It’s easy to forget, after Jaylen Brown shot nearly 40 percent from 3-point range last season, just how much of a question mark his jump shot was coming out of Cal in the summer of 2016.
The 6-foot-7 shooting guard knocked down only 29 percent of his attempts beyond the arc during his freshman season at the collegiate level, a troublesome number that led many to wonder just how well his jump shot would translate to the NBA.
Danny Ainge and his staff saw past those numbers when they drafted him at No. 3 overall. They blamed a poor Cal offense that lacked spacing as the main reason for his struggles and also saw an athlete that managed to get to the paint at will with his first step. Even if Brown’s shot didn’t pan out, the belief was there that swingman would be able to make an impact on the offensive end by attacking the rim at the next level, which helped him average nearly seven free throw attempts per game as a freshman. This ability alone enabled him to become a lottery prospect in spite of his ugly shooting numbers.
After surpassing expectations with his 3-point shot (36 percent) for his first seasons in Green, Brown is looking a lot like the guard most scouts expected him to be at the next level with his perimeter jumper looming as a question mark. His 3-point shot has betrayed him this year, with another 0-for-2 night on Thursday lowering his season average to 24.7 percent, making him one of the worst high volume shooters in the NBA.
However, those struggles were an afterthought against the Knicks when Brown scored a season-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field as he returned from a four-game absence. He set the tone immediately in his first appearance off the Boston bench of the year, attacking the rim on his first three touches on his way to a season-high five makes at the rim and nine free-throw attempts (drawn at the rim). He shot jumpers when he was open but otherwise had his sights on the paint on nearly every possession, a mentality which helped fueled a 128-100 blowout of the Knicks.
“I thought he was really good. I thought he played with great pace and purpose and made really good decisions,” Brad Stevens said. “I didn’t think anything was forced, which sometimes, when you come off the bench, that’s one of the things you try to catch up to the game quickly.”
"Basketball is basketball, whether it’s coming off the bench or walking out of the stands,” said Brown of his new role with the second unit. "It’s all basketball. Just come out and play.”
While the common narrative after Thursday’s win will be that this is the new-and-improved Brown after some time off, it’s an inaccurate one.
Brown has adjusted his game to focus on his driving ability for a few games now and it’s helping to get his season back on track (13.9 ppg on 61 percent shooting over his last five contests).
The problems with Brown’s game were prevalent in the early stages of the season as the C’s offense sputtered. He wasn’t just taking too many 3s, he was also attacking the rim far less than usual and struggled to make those same shots down low. In the month of October, he took just 33 percent of his 11 shots per game at the rim and knocked down a paltry 44 percent of them, over 20 percentage points below his season average in 2017-18.
Those ugly numbers continued for much of November but Brown began playing like a changed man after going 1-of-9 from the field in a brutal home loss to the Jazz on November 17th. Since then, Brown’s shot selection and execution (over five games) has been turned on its head.
Over that stretch, the 22-year-old has reduced his shot attempts per game (8.4), is taking 54 percent of his shots at the rim (20 percent increase) and is making 82(!) percent of his shot attempts within the restricted area. That’s nearly double his percentage from the month of October, which has helped fuel a Boston offense that looked like the best in the East on Thursday night.
"I just think that’s when he’s at his best, when he’s able to just read the floor, attack the right way,” said Al Horford. "There’s not a lot of guys that can stay in front of him, so it’s good when he’s playing like that.”
In addition to getting to the rim more, Brown is simply cutting out a large percentage of jumpers from his reduced shot volume. He’s taken just 2.2 per game over the last five contests, which is roughly half of his season average (3.9). He remains marred in a 1-of-11 slump from downtown over that span but it hasn’t kept him from shooting 61 percent from the field overall during that period thanks to plays like this:
How Jaylen Brown How? pic.twitter.com/1bpDTba9Yf
— The Traveling Hooper (@travelinghooper) December 7, 2018
Two more for JB! pic.twitter.com/JtH5r2xV5n
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 7, 2018