Jaylen Brown wishes LeBron James had stayed in East

LAS VEGAS -- Jaylen Brown has never hidden from challenges. The athletic wing talked about his desire to face off with LeBron James as a 19-year-old rookie and came within minutes of knocking him off in the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

The departure of James to the Los Angeles Lakers opens the door a bit wider for the Celtics to make their way to the NBA Finals next season, now that LeBron’s eight straight NBA Finals appearances from the East will come to an end. Still, if Brown has his way, the Celtics would have to fight through James next season to take that next step.

“To be honest, I wanted him to stay,” Brown said Thursday. “I was kind of mad, I wanted to be the team to go through him. I feel like we could have had it last year, but we fell a little bit short. But I applaud someone doing what’s best for him. He did what’s best for him in that situation. I wanted him to stay in the East. I don’t like when people say, 'Now that LeBron’s gone, y’all are the favorite.' That irks me. A lot of us, we feel the same, because we feel that whether he was there or wasn’t there, we were coming out.”

The confidence from Brown is quite understandable. The team is on pace to have a fully healthy core for the first time since opening night last season, a group that Austin Ainge believes could be the deepest in the NBA. Brown didn’t want to put a direct label on expectations just yet, but it sounds like he’s aiming quite high.

“It’s tough, it’s hard when you put expectations on things,” Brown explained. “We just want to be the best team we can be as possible. Like, right now, that’s what we’re thinking. We want to just continue to get better. We don’t know what the final roster is until later in the summer, so right now we’re just trying to be the best version of ourselves and bring that to the table. We’ve got a lot of great talent on this team with a great coach, so we’re thinking we’re trying to raise a banner. But we’ve gotta take make sure that we take care of ourselves, eat healthy and start for the long haul. We’ve gotta start thinking now rather than start thinking later.”

Brown has spent several days in Vegas over the past week, working out with Brad Stevens for individual workouts and also hosting an event for NBA players to promote networking and build relationships.

“At first my thought was I’m a young guy, not a lot to do in Vegas so just put together an event and also bring together some people that could also maybe possibly help you in the long run,” Brown said of his event. “That was my thought process going into it last year. The NBA actually did the same event at Top Golf. It was a little similar. I’m not tripping, but just send me the check. This year was kind of the same thing, just built on it. Have a different experience. A lot more people showed from last year this year and everybody from the Celtics family was invited and people said they had a good turnout and a good time.”

Marcus Smart was one of the attendees at Brown’s event as he has spent the past week in Las Vegas trying to find an appealing deal as a restricted free agent in a tight market. Like the rest of the Celtics brain trust recently, Brown voiced his hope that Smart will remain in green for next season and beyond.

“Marcus, what he brings to the table is second-to-none,” Brown said. “The analytics, all of that, throw that away. What Marcus adds to a team and a franchise, everybody knows. I think Danny knows that. And I feel like something will come and the best situation will happen for both parties. But I would love to play this next year with Marcus Smart, and I feel like everybody feels the same way.”

The odds remain in favor of a resolution between the two sides and that leaves Brown optimistic about a happy resolution.

“When it gets into the politics and the money and the business of it I can’t do nothing but respect and understand it because at the end of the day that’s what it is,” he said. “So you can’t really get too emotional about it. It’s a business. A lot of guys get caught up because they get their heart stuck in the mix of it, but at the end of the day, it’s business. So I would love to have Marcus on the team. He makes my job so much easier, defensively, what he does -- so we need him. But we’ll figure it out.”

A few other notable remarks from Brown’s availability

On the player’s association meeting in Vegas: “It was fantastic, We talked about a lot of important things, a lot of discussions. We talked about the one-and-done situation. We talked about BRI, we talked about a lot of stuff. The PA, the union, the NBA is moving in a great direction, from where it’s come from to where it is now is night and say, so we just want to keep it moving in the right direction. So that’s what the meetings we talked about. I talked to CPIII a lot, about the history and some of the stories he’s had throughout the years he’s been player/president and it was enlightening for me hearing those different stories. It makes you wish you were there to hear them yourself.”

On one-and-done potential rule change: “It’s interesting, what’s the opposition to it, right? That so now, the NBA is making it so you can come out high school. I think if you can serve in the military at 18, you should be able to play in the NBA. That would be my argument.”

On Robert Williams: “A little bit, just breaking the ice, getting to know the kid. I didn’t know him prior to him getting drafted. So that’s it. Nothing much really, just watching him workout, and I was working out right after him. Seems like a great kid. We’re going to build a relationship throughout the time that we play together, and hopefully, we can raise a banner.”