It's hard to imagine at this point that earlier in the season, some fans were calling for the head of Jaylen Brown. Now that the Boston Celtics are in the Finals, however, most folks could not be more proud of what this young man has done to help his team reach this level of success this season.

Brown has not forgotten about all of it, though. After helping the Celtics secure a series-clinching Game 7 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday night, the All-Star swingman was quick to remind Boston fans about how they wanted to get him traded earlier in the season:

“That trade talk was loud, and most of it came from Boston fans,” Brown told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “It’s a city that doesn’t tolerate excuses. But in reality, early in the season we had a new coach, we had a new front office, I missed about 15 games early in the season and that caused us to not be clicking on all cylinders like we wanted to be. People were impatient, so I understand. But fast forward, we got healthy, we got everybody back and now the sky’s the limit.”

It doesn't sound like Brown is holding ill will against the Celtics faithful, though. The 25-year-old has been around long enough to understand how passionate Boston fans truly are and how they're not the type to go easy even on their own players.

Right now, there's no denying that Brown is one of the most important players on the roster. It would also be safe to say that the Celtics probably wouldn't even be contending for a title if he were not around.