Averaged 28 points per game, from Finals MVP to regular season brusher! Should the Celtics consider trading Brown?

After the start of the regular season this season, the overall pattern of the Western Conference is chaotic. The defending champion Thunder has strong momentum, but the Nuggets are infinitely close to the Thunder in terms of offensive efficiency and net efficiency. After Fox returns to the Spurs, he can share the pressure of Bunyama leading the team. Coupled with the quietly rising Lakers and the getting better Rockets, the competition in the Western Conference is destined to be very fierce. On the Eastern side, the Pistons led the way with 7 wins and 2 losses in the beginning. After the Cavaliers experienced an embarrassing start, they gradually caught up with a wave of four consecutive victories. Judging from the predictions of the US media before the season, the competition in the Eastern Conference in the new season will mainly be between the Cavaliers and the Knicks, mainly because the two favorites to win the championship, the Pacers and the Celtics, both suffered serious Achilles tendon injuries, while other teams have more or less obvious shortcomings, either lacking playoff experience or having no upper limit.

As the runner-up in last season's finals, the Pacers have 1 win and 8 losses since the start of the new season, and have quietly started a plan to mess up. This is really not their intention to mess up. They try their best in every game, but in addition to Haliburton, McConnell + Toppin + Marceline + Nembhard, the main core players in the past two seasons, have all suffered injuries, leaving only Sika and Nesmith struggling to support. The problem here for the Celtics is complicated. After Tatum was injured in the playoffs last season, his recovery was much faster than expected. He had already resumed training in the preseason. Tatum wanted to come back this season, but the team did not want him to come back. After all, the Celtics sent away Boshen + Holiday during the offseason. The Celtics essentially want to save money. It would be even better if they could get a high lottery pick by the way.

But Jaylen Brown, the team's second-in-command, doesn't see it that way. In the preseason, he said that he would let fans see a brand new team that is competitive. Since the start of the season, Brown has 4 wins and 6 losses, ranking outside the 10th place in the Eastern Conference. As the core of this current team, Brown averages 28 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Compared with the 22.5 points per game in the past two seasons, Brown has indeed improved a lot. There are two statistics. Brown has scored 30+ in 6 games this season, the most among all players in the Eastern Conference! But in the few games where Brown scored high points, he basically lost. For example, he lost to the Pistons by scoring 41 points, lost to the Jazz by scoring 36 points, and lost to the Magic by scoring 32 points. He could also beat the bottom Wizards, including the 76ers and Cavaliers, but the ups and downs were too great. Usually such players are defined as data brushes, like Embiid and Booker.

The second data is even more surprising. This season, the Celtics' offensive efficiency is 116.6, their defensive efficiency is 114.3, and their net efficiency +2.3 ranks 12th in the league. But as the core, Jaylen Brown, when he is on the court, the team's offensive efficiency is 118.8, the defensive efficiency is 120.0, and the net efficiency is -1.2! When he is not on the court, the team's net efficiency per 100 possessions is +7.9, so Brown's On-Off value is -9.1! Among all stars in the league who average more than 26 points per game, Brown has the lowest irreplaceable value. It can be understood that he is the team's weapon to destroy the team. He can rack up points endlessly without delaying the team's plan to lose games. This is indeed very embarrassing. You must know that last summer, Jaylen Brown won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP + Finals MVP. The second-in-command of the team beat the team's boss to win the honor, which is rare.

Including the 5-year 305 million super maximum salary given to him by the Celtics (later reduced to 289 million), Jaylen Brown's salary this season is 53.14 million, ninth in the league, and there are 4 years left on the contract of 236 million US dollars! Since the Celtics won the championship, salary pressure has become a huge mountain. Sending Holiday and Porcelain can only solve the immediate needs, but it will not solve the fundamental problem, because Tatum still has a five-year contract of 315 million US dollars, and White still has a four-year contract of US$126 million. Let’s not mention what level Tatum can recover to. The key point is that this lineup is not very competitive. Anfernee Simons’ contract has expired and the Celtics must deal with it as soon as possible. The bench, such as Boucher, Dillman, Cota, Minot and others, are all made up. When Tatum returns in the future, basically none of them will be used.

The Celtics are bound to build a new framework around the successful team of Tatum + White + Pritchard + Hauser in the future. Jaylen Brown is certainly not one of them. Let me give you an example. The Celtics won 61 games last season. Jaylen Brown's win contribution was +6.1, one-tenth of the team. Holiday and Porcelain, who are at the same level as him, have already left! Brown is good at disrupting games and can score points with the ball in hand, but just like Paul George in the past few seasons, he has no ability to lead a team. On the one hand, Brown does not have stable outside shooting. On the other hand, Brown maintains an assist-to-turnover ratio of about 1.3-1.5 all year round, which cannot drive the whole team. Additionally, his defense can easily be overrated.

But Brown’s scoring is a good thing for the team. On the one hand, there is record demand. On the other hand, Brown is almost 30 years old. Combined with his super maximum salary contract, if the Celtics want to remain competitive in the future, they must cash out Brown at a high position in exchange for better helpers who can assist Tatum. This season is the best time to cash out at a high level. Some teams are paying attention to Brown during the offseason, such as the Hawks and Bucks. For the Celtics, leading the team to win the championship with two top picks is already considered a success. But I'm afraid Tatum will have to go alone in the next journey. Brown has no reason to stay with the Celtics, either emotionally, rationally, publicly or privately.