Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens has much to look forward to this coming season. He has a new talent at center in Al Horford to work with and a lottery draft pick in Jaylen Brown.
Stevens chatted with Bill Simmons on The Ringer’s NBA podcast about his rookie and Brown’s opportunity to develop with the help of his teammates:
“I think Jaylen’s in a good situation to learn and grow because he’s coming into a team that has some perimeter players who are very established that will make him very uncomfortable in practice every single day. And they’ll do it on both ends of the floor. For him to have to be matched up against Jae (Crowder) or Avery (Bradley), or if we play him at the 4 some against a Jae (Crowder) or a Jonas (Jerebko), whatever the case may be, those are hard matchups. And that should a great — that should be the best part of the learning curve for Jaylen.”
Brown has exactly that ability to be a tweener threat in different lineups for Stevens. He’s versatile with good size, and he’ll be tested by the likes of similarly scrappy players like Crowder, Bradley, and Marcus Smart.
“Another thing is we have to constantly remind ourselves as a staff that he’s 19, he’s one year removed from one year of college,” Stevens said. “And I think that he’s got a high upside and we’re looking forward to working with him, but I think we also understand he’s got a large learning curve.”
The landscape in Boston presents a chance for Brown to crack the rotation immediately. His development in practice will have enormous impact on how he adapts and progresses, which is that’s a testament to the Celtics players and the current culture of the franchise.
