Jaylen Brown, California
Age: 20 years old Size: 6’7, 225 pounds
Last Season’s Stats: 14.6 points; 5.4 rebounds; 2.0 assists per game
Shooting Percentages: 43.1% from the field; 29.4% from three-point; 65.4% from the free throw line
Jaylen Brown is your typical “insane-upside, big-question-mark” prospect. He has a sure-fire NBA body and athletic ability. Defensively he is already a plus on whatever team drafts him. He is still only 20 years old and carries with him a California-Berkley level of intelligence off the basketball court.
He somehow averaged 14.6 point per game without any semblance of a jump shot. Brown shot 29.4 percent from the three-point line and struggled offensively outside of straight line drives to the hoop and transition opportunities. He does not have NBA-ready handles quite yet, which has led to trouble creating for himself, as well as others.
The issue isn’t the talent or ceiling with Brown. He has every ounce of ability a team could ever want in a prospect, but that has been his biggest downfall: It’s all been too easy. If he is going to reach his ceiling, than it is going to take time, as well as endless hours in the gym cleaning up basically every aspect of his game.
If he can fine-tune and buff out his game, he could be a defensive stopper on the perimeter who will tear teams to pieces in transition and stretch out to the three point line. He could potentially guard 1-4, and with an added jump shot, the lane would be his for the taking. That is a lot of ifs but I am not sure if taking him between three and five is worth the risk.
If he is available at the seventh slot when the Nuggets most likely pick, I am hoping they find a trade partner that wants him. He fits decently in the long term, but I personally would not want to put two non-shooters together in Emmanuel Mudiay and Jaylen Brown.
