Jaylen Brown understands the scale of the challenge he faces better than anyone else.
The Boston Celtics swingman addressed the recent reduction of his role with the team in an interview ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan published Wednesday. Brown describes the last three games as the toughest period of his burgeoning career, as he lost his place in the starting lineup to Marcus Smart due to a back injury he suffered following weeks of ineffective play.
“It’s probably been the hardest thing I’ve had to deal with so far in my career,” said Brown, whose reserve position is far from their heights he reached on his breakout performances during the 2017-18 regular season and playoffs. “Just coming from a position where you had so much responsibility, and now that responsibility is lessened. Expectations have been raised, but your responsibility goes down, so it’s hard to reach those expectations when you aren’t being asked to do as much.
“It’s been a challenge. It’s going to continue to be a challenge. It’s all about your mindset, so that’s what I’m focusing on.”
Smart and Kyrie Irving used tough love to break Brown out of his funk, and Brown has accepted his teammates’ motivational tactics and vows to remain committed to improving his play. He also retains the full support of Celtics coach Brad Stevens and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge.
Brown in his last three games has averaged 21 points and five rebounds off the bench. His apparent increased aggressiveness comes in response to his demotion from the starting lineup, and the third-year swingman believes his current condition is temporary.
“This is a story that’s being written,” Brown said. “There’s going to be highs and lows. Everything that’s happened, the energy will change. Come back in two weeks. The numbers will be different, and so will I.”
Those words are wise considering the Celtics are riding an NBA-best six-game winning streak. Now is no time to rock the boat.
