Jaylen Brown Thread

[zoyathedestroya]

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[zoyathedestroya]

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[wco81]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

[ryan in Maine]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

I may be off as I'm going by memory, but I feel like JB's left has regressed since he bulked up. He didn't have a strong left before, but he was quick enough to make up for it to a large extent. He could keep the ball ahead of course and snatch it in traffic. After he bulked up his left started to fizzle out. He doesn't have the same quickness to put the ball ahead of himself and catch up to it before the defense.

I also think the criticism of his left is a little overblown. Watch any JB highlights and you'll see him going left with pretty decent success.

Miami's defense worked on volume essentially. You take away JB's left 20 times, some of those will be turnovers. Miami used similar tactics with JT but JT has a lot more experience handling the ball and setting up the offense (bc we've been encouraging it) so he's better at looking over the defense and finding the open man.

[Hal14]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

I may be off as I'm going by memory, but I feel like JB's left has regressed since he bulked up. He didn't have a strong left before, but he was quick enough to make up for it to a large extent. He could keep the ball ahead of course and snatch it in traffic. After he bulked up his left started to fizzle out. He doesn't have the same quickness to put the ball ahead of himself and catch up to it before the defense.

I also think the criticism of his left is a little overblown. Watch any JB highlights and you'll see him going left with pretty decent success.

Miami's defense worked on volume essentially. You take away JB's left 20 times, some of those will be turnovers. Miami used similar tactics with JT but JT has a lot more experience handling the ball and setting up the offense (bc we've been encouraging it) so he's better at looking over the defense and finding the open man.

Not sure about the bulking up theory. But I agree that the struggles going left is overblown.

I think the bigger factor is JB's left wrist. Obviously, having a strong/healthy wrist is important for dribbling ability. He had surgery on the left wrist in 2021, and Bam fell on that wrist during game 1 of the ECF this year.

The other factor is his decision making with the ball. Sometimes he has tunnel vision, forces drives, drives into gaps that are't there or telegraphs his drives so as soon as he starts making that first move, the defense sees it coming and brings a second defender to double him at the nail (especially since the defense knows he has tunnel vision and isn't the best play maker so they know they can bring that 2nd defender and he probably won't kick it to the open man).

Improving that vision/decision making and continuing to get that wrist healthier should be a priority, imo.

[shackles10]

JB’s highlights are actually filled with quite a few really nice dribble moves. His lowlights are also filled with many turnovers from a live dribble. I don’t know if it’s as much his dribbling ability as it is his decision making with the dribble and tunnel vision on dribble drives too. That’s not to say he’s Kyrie with the dribble out there, but I don’t think it’s as simple as “he can’t dribble” either.

[djFan71]

The left hand has reached meme status, but that doesn't mean there's not truth behind it. Forcing him (and Tatum to a lesser degree) left was a defensive strategy used against them IN THE NBA FINALS and again in the ECF. And it worked both times.

He definitely needs to get better at it. Or, ideally our offense adapts and finds ways to score off ball more and not rely on that level of initiation so much.

[Hal14]

The left hand has reached meme status, but that doesn't mean there's not truth behind it. Forcing him (and Tatum to a lesser degree) left was a defensive strategy used against them IN THE NBA FINALS and again in the ECF. And it worked both times.

He definitely needs to get better at it. Or, ideally our offense adapts and finds ways to score off ball more and not rely on that level of initiation so much.

All valid points, but to be fair, that (forcing a player to use their off-hand) is a defensive strategy that teams have deployed for pretty much the entire history of the league.

Like you said, the best ways to combat that strategy is by
a) working on your left hand - which I'm sure all NBA players do
b) Get more creative on offense, be less predictable - don't rely so much on trying to go iso and take your man off the dribble and
c) when you do attack the basket, keep your head up and quickly kick it to the open man if the defense is shutting down your drive

Also, keep in mind that Tatum was playing with a pretty serious left wrist injury in the 2022 NBA finals (he said he could barely hold a plastic cup with that hand) so that probably played a factor in the warriors strategy to force him left.

And although both the warriors and heat used this strategy, the player who struggled the most in each series was the player with the injured left wrist (Tatum in 2022 NBA finals, JB in the 2023 ECF).

[BK_2020]

JB’s highlights are actually filled with quite a few really nice dribble moves. His lowlights are also filled with many turnovers from a live dribble. I don’t know if it’s as much his dribbling ability as it is his decision making with the dribble and tunnel vision on dribble drives too. That’s not to say he’s Kyrie with the dribble out there, but I don’t think it’s as simple as “he can’t dribble” either.

Come on. You can't be serious. His dribbling ability is pretty bad. He can't dribble.

[BK_2020]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

If that were true he would've shot better than 43% from the field in college. Zion shot 68%. Why couldn't Jaylen when his athleticism supposedly let him get by defenders all night?

[ryan in Maine]

JB’s highlights are actually filled with quite a few really nice dribble moves. His lowlights are also filled with many turnovers from a live dribble. I don’t know if it’s as much his dribbling ability as it is his decision making with the dribble and tunnel vision on dribble drives too. That’s not to say he’s Kyrie with the dribble out there, but I don’t think it’s as simple as “he can’t dribble” either.

Come on. You can't be serious. His dribbling ability is pretty bad. He can't dribble.

Stop trolling.

[shackles10]

JB’s highlights are actually filled with quite a few really nice dribble moves. His lowlights are also filled with many turnovers from a live dribble. I don’t know if it’s as much his dribbling ability as it is his decision making with the dribble and tunnel vision on dribble drives too. That’s not to say he’s Kyrie with the dribble out there, but I don’t think it’s as simple as “he can’t dribble” either.

Come on. You can't be serious. His dribbling ability is pretty bad. He can't dribble.

So it’s as simple as he can’t dribble? Nothing more, nothing less?

[Floody100]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

If that were true he would've shot better than 43% from the field in college. Zion shot 68%. Why couldn't Jaylen when his athleticism supposedly let him get by defenders all night?

You’re going to struggle to be taken seriously when you compare a 285 pound Power Forward that played predominantly in the paint to a 225 pound shooting guard/small forward that played predominantly on the perimeter when comparing their FG%.
Add to the fact Zion was arguably the most touted prospect since Lebron & the comparison you’ve made between the two to try prove a point is laughable.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[BK_2020]

Jaylen probably didn't need to go left a lot before coming to the NBA. Just with athleticism, he could get by most defenders going right.

He still can.

If that were true he would've shot better than 43% from the field in college. Zion shot 68%. Why couldn't Jaylen when his athleticism supposedly let him get by defenders all night?

You’re going to struggle to be taken seriously when you compare a 285 pound Power Forward that played predominantly in the paint to a 225 pound shooting guard/small forward that played predominantly on the perimeter when comparing their FG%.
Add to the fact Zion was arguably the most touted prospect since Lebron & the comparison you’ve made between the two to try prove a point is laughable.

What's laughable is claiming Jaylen 43% Brown could get by defenders with his athleticism lmao.
Maybe back in high school against AAU competition? But he was clearly not capable of doing that as soon as he hit college.

[BK_2020]

JB’s highlights are actually filled with quite a few really nice dribble moves. His lowlights are also filled with many turnovers from a live dribble. I don’t know if it’s as much his dribbling ability as it is his decision making with the dribble and tunnel vision on dribble drives too. That’s not to say he’s Kyrie with the dribble out there, but I don’t think it’s as simple as “he can’t dribble” either.

Come on. You can't be serious. His dribbling ability is pretty bad. He can't dribble.

So it’s as simple as he can’t dribble? Nothing more, nothing less?

You may not like it but that's a higher level analysis than drawing conclusions from his highlight reels.

[shackles10]

Come on. You can't be serious. His dribbling ability is pretty bad. He can't dribble.

So it’s as simple as he can’t dribble? Nothing more, nothing less?

You may not like it but that's a higher level analysis than drawing conclusions from his highlight reels.

Thank you for enlightening me lol. My point was he's capable of some high end dribble moves and maybe there's a higher level analysis than "he can't dribble" as well.

BTW obviously I watch more than highlight reels and the point of even mentioning them is the moves were good enough to make such a reel... not that all conclusions should be made from them.

[Floody100]

If that were true he would've shot better than 43% from the field in college. Zion shot 68%. Why couldn't Jaylen when his athleticism supposedly let him get by defenders all night?

You’re going to struggle to be taken seriously when you compare a 285 pound Power Forward that played predominantly in the paint to a 225 pound shooting guard/small forward that played predominantly on the perimeter when comparing their FG%.
Add to the fact Zion was arguably the most touted prospect since Lebron & the comparison you’ve made between the two to try prove a point is laughable.

What's laughable is claiming Jaylen 43% Brown could get by defenders with his athleticism lmao.
Maybe back in high school against AAU competition? But he was clearly not capable of doing that as soon as he hit college.

You obviously haven’t watched a college game. The 3 point line is shorter in length & the game is a lot more similar to how the NBA was played back before the 3 pointer became so prevalent.
It becomes very hard to just drive by defenders when most of the defenders are sitting right next to the paint.

[ryan in Maine]

If that were true he would've shot better than 43% from the field in college. Zion shot 68%. Why couldn't Jaylen when his athleticism supposedly let him get by defenders all night?

You’re going to struggle to be taken seriously when you compare a 285 pound Power Forward that played predominantly in the paint to a 225 pound shooting guard/small forward that played predominantly on the perimeter when comparing their FG%.
Add to the fact Zion was arguably the most touted prospect since Lebron & the comparison you’ve made between the two to try prove a point is laughable.

What's laughable is claiming Jaylen 43% Brown could get by defenders with his athleticism lmao.
Maybe back in high school against AAU competition? But he was clearly not capable of doing that as soon as he hit college.

This is literal gaslighting. I've seen JB blow by defenders countless times. What the actual **** are you doing, dude?

[zoyathedestroya]

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Sure. But can he drift left??