Boston Celtics No. 3 overall pick Jaylen Brown has been making strides this offseason.
According to a Sports Illustrated interview with Chris Johnson, an NBA development coach, Brown is working on many different things.
“Footwork is the basic that I'm really focused on,” Johnson told Andrew Sharp of SI.com.
“For a kid like Jaylen, it's footwork, balance. His ability to play off the catch. His ability to get into an attack position and score efficiently off of one and two dribbles. You don't get a bunch of dribbles in the NBA. I also feel like Jaylen has an opportunity to be able to have a deadly mid-post game. Like other big guards — right now Jimmy (Butler) is really deadly on his mid-post game.”
Brown was touted by his peers as the most athletic out of the bunch in the 2016 NBA Rookie Survey. His athletic talents got him noticed out of high school, ranking No. 4 in ESPN's Top 100 high school prospects in 2015.
While he won't struggle in athleticism, he will need to sharpen his tools in order to become an effective NBA player and gain minutes in the rotation.
Johnson, who also trains Chicago Bulls All-Star Jimmy Butler, was part of a post-Rio Olympics workout in Cabo San Lucas with the latter and the rookie.
Aside from the strength and conditioning workouts he's been tasked with this offseason, Jaylen Brown's game will be molded to fit the Celtics' offense.
“We break it down,” Johnson said. “Boston, I don't want to put it all out there, but you know they they drive in the slots. They're a hard slot-driving team. We need him comfortable in the pick-and-roll, whether it's side pick-and-roll, angle pick-and-roll, or slot pick-and-roll. We need him making corner threes. We take the concepts of what Boston already has in place, and I build that into Jaylen's sessions. So by the time he gets to training camp, he's very familiar with not only the positions that they're going to put him in, but he's got moves and counters that will make him more comfortable as an offensive player.”
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