Jaylen Brown is feeling good through the early stages of the 2023-24 NBA season. And the latest comments from the Celtics guard made that abundantly clear while also putting a target squarely on his back for the many NBA fans who love to troll.
“I feel like on both sides of the ball,” Brown told The Athletic on Wednesday after practice, “I’m playing the best basketball of my life.”
Whenever a player makes a statement like this, the next move for fans is to search for the player’s year-over-year stats. This probably should have been a factor in how Brown approached the quote, considering he’s averaging fewer points (26.2 vs. 22.2), rebounds (6.9 vs. 5.2) and assists (3.5 to 3.2) this season compared to last year.
But to make matters worse, Brown’s field goal percentage checks in at 45.9%, only a half percent higher than the lowest mark of his career—his 2016-17 rookie season. While Brown also ranks No. 142 in the NBA in defensive rating, he has managed to check in at No. 13 in defensive win shares this season.
But the offensive numbers did the damage, and fans came out fast at Brown following his comments.
He doesn’t understand that he doesn’t look like an NBA player and is struggling to grasp the fact no matter how many times he crosses over a cone he’ll never be able to cross over Magic Johnson.
— Executive (@1984mj23zn) December 7, 2023
Especially since he’s been pretending to dribble all these years and can’t.
Who’s gonna tell him? pic.twitter.com/JK0eTsDrVv
— The Treach & Romeo News Podcast (@thetrnpodcast) December 7, 2023
Yes Jaylen. People evaluate how effective players are with stats …
— Spence (@SpenceD__) December 7, 2023
Feel like on both sides? what about the left side?
— OfficerTenpenny (@ownedbytenpenny) December 7, 2023
I love when players disregard stats like they aren’t based off of how you played lmao… eye test is still important to an extent though.
— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) December 7, 2023
You know its bad when even your own team’s fanbase was pissed you were extended
— Jay 🍀 (@SmokedByHyatt) December 7, 2023
Where was the best basketball of his life vs Pacers
— Tauro (@TauroWorld) December 7, 2023
It’s useless to think that but in big moments he can’t even handle the ball
