Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown must improve offensively
While Kristaps Porzingis makes the Celtics better, they will struggle to win a championship unless their pair of young wings, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, take a step forward and improve, especially on the offensive end of the floor.
Tatum has developed into one of the best wings in the NBA, and now he is a fantastic scorer and an elite wing defender. Last season, he was incredible, averaging 30 points, nine rebounds, and five assists per game on 60.7% true shooting as he finished top five in MVP voting.
It was probably the best season of his career, but he still has room to improve before he truly becomes one of the best players in the league. For starters, he needs to improve his shotmaking from all three areas of the floor. He generates a ton of shots at the rim and from behind the arc, but his shooting percentages could be better.
He also needs to reach another level as a passer. He is a good ball handler who displays incredible flashes as a passer. However, he is inconsistent in this area, and his passing numbers are not what you would expect from a superstar. For Tatum to reach a point where he can be the best player on a championship team, he needs to grow as a playmaker.
Jaylen Brown, who just signed a massive five-year supermax extension worth up to $303.7 million, is somewhat similar to Jayson Tatum in many ways. That doesn’t mean he is as good as Tatum, but the two players have similar strengths.
Over the last three seasons, Brown has become a strong three-level scorer as well as a good three-point shooter. He has also become a really good on-ball defender, and this gives him a valuable skill set. However, like Tatum, he has his flaws, but his shortcomings are a lot more serious.
His biggest weaknesses by far are his ball-handling and passing. Brown’s inability to dribble with his left hand has become a meme at this point, and this issue shows up pretty often in the playoffs.
When opposing teams can gameplan during a seven-game series, they can force Brown to go to his left, and when he does, he has a tendency to lose the ball because he struggles to control his dribble when using his left hand. This is a serious problem because it limits his effectiveness as an on-ball creator.
While this problem is significant, Brown’s underwhelming passing ability is probably even more damaging. He has enough scoring gravity to create shots for his teammates without being a great passer, but he isn’t a high-volume passer, and he turns the ball over a lot, considering he doesn’t rack up assists at a high rate.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are awesome, and it would be unfair to act like they aren’t strong two-way wings. However, they aren’t quite elite offensive players, and their weaknesses as on-ball creators make it hard for them to be the best players on championship-winning teams. They have a strong foundation to reach that point eventually, but they have to grow as passers and ball handlers before we can expect them to lead the Celtics to a championship.
Now that we’ve talked about the Kristaps Porzingis trade and how Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown need to improve, let’s discuss what we should expect from the Celtics this upcoming season.