After a poor start last season, the Boston Celtics came close to trading away Jaylen Brown — or at least that's what the reports have been saying. Instead, the team decided to stick it out with their Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown core, and they were rewarded with an unforgettable trip to the NBA Finals.
For his part, New Orleans Pelicans star CJ McCollum had nothing but high praise for Brown, Tatum, and their evolution. In a recent episode of his podcast, McCollum revealed why he believes these two Celtics stars have developed such a unique chemistry between them (h/t ClutchPoints on Twitter):
“I think they've figured out how to co-exist together,” McCollum said. “They're not fighting each other for shots. … They've figured out how to both remain themselves while empowering each other. And that's very hard to do.”
Is McCollum speaking from experience here? We all know how he played second fiddle to Damian Lillard with the Portland Trail Blazers for many years, and while they were able to find some success, that partnership eventually ended without them ever reaching the NBA Finals.
The Celtics, however, are built differently. This team has been a title contender for several years now, and the fact that Tatum and Brown have been able to find a way to co-exist without compromising their own strengths is the very reason why they were two games away from winning a title last year.
“They got that close to winning a championship, so they realized, ‘If we can just tinker some things, start off a little bit better, and not be under .500 at the halfway mark,' then they give themselves a better chance of getting back to the Finals,” McCollum said.
“They’ve figured out how to both remain themselves while empowering each other.”
CJ McCollum’s analysis on Jaylen Brown & Jayson Tatum coexisting for the Celtics following their NBA Finals run 🍀pic.twitter.com/Vj9uuL04EQ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 17, 2022
CJ seems confident in how Tatum and Brown are going to lead the Celtics back to the pinnacle again. They now also have a ton of experience under their belt, which will give them a significant advantage over other title hopefuls this season — a goal that McCollum was not able to achieve in Portland alongside Damian Lillard.
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