an even more useful offensive weapon, especially when striking in the half-court or during one-on-many fastbreaks.
5 The Screening
Jayson Tatum is now being used as a screener by the Celtics. Both with and without the ball. But Brown, who is much faster, isn’t often put in positions where he has to screen for a passer. Because Brown is so good at scoring from mid-range and is so athletic, making him work as a reversed screener could make things very difficult for the defense.
To make mismatches on the perimeter, both Ime Udoka and now Joe Mazzulla have used inverted screening moves. Brown could make a difference in the game even when he doesn’t have the ball by learning how to screen reliably. This way, he wouldn’t have to waste time waiting on the weak side of the floor.
6: Making 3-point shots
In terms of speed, Brown is one of the best players when it comes to hitting the basket. He can also keep a clear line of sight while he reaches the top of his mid-range jump, which is another reason why it works so well.
However, Brown has had trouble regularly making shots from deep. The experienced wing has made 36.5% of his shots from outside the three-point line, which is a little below the league average. Cleaning The Glass says that Brown is in the bottom 20% of wings in terms of how many three-point shots he takes. Only 33% of his scoring comes from deep.
It will be easier for Brown to get to the basket if he can improve his outside shooting. This is because defenders will try to block his 3-point shots. Not doing this will mean that Brown will always be squished as he breaks through the defense, which has been a problem for him all through his career.