Jayson Tatum‘s injury and the departure of several veteran players forced Celtics star Jaylen Brown to take on a larger leadership role, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Brown typically travels during the summer, Washburn notes, but he spent more time in Boston this year in an effort to bond with his new teammates.
“It’s a little bit sad, a lot of the guys I spent a lot of time with, we had such a great group over the last couple of years,” he said. “To see them not be around anymore obviously is going to have an effect on our team, but we have five new players we’ve got to get on board and acclimated into the system. And I’m trying to expedite that chemistry building, that trust building so you guys can see a good product when we get to the floor. But some of that stuff takes time — it doesn’t happen overnight — but I’m looking forward to it.”
Mentoring may not seem like a natural role to anyone who watched Brown closely during his first nine NBA seasons, Washburn adds. Brown often projected a hard exterior, but he said he’s found “a different level of peace” at this point in his career, and Washburn observes that he seems to be smiling and enjoying himself more than in the past.
“I would say a lot of times I felt like I had to operate a certain way to protect myself, and it was kind of the way I felt like I had to be in order not to lose my mind a little bit,” Brown said. “But I feel like I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I’m at peace, and I feel like I can express more of myself to the world in a sense where I just haven’t opened up in the last (several) years. More so showing the world who Jaylen Brown is.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Assistant coach Sam Cassell said the start of training camp has been the most difficult he’s seen since he entered the NBA 34 years ago, but head coach Joe Mazzulla disputes that description, Washburn states in a separate story. “Everything in this world today is recency bias,” Mazzulla said. “Every time is this is the best ever. We don’t remember the way we felt last year or two years ago or three years ago. That’s just a classic recency bias of whatever you’re going through right now is the biggest, the best, the most important, the hardest, the easiest. None of that really matters. It depends on where you’re at in the moment.”
- Picking up team concepts and strategy has been difficult for first-round pick Hugo Gonzalez because he speaks limited English, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. The former Real Madrid guard said the coaches have been patient as he tries to learn the language. “We’re going really, really deep now in these practices and also in the training camp that we’ve got,” Gonzalez said. “We’re going deep in the details. I think that apart from the basics, they are the most important thing. We’re going into detail on every single situation so that when we are in the game and we’ve got that situation, we can handle it in the best way possible so we can succeed on defense.”
- In a mailbag column, Brian Robb of The Boston Globe examines whether the Celtics should have tried harder to keep Al Horford, who will only make about $5.7MM this season with Golden State. Robb points out that Boston was disadvantaged by its need to avoid the repeater tax, which would cause a $5MM contract to cost close to $20MM with penalties factored in.
Celtics can’t pick up the tab on a translator? Give me a break. How’d cost cutting work for the red Sox? Makes me sick..
I’m enraged
Jaylen going to elevate to a level no one thought possible now that he’s not constrained by Tatums simp offense…if the Celtics are smart, they trade Tatum while everyone thinks he’s going to comeback healthy
When Giannis ask out in January, Celtics can build a nice package with Tatum as the centerpiece.
Bucks don’t want Tatums broke ass. They already made that mistake with Lillard, and still paying for it
Nah they are pumping up JB to trade him because Tatim will be back earlier than planned. Just too bad they are cheapo
If they’re cheap, then why would they keep their more expensive broken star than their cheaper healthy star? You don’t make any sense
Ever heard Penny wise and pound foolish? Anything else you need explained? Smdh
No, that’s sound like some complete nonsense. The only thing foolish is paying premium prices for damaged goods. Do you need that explained to you? Smdhadl
Your just a troll go back to your bridge
Calling someone a troll is the most troll thing anyone could do
Great comeback lmao
Its just a factual statement. It’s not meant to be a comeback, only trolls are concerned with “comebacks”
10-4 chief
Derp
We’re reading yall go back and forth like it aint the same person with two accounts
Well, I hope Jaylen will be better. I’d like to see him get some triple doubles this year – I worry about his assists – and improve his free throw percentage. Go Jaylen!
I prefer winning over stat padding
Traded Tatum ya right!
If Gonzalez is having trouble understanding what his coaches are saying because he doesn’t speak, why don’t they just hire an interpreter? It shouldn’t be that hard to find one. It would probably make things run a lot smoother.
Is there an echo in here
Celtics have gotten smaller with Tingus Pingis now gone. Queta is their only muscle in the middle. Horford could hold his own too as he was always chiseled….