Boston Celtics 2020-21 individual players grades: Jaylen Brown

Now that the 2020-21 Boston Celtics season is in the rear-view mirror, it’s possible to spend time taking stock of how each player did with the opportunity he had.

To that end, we are grading every player who put in time on the basketball court for the Celtics this season, including all 15 members of the regular roster, both two-way players and the players the team cut or traded away. That’s 21 players, and today’s focus is freshly minted All-Star wing Jaylen Brown, our second to last player season grade remaining. Brown leaned into a leadership role not only on his team but across the league and in society even beyond what he had in the recent past.

And while the season didn’t end the way he likely had hoped, he took some big steps forward in it in several ways. With that in mind, let’s assess Brown’s 2020-21 season in context.

Offense

Brown began the season a man afire, showing the world how he could dominate the midrange like few in the league could, rocketing up the leaderboards in the first few weeks of 2020-21. Then the team asked him to pull his offense out past the 3-point arc, which saw the Georgia native raise his efficiency to a new career-high of 39.7%. He also shot career-highs from 2-point range (48.4%) and the free-throw line (76.4%) while turning in personal bests in scoring (24.7 points) and assists (3.4) per game -- only an All-NBA nod could have given him a better grade. Grade: A https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1413184639708155905?s=20

Defense

The Cal-Berkeley product was as smothering as ever on this end of the ball, if not as he ever has been. Again with the career-highs, he turned in 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks, neither coming at the expense of his team defense. While he slipped a little late in the season as the mileage and perhaps his knee tendonitis began to affect him more, Brown was as good as he's been in the regular season on defense in 2020-21, with moments of transcendent play mixed in. Grade: A- https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1413199669748977664?s=20

Intangibles

Brown took responsibility for the team's missteps even when they clearly weren't his, and gave credit to his teammates to make sure they not only got their just recognition but also stayed engaged. Off the court he continued to be a leading voice in the fight for social justice and racial equity, with his platform beginning to transcend the team and even the league. There were a few moments of frustration where Marietta's favorite son let the banner of leadership slip a bit, but it's hard to remember Brown is still just 24 at times given just how composed he is most nights. Grade: A- https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1413224486388703232?s=20

Overall

Any close assessment of Brown in relation to his ceiling has constantly come up short once the time has passed and we review where we thought he would be compared to where he ends up. For those who would consider trading this young talent simply to shake things up, we simply cannot understand how one could miss the indefatigable drive of the Georgia native to continue improving, and who might possibly have a star burning bright enough to gamble against that potential. The list is very short, indeed -- and that doesn't even take into account his unusually remarkable character. Grade: A- This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook! [mm-video type=video id=01fa3hc23h7x9dw46q8r playlist_id=none player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fa3hc23h7x9dw46q8r/01fa3hc23h7x9dw46q8r-dfa1002426f648ce24ec4052731409d8.jpg] [lawrence-related id=53540,53536,53514,53501] [listicle id=53594]

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