29. Jaylen Brown
The Boston Celtics having five players in the top 30 of this list says all you need to know about how things have been going for them lately.
There are some out there who would maintain Jaylen Brown is actually more valuable to this team than Jason Tatum, and they might be right. While Tatum’s shooting and overall offensive repertoire are certainly worthy of inducing the wet dreams of every Celtics fan, what Brown brings to the table might be rarer and more valuable to the roster Danny Ainge is building.
The No. 3 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft profiles as a future Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Remember our statistic about the 49 forwards who defended at least 10 shots per game, and Josh Richardson being second in terms of opponents’ shooting percentage differential with a -6.0? Well Brown defends 9.6 shots per game and his differential is -6.5.
Oh, he’s also someone who can get you an efficient 20 points a night, albeit as a secondary option and not someone who’s going to juice an offense. On a roster with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, that’s just fine.
It begs the question: If the Pelicans do an about-face in the next 12 months and make Anthony Davis available via trade, which swingman would Ainge feel most comfortable giving up? Or put another way, when New Orleans asks for Tatum, is Trader Danny going to put up a fight?
Looking at the Celtics on/off numbers, Brown has a +8.1 net rating – tied with Al Horford for the team lead amongst regulars – while Tatum is at plus +6.0. With Tatum off the court, the Celtics are outscoring opponents by 1.8 points per 100 possessions, which would still make them a top-eight team in the league.
When Brown sits however, their net rating drops just below zero, which is true of only two other Celtics: Kyrie Irving and Al Horford.
In other words, Jaylen Brown isn’t going anywhere for a while.