Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown is taking a focused approach to the beginning of next season. The third pick in the 2016 draft will be devoting all his attention to basketball, and skipping everything else:
“My whole mantra for this year is, ‘Just hoop.’ I’m going to come out and play basketball. I’m just going to come out and try to play, be myself, and hopefully, I’m allowed to do that. I don’t want to put no expectations on it. I don’t want no politics. I just want to play basketball. I’ve been working. I’ve been in the gym all summer. I believe in myself and I know the Celtics, they believe in me, as well.”
The Berkely product is entering the fourth year of his NBA career, one that has already been littered with ups and downs.
Brown started slowly as a rookie. While he played in 78 games for the Celtics, he did not produce the numbers the team expected out of the highly valued prospect.
Then came his breakout sophomore season. Brown raised his scoring average from 6.6 to 14.5, nearly doubled his minutes, and started all 70 games he played in.
While his minutes were cut last season because of Gordon Hayward's return, Brown still shot the same percentage from the field (46.5 percent) and managed to put up 13 points a game.
Now, the Celtics will expect him to take on a bigger role than ever before. With Al Horford and Kyrie Irving gone, Brown becomes the third-best offensive option for the C's. We'll see if his laser focus in the offseason leads to in-season results.
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