Jaylen Brown has been on a tear since his All-Star snub, and Brad Stevens couldn’t be happier.
The Boston Celtics guard was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after an impressive three-game stretch, averaging 25 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. This marked the second time Brown came up with the honor in the 2019-20 season, joining Larry Bird, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Isaiah Thomas and Antoine Walker as the only other Celtics to do so twice in a single season.
While seeing Brown’s name among such historic players may have been surprising for some, according to MassLive’s Tom Westerholm, Stevens wasn’t fazed one bit.
“I thought it was a no-brainer that he got it,” he said prior to tip-off Monday night. “I haven’t watched the whole rest of the league. That’s probably not fair. But he was awesome in all three games, and I thought that Miami game he set a tone with his defense, and then his offense followed suit. I thought he was good against Golden State and then I thought (the) same thing against Philly. His defense was excellent and then his offense followed suit.
“He’s a really good player,” Stevens added. “We’ve talked the whole time about those awards are wonderful, but they’re subjective, so you shouldn’t wrap your value or identify around those things. Those are nice to put into a bookshelf, but that’s about it. So I’m really happy with how he’s attacked it, and I’m happy with how Jayson’s attacked it since he was named it. It’s not the end-all-be-all. You just play the next game as hard as you can.”
Next year’s All-Star Game may be a whopping 12 months away, but at this rate, Brown sure is making a good case for himself come next season. In the meantime, however, it’s clear the 23-year-old is well on his way to the best season he’s had to date.
