Better player right now: Jaylen Brown or Tyrese Haliburton?

[iggymcfrack]

So in the countdown of top players on the general board, Jaylen Brown was the 3rd most voted for #12 and ended up being given the #14 spot as a result even though he never cracked 20% of the vote. Haliburton was voted 15th, but there was never actually a heads up vote between them. Since it’s a direct one to one player comparison, I thought I’d bring it here and see who people think is a better player right now.

[AEnigma]

I would rather have Haliburton as my franchise player.

[SNPA]

Hali. Said as a Kings fan.

[tsherkin]

In a vacuum, for Indy or for Boston?

I think Brown is a little bit more of what Boston needs due to his defense, but Haliburton is a considerably better offensive player by a couple orders of magnitude, so he's of considerably more value in a role with primacy.

[xb3at band1tx]

Hali is an offensive system all in itself. Jaylen while very good, Boston ultimately is the sum of its parts.

[JimmyFromNz]

Similar tier for me, I don't mind either side of the debate and eventually I think Haliburton separates himself a bit long term.

It's a wedge of a question, as they're asked to play significantly different roles yet I don't think many watching basketball post Halli's in-season tournament peak could genuinely say he was a better outright player than Brown in that time period and definitely not in the playoffs.

Tyrese does however possess a more valuable skill set on one side of the ball, that will give him more weighting with some and obviously the impact statistics on that Indiana team/system will favour him there. Meanwhile Jaylen has never responded well on impact signals.

I'm more skeptical of what that actually translates to when accounting for the fact its occurring on a middle of the road team with a relentless focus on run and gun that doesn't ask Tyrese to play a second of defense - not one split second - let alone being asked to successfully guard the opposing teams best player for periods in the playoffs. Those are just balancing factors in this discussion, particularly when early season there was incredible hyperbole about Tyrese.

[SNPA]

Similar tier for me, I don't mind either side of the debate and eventually I think Haliburton separates himself a bit long term.

It's a wedge of a question, as they're asked to play significantly different roles yet I don't think many watching basketball post Halli's in-season tournament peak could genuinely say he was a better outright player than Brown in that time period and definitely not in the playoffs.

Tyrese does however possess a more valuable skill set on one side of the ball, that will give him more weighting with some and obviously the impact statistics on that Indiana team/system will favour him there. Meanwhile Jaylen has never responded well on impact signals.

I'm more skeptical of what that actually translates to when accounting for the fact its occurring on a middle of the road team with a relentless focus on run and gun that doesn't ask Tyrese to play a second of defense - not one split second - let alone being asked to successfully guard the opposing teams best player for periods in the playoffs. Those are just balancing factors in this discussion, particularly when early season there was incredible hyperbole about Tyrese.

Some good counter points.

Two sides to the court.

[wafflzgod]

I think the level of play that Haliburton was at before the injury has become somewhat underrated / wrote off as a "hot stretch". To me he looked like he could have been the 3rd best offensive player in the league, and while he is a very bad defender, I would take this over Jaylen Brown.

Pre-injury (32 Games)
34 MPG
24.2 PPG
12.7 APG
40.4 3P% (8.6 3PA/G)
63.3 TS%
2.6 TOV/G -- this is a really important number to me. He was 2nd ITL in touches per game at 95.8, behind only Jokic, and had an incredibly low turnover rate, while being a super productive scorer and creator and driving elite team offense.

He is the best pace pusher ITL, one of the very best shooters (this is one of the things that fell way off after the injury, which I have no reason to really put stock in as he is a 40% career 3P shooter), one of the very best passers and a quick decision-maker. All of those traits that drive much of his offensive value are very scalable. While his handle and burst are not exactly elite, limiting his slashing and paint-touch ability compared to some other top offensive guards, he is still an opportunistic driver who can attack rotating defenses or leverage his shooting threat into a driving lane. The driving is another thing that fell off after the injury however.

One concern that I do have is that he played through the injury for months and has not really seemingly properly healed, so maybe his athleticism (though it was never really elite) will not be at the same level again next season, but I do expect the shooting to bounce back.

[Sweet Serenity]

You’ve become the Karen of RealGM with the amount whinging you do about Haliburton.