Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck holds players to a high standard.
Aside from the storied franchise’s NBA-high 17 championships, the Celtics also were the first team to draft a black player, hire a black head coach and roll out the league’s first-ever all-black starting rotation.
“Being part of the Celtics means something, and it means you need to do your best to uphold the traditions that the great ones put in place,” Grousbeck told WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche.
And as protests all week continued around the country in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Milwaukee police officer, one C’s star in particular went above and beyond to condemn racism and police brutality.
How many other athletes can say they drove 15 hours from Boston to Atlanta to partake in the peaceful demonstrations like Jaylen Brown did?
It certainly impressed Grousbeck, and gave him some hope that we can get through this as a country with a better understanding of each other.
“Since day one when I met Jaylen, back in (2015), it was so obvious that he’s just special – a special person with special character,” Grousbeck said to Roche. “He has educated me, to be perfectly honest. I’ve spent time talking with him and a couple other players in depth over the last few days because I’ve realized I have a lot to learn, that I thought I knew and I didn’t know, just to be honest. And so I’ve spent time listening to Jaylen, talking to Jaylen, trying to learn from Jaylen to be perfectly honest. I didn’t know I would have, really, but the whole situation is shocking and surprising and stunning and disappointing and all of that. Jaylen might be a way for us to sort of move forward. He is a very, very good person with a very good conscience.”
When Brown’s NBA career is over, based on the trajectory he’s on on, he’ll be remembered for a lot more than basketball.
