The Celtics paid Jaylen Brown — now how do they maximize him?

When the Boston Celtics gave Jaylen Brown the richest NBA contract ever with a five-year, $304 million extension, they implicitly asserted that Brown’s recreation and profession trajectory will place him among the many elite gamers in basketball.

Brown reaching that stratosphere is a two-pronged mission. It requires the 26-year-old to decide to ironing out the problems and inconsistencies which have dotted his rise to stardom to date. But it surely’s additionally on the Celtics teaching workers and group to place their franchise cornerstone in the most effective positions for him to succeed.

Brown is now a supermax participant coming off an All-NBA season — and a brutal playoff run that helped lead Boston to an underwhelming Japanese Convention Finals exit. He’s earned the brand new extension, however he and the Celtics shouldn’t be glad with 2022-23 as his efficiency ceiling.

So how do participant and franchise attain that subsequent stage?

The map begins on the identical exhaustive speaking level that has carried on for months: turnovers.

Brown’s postseason struggles along with his deal with aren’t simply followers’ bias. In accordance with PBP Stats, he ranked fourth amongst all NBA gamers with 1.55 playoff turnovers per recreation the place he both misplaced the ball or misplaced the ball out of bounds (PBP Stats labels them individually); his 31 whole had been probably the most within the postseason. He averaged 1.37 lost-ball turnovers per recreation in 2021-22. These charges are greater than double any prior postseason of his NBA profession, suggesting that after Brown moved to extra of a main playmaking position towards heightened playoff defenses, the issue magnified.

However final yr’s points prolonged again to the common season. Brown coughed up 1.02 lost-ball turnovers per recreation, rating fifth amongst 263 NBA gamers logged at the very least 1,000 whole minutes (Jayson Tatum was 4th at 1.06, for what it’s value). That was the second-highest price of his profession behind 2020-21. There are too many overlapping circumstances to pin down one cause, however regardless, the stagnant development even in a terrific yr was shocking.

I watched again throughout the summer season all 31 of Brown’s postseason lost-ball turnovers, categorizing them by frequent themes. (What I discovered lined up very equally with a chunk Jared Weiss wrote for The Athletic, so a hat-tip to him). Sure, Brown did have points along with his left hand, as proven in conditions the place he backed a defender down or drove alongside the baseline.

Maybe most notably, he struggled attacking in a straight line with crossover strikes, and defenders knew it:

A lot of these miscues are areas for ability enchancment. If Brown goes to make use of these strikes (which he ought to), he merely must develop a tighter and extra constant deal with. Sure, his hand harm suffered earlier than the playoffs most likely factored in, however he clearly nonetheless felt comfy sufficient to attempt the strikes.

However a few of Brown’s different turnovers could be extra vital as a result of they present how each he and the Celtics can enhance their offensive course of.

This set of turnovers got here when Brown used screens to probe the center of the ground. We are able to’t use the phrase “assault” right here, although — he appeared hesitant to take action, and it was the unsuitable type of herky-jerkiness that led to those turnovers. If the screener defender sat in drop protection, and the guard chased Brown successfully, Brown appeared to freeze at driving proper into the massive with one other participant additionally attempting to swipe. Some defenses, just like the Warmth, additionally switched and pressured Brown earlier than he might push downhill.

I’d prefer to see a extra decisive Jaylen Brown assault these conditions with the arrogance that he can end by means of the drop large. That being stated, in a few of these conditions, the spacing from the remainder of the Celtics (significantly that first clip towards Miami) was fairly poor. If Brown goes to guide a pick-and-roll, the curler must be extra aggressive and the spacers and cutters round Brown have to provide him shops or draw defensive consideration.

In a few of these clips, it’s also possible to see a second-side defender assist from the elbows to additional swarm Brown’s drive. That results in one other sticking level: Boston has to seek out methods to get the ball out of his arms earlier.

Right here’s the primary, and probably most egregious, instance:

Brown drives one-on-one towards Bam Adebayo and Gabe Vincent helps from the strong-side nook off of Grant Williams. This must be a no brainer go to Williams for an open nook three and it doesn’t occur. Give credit score to Adebayo and Vincent for clogging the lane rapidly, however Brown nonetheless must make this (comparatively) fundamental learn.

And now we have extra examples of Brown shedding the ball when opposing gamers assist and/or dig at him:

There’s a lot room for particular person and workforce enchancment right here.

Brown is an outstanding driving scorer. He made 57.9% of his subject objectives out of drives final common season, per PBP Stats, which ranked eleventh out of 118 gamers with at the very least 150 shot makes an attempt. He handed the ball on simply 29.1% of his 764 whole drives although — Twelfth-lowest amongst 77 gamers who drove 500 or extra occasions. That elevated barely to 32.3% within the playoffs.

A low pass-to-drive price isn’t all the time a foul factor, particularly when a participant can rating like Brown. He additionally has strong court docket imaginative and prescient and dishes out spectacular passes extra incessantly than you may bear in mind.

However seeing the missed reads — ones that he could make with regularity — means there’s alternative to stability the scales out a bit extra.

A few of these Brown turnovers are once more as a result of his teammates aren’t spacing the ground successfully. They sit of their customary alignments, however when Brown is principally going iso, they’re not overloading a aspect or in any other case pulling defenders away. It made assist protection on Brown’s driving makes an attempt a lot simpler than it must be.

Hopefully, this offseason has introduced in optimistic adjustments. Kristaps Porzingis’s arrival might be large for Brown. A 7-foot-3 display monster who’s a harmful pick-and-pop menace or spot-up shooter? That’ll certainly draw some focus away from Brown, or give him a neater goal within the pick-and-roll. And, ideally, a full summer season of gameplanning by coach Joe Mazzulla means the spacing points rectify themselves.

The underside line: maximizing Jaylen Brown — and profitable a championship — isn’t nearly participant growth. The Celtics must additionally present they need this $304 million dedication to work. Luckily, with Brown’s pure items and the expertise surrounding him, there’s cause for optimism in a brand new yr.