Evolution is fascinating.
Given enough time, like a couple hundred million years or so, Jurassic theropods can become bald eagles. Millennia of genetic trial and error allows for good, useful traits to stick around, and bad ones to eventually be shed.
The process has to move a little more quickly for a basketball player.
But that doesn’t mean the same things aren’t happening, and that Jaylen Brown isn’t turning into a deadly basketball predator in his own right.
His rookie season might as well have been a million years ago. Back then, the flat-topped Brown would get lost on the floor and benched for long stretches. He had 15 games of playing less than 10 minutes and 32 playing 15 or less. In his first-ever playoff series, Brown played less than 30 total minutes over six games, including one DNP-CD.
Now, though, Brown has evolved into the most complete version of himself.
“It’s not being defined by one thing and saying, ‘Hey if we want to win this, we have to do this,’” Joe Mazzulla explained after Boston’s win over Milwaukee. “When our guys are not just defined by one thing and we understand that in order to win, we have to play well-connected basketball, it starts with intensity and physicality, Jaylen has done a great job of that.”
Yes, the failures of the past are driving him, serving as inspiration to avoid repeated mistakes. But that's part of a bigger picture for Brown. It’s a process that is taking what he does on the court and turning it into who he is as a player; an evolution from conscious and voluntary acts to subconscious, involuntary reactions.
So when Jrue Holiday was ruled out, there wasn’t a question, as Jayson Tatum said. “We all knew JB was going to guard (Damian Lillard).” And despite Lillard doing typically Lillard things, Brown relished the opportunity to make it very difficult.
“It’s fun. It’s like a game of chess. A guy has it going, and they want to be aggressive, they're going to him every possession,” Brown said. “(I have to) pick him up, be aggressive, sometimes you gotta be back. It’s good. It’s good information. And credit to Dame, he still came out and had a good showing. We guarded him, covered him pretty well. Caused some turnovers, but they played well tonight.”
Brown did that while carrying the team offensively for stretches. And then after the game, when they had a chance to breathe and reflect on what had just happened, Brown had no issue taking his team to task for getting away from being their normal selves late in games.
“My thought process is like in the fourth quarter the game slows down, but it doesn’t have to,” he said. “Just because a game is in the fourth quarter doesn’t mean we have to play slower. We just need to take care of the basketball. But we can still play with pace.”
Maybe making a few All-Star teams, an All-NBA team, and getting a massive new contract is leading to some validation and confidence. Maybe his mistakes have taught him the difference between right and wrong on the court. Most likely, the combination of all of it is rewiring him in real time, and we’re seeing the results.
This goes beyond a guy breaking bad habits. Brown has evolved past that. And because this is who he is now, he can take the floor with the type of confidence that can inspire everyone.
“It’s like powerful, what that does for our team, how much better it makes us seeing him take the challenge of guarding the best guard on the other team, picking him up full court, chasing him around all night,” Tatum said. “It has an impact on the rest of the team and really gives everybody else no excuses, right if he can do that all night while still trying to be effective on the offensive end. It is nothing short of special.”