Do the Celtics have a new guard?

[Alleyoopster]

Let's be honest tonight's game against the Knicks was the pits. However, there may have been something good that came out of it. And, it has to do with Jaylen Brown. Here are my thoughts....
 
In the last two minutes of the game Jaylen was put in to guard Derrick Rose who was having a field day shooting the ball. Jaylen managed to disrupt Rose's offensive rhythm almost every time he had the ball. He may have scored...I don't recall, but it wasn't easy for him. My opinion is he didn't want any part of Jaylen.

I'm wondering if Jaylen may be called upon to guard these hot shooting guards more often. And, if he's successful, like he was tonight, then maybe he'll become our newly acclaimed defensive guard? Think Tony Allen... (One caveat....Terry Rozier was pretty pesky himself. That may have helped.)

Yes, I know offensively he cannot handle the ball well enough to play guard. But, he's tough, tall and quick which are 3 qualities that make for a great defensive specialist. Anyone else on board with this idea? Or, am I jumping the gun on such a minuscule sample of playing time?

[mr. dee]

Brad doesn't read CB, unfortunately. But I like the idea of Smart-Brown backcourt. Give us a size, rebounding and defense. I expect Jaylen to leap as the secondary or third option on the offense in a year or two.

[TrueFan]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

[Chris22]

Brown can cover the 2. I don't know why Brad didn't have Brown in more in the fourth quarter instead of Rozier.

[TheSundanceKid]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

[hwangjini_1]

Brad doesn't read CB, unfortunately. But I like the idea of Smart-Brown backcourt. Give us a size, rebounding and defense. I expect Jaylen to leap as the secondary or third option on the offense in a year or two.

the down side of this combo is the outside shooting. it would not be pretty.

[CelticGuardian]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

I'm tired of people equating practice to on-court playing time. It's utterly ridiculous to think the competition is at it's apex in practice, especially when his teammates are clearly not world beaters in the NBA, he needs to play against top competition and see what they do and have to respond to it in a game that fans will pressure you to win.

I think Jaylen has talent, due to his athleticism something is bound to happen and at least can dribble more than Jae Crowder(worse hesitations I've seen in my life), and we are holding him back to stay entrenched in this mirage of "win now"

[A Future of Stevens]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

I'm tired of people equating practice to on-court playing time. It's utterly ridiculous to think the competition is at it's apex in practice, especially when his teammates are clearly not world beaters in the NBA, he needs to play against top competition and see what they do and have to respond to it in a game that fans will pressure you to win.

I think Jaylen has talent, due to his athleticism something is bound to happen and at least can dribble more than Jae Crowder(worse hesitations I've seen in my life), and we are holding him back to stay entrenched in this mirage of "win now"

I agree wholeheartedly. However, I think it truly behooves Jaylen to be going up against Smart day in and day out. He gets to work on utilizing his height and size (advantage against a lot of wings and sgs), while still going against one of the best wing defenders in the NBA. Also it is nice to go against someone who is in your stratosphere athletically. Smart is possibly the beefiest guard in the league, and in terms of strength, may not have a match.

Those videos of them playing one on one almost brought a tear to my eye. Super tough Celtic basketball.

[BitterJim]

Brown did a good job on Rose at the end of the game there, but if Bradley had been playing, it would have been Bradley covering him instead.  It was a nice move by Brad to try it out for a couple of possessions, but it's not going to turn into anything long-term unless Bradley's injury is worse than reported

[Rosco917]

Playing Brown and Smart together would mean we would have actual size in the backcourt...we can't have that now can we? I mean length disrupt passing lanes right?

True enough, the shooting would be poor, but posting guards in the paint also will get you baskets. Along with
maybe getting a few offensive rebounds...you remember those right?

 

[CelticGuardian]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

I'm tired of people equating practice to on-court playing time. It's utterly ridiculous to think the competition is at it's apex in practice, especially when his teammates are clearly not world beaters in the NBA, he needs to play against top competition and see what they do and have to respond to it in a game that fans will pressure you to win.

I think Jaylen has talent, due to his athleticism something is bound to happen and at least can dribble more than Jae Crowder(worse hesitations I've seen in my life), and we are holding him back to stay entrenched in this mirage of "win now"

I agree wholeheartedly. However, I think it truly behooves Jaylen to be going up against Smart day in and day out. He gets to work on utilizing his height and size (advantage against a lot of wings and sgs), while still going against one of the best wing defenders in the NBA. Also it is nice to go against someone who is in your stratosphere athletically. Smart is possibly the beefiest guard in the league, and in terms of strength, may not have a match.

Those videos of them playing one on one almost brought a tear to my eye. Super tough Celtic basketball.

I hear that and regardless of playing time, Jaylen is in a good spot to grow. But to bring it out of him sooner would be nice and that will only come with more playing time this season. There's only so many moves that Marcus Smart and Jae Crowder can teach him.

[spikelovetheCelts]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

I'm tired of people equating practice to on-court playing time. It's utterly ridiculous to think the competition is at it's apex in practice, especially when his teammates are clearly not world beaters in the NBA, he needs to play against top competition and see what they do and have to respond to it in a game that fans will pressure you to win.

I think Jaylen has talent, due to his athleticism something is bound to happen and at least can dribble more than Jae Crowder(worse hesitations I've seen in my life), and we are holding him back to stay entrenched in this mirage of "win now"

He has to hit open shots to play more. He does not at moment. He is 15-20 minute guy until then. If we can get another scorer he could play more.

[CelticGuardian]

Imagine how good Brown would be by now if he got 25-30 minutes a game. He's just now finally getting comfortable and imposing his will on other players but it's been a slow grind to get there. I hope Stevens opens up some more minutes for Brown to expedite his growth.

I don't imagine he'd be further along than he is now. His time in a game is execution of the work he puts into practice. The improvements we see on the court are a result of his improvement in practices.

If he'd been playing 25 mins per game what we would be seeing is a much higher turnover rate and a team struggling to reach where it currently sits

I'm tired of people equating practice to on-court playing time. It's utterly ridiculous to think the competition is at it's apex in practice, especially when his teammates are clearly not world beaters in the NBA, he needs to play against top competition and see what they do and have to respond to it in a game that fans will pressure you to win.

I think Jaylen has talent, due to his athleticism something is bound to happen and at least can dribble more than Jae Crowder(worse hesitations I've seen in my life), and we are holding him back to stay entrenched in this mirage of "win now"

He has to hit open shots to play more. He does not at moment. He is 15-20 minute guy until then. If we can get another scorer he could play more.

He was scoring pretty good last night, Rozier couldn't hit a snooze button with how much he was off, yet Brad opted to go with him down the stretch. I just don't understand.

[loco_91]

Brown makes sense guarding a guy like Rose whose offensive game is pretty 1-dimensional (charge the rim and do something acrobatic). Against a craftier guard like Lowry or Kemba, you're much better off with a defender who knows all the tricks. But yeah, it was nice to see that Brad has some faith in Brown's defense.

[BMark]

CBS should use JB in the future just as he did last night, i.e. shutting down a big guard who is killing us.  Wish CBS had thought of this last week in Toronto