FanPost

Jaylen Brown just lacks basketball IQ

Hi guys. I normally don't write fanposts unless I'm extremely frustrated or angry... so here I am. (To prove my point, the last fanpost I wrote was 3-4 years ago that I'm souring on Kyrie, under a facebook account back then)

I just wanted to let out some of the frustrations I've had about Jaylen Brown ever since his 3-4th year in the league. I was fine with his faults before then, since he was young and I thought he would get better, but now I'm losing hope. Of course I'm no basketball genius, so I understand my opinions can be in the heat-of-the-moment, so I welcome any constructive criticism from other Celtics fans and JB fans.

[JB and his turnovers]

When looking at the comments here, it seems a lot of people fault JB's lack of dribbling skills (aka handle) for his turnover issues. However, I simply don't think that is the issue here. I actually think JB has a passable handle, and even impvoed on it over the offseason. While he's no Kyrie or Curry, is Jaylen's handle really that much worse than, say, Butler's? I don't think so, and I would rather attribute his turnovers to his lack of basketball IQ and tunnel vision.

Look at his dribbling against zone defense. anyone who has played and against zone defense knows that when you dribble from the top of the three-point line to the 45 degree elbow against a 3-2 zone defense, you're voluntarily getting yourself into a double-team and swipes on the ball. While this is one way of breaking the zone, it doesn't matter if you can't find the next pass. I attribute this to his tunnel vision rather than his handle, since he can't seem to find the open man when the defense collapses on him, leading to over-dribbling and turnovers. This happened every year in the playoffs against the heat zone, as well as last year's finals vs GSW. His tunnel vision is also evident in fast breaks, where he can't find the wide open shooter and instead almost always goes head-first at the rim. His lack of vision also means when he does find the open man, it's a bit too late, and the passing window has or is about to close, leading to interceptions, or open shots being covered after the late pass.

That's not to say JB is a horrible player. I think JB is a top 3-5 finisher at the rim in the entire league right now, as well as arguably the best tough shot maker in the mid range (some of the shots he takes and makes are prime Kobe-esque). However, while that makes him an incredible 1-on-1 player, he is not really a player that raises the ceiling of the team around him, especially against a zone defense, where crisp ball movement and situational awareness is most important from the shot creators. If JB were 3-4 years younger, I'd say there's still hope for him yet, as JT is a great example of a player developing great passing vision as he aged, but JB is a vet now, and passing vision is a skill that is much harder to develop than shooting. You either have it or you don't, and it seems JB doesn't have it.

I hope JB proves me wrong and somehow finds a way to improve on this as we're probably not going to be getting anyone better than him via the draft or trade. That's all I have to say, thanks for reading my rant guys.

FanPosts are fan-created content and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of CelticsBlog. Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.