Jaylen Brown Makes The Celtics Go Round
Kevin Durant's Twitter Kinda Makes Me Happy
With attention usually hurled toward the general direction of other members of the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown scored 29 points in a victory over the the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. To get to that number, he shot 63 percent from deep after attempting eight shots from beyond the arc.
Even the best case scenarios for Brown coming out of college didn’t call for such terrific and efficient play. And yet, here we are, roughly 2,020 years after the death of the world’s most famous carpenter, and Brown is a rather unique player.
The issue he might face when it comes to “star” talk — whatever the hell a ‘star’ is — is that he’s not flash and dance. There’s sizzle to his steak, but it’s bubbling subtly before the surface rather than being jammed down your face.
Coming out of college, Brown could best be described as a good defensive prospect who thrived at Cal because he bully-balled his way through lesser student-athletes. It was hard to project his offensive game at the time because of it, as all he had to do get buckets was power through a teenager like he was Shaq and they were… ugh… a teenager.
I’m as guilty as this as anyone, but we often forget player development isn’t linear or solely based off a player’s previous abilities. Player-X was good at “this, that and the other” in college, so those are the areas he’ll most (only-ish) improve over time, right?
Wrong, pal.
Forget Brown’s counting-stats. They’ve all gone up, rather steadily, going from a 6.6 point per game scorer as a rookie to 20.3 this past season. That’s great. But it’s his efficiency, coupled with his defense, that should leave Celtics fans all warm and tingly on the insides.
Basic stats still, but he’s gone from shooting 45 precent from the floor as a rookie to a rounded up 46 percent the next two seasons to just above 48 percent this specific voyage.
That’s not huge progression, but his volume has gone up in this time, making it even more impressive. Usually when a player starts shooting five or six more times a game, his floor numbers at least level out, if not drop. Not for Jaylen Brown. They continue to climb.
The same can be said for his ability from beyond the arc. He actually showed some flashes his sophomore season in Beantown, but if anyone claims to have predicted that Brown would be shooting over 38 percent from three on six attempts per game… they’re bleeping liars.
We can go on and on regarding his improvements. The kid is up seven tenths of a percentage from the charity stripe; his rebounding and assists are up (also attributed to more minutes); his eFG and true shooting all impressive for an alleged bully ball player; so on and so forth.
Of course the other Celtics deserve much of the praise they’ve already received. From Jayson Tatum being considered the next big thing to all caps KEMBA Walker to the to Gordon Hayward being that guy from those video game chair commercials, it’s all good and gravy in Boston.
But man, even if this is Brown’s ceiling, this kid has got the god damn goods. It’s also cool that he’s this dope at the shooty hoops since he’s as wicked off the court.
Kevin Durant’s Twitter Gets Me All Hot And Bothered
Kevin Durant, because it’s law, took to Twitter to tell a random that he’s on the mean streets of social media because:
I don’t know what to do with that. Like many a member of the human species, I get the idea that a “professional” whatever should act a certain way in public settings. At the same time, as a normal dude who is often looked \ to for answers despite not being anywhere near qualified to answer them, I get Durant just wanting to be some dude who says stuff on Twitter.
As Durant himself put it, and this is introspection I can relate to, if it’s not bothering him, why not? He doesn’t neat to conform to a certain coach-speak or recluse lifestyle just because you prefer your entertainers to be riddled in mystery and/or romanticized by dopes like me.
Space Jam 2 Sneak Peak
Tickle me one of the few who aren’t all that pumped to see Space Jam 2. Nonetheless, I’m not here to be a thief of joy. Instead, just a Handsome Internet Scribbler (patent pending) here to toss some sequel information in your direction. Apparently dubbed as Space Jam 2: The New Legacy (WTF), LeBron James provided a sneak peak to the flick.
As for me, wake me up when they reboot The 4400.
Inject The New Monday Night Football Team In My Veins
Hello there, Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. Forget the first two, as I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. However, Louis Riddick is legend. I’m pretty sure those Vin Diesel Riddick movies were based off Louis. He’s great. One of the few NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE analysts who doesn’t rely on tropes to get his point across, Riddick is probably my favorite NFL media personality.
Well, outside my bearded friend and this other guy who yells at me twice a week (spon-con?!).
It’ll be interesting to see how the trio play off each other, as chemistry is as important as knowledge when it comes to a broadcast team, but I’m optimistic. Also, everyone here is better than Jason Witten.
Melvin Ingram unhappy with contract, skips practice
We all know the deal with the running back position. Teams value backs as little as I cherish moments with my dentist. In turn, however, it makes it rather understandable whenever a player at the position attempts to milk money from a franchise while they still have the goods.
But what about pass rushers? Well, teams value them like I do a low interest rate on a loan… or something. To be honest, I couldn’t think of a non-gross joke here. I’m not witty or charming or clever. I merely have the ability to write words — some of them even legible.
This brings us to Melvin Ingram, who skipped practice due to contract unhappiness. That’s the polite way of saying, “give me more money while I’m still of value.” The Chargers are in a weird new era, not only operating in Los Angeles, but also without Big Bad Phil Rivers and his 55 children under contract.
As the great John Malkovich says in Rounders, give that man his money.
Email Of The Week
God created the Earth in six days, sitting for load management on the seventh, but I’m pretty sure I just one-upped our hero in the heavens. My LinkedIn profile garnered a whopping 17 views in just seven days. I made it. Take that, eternal deity.
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Joseph used to write a bunch of things for places like Forbes, FRS and others. Now he’s ‘the man’ in management. A big old loser. A washed, leathery face, too. Here’s his own newsletter.