Jaylen Brown has elevated his play in a big way of late.
In fact, it's started to cause rumblings among Celtics fans that he deserves to reclaim his spot in the starting lineup, given to Marcus Morris in November after Brad Stevens decided the team should move away from its original starting five of Irving/Brown/Hayward/Tatum/Horford.
That change has yet to come, but it doesn't stop the speculation. Brown appeared on ESPN's "The Jump" on Friday, and when asked about his thoughts on potentially rejoining the starting five, he stressed that he values team success above all.
"It doesn't matter to me as long as we keep winning," said Brown. "I'm just going to keep doing the best I can to be the best version of myself and help this team win."
It's been quite a journey for Brown, who's gone from starting against LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals to being the first man off the bench in less than a year. Brown said that it's been a more rewarding process than he thought it would be.
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"It's a lot. It's a lot, I'm not going to lie to you. Mentally, physically, everything," said Brown when asked about the adjustments he had to make this season. "But a part of this business we're in is being mature and handling it the right way, be a professional... I've taken it and I've learned, and actually it's made me a lot better as a basketball player and a person than I expected."
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When a young player goes through something like Brown has, they naturally reach out to veteran teammates to help deal with the situation. Brown said that he often asks Al Horford when he finds himself in need of advice.
"I feel Al's been in the league for a significant amount of time, he's been an All-Star, he's been on great teams... Al's one of those guys that everybody leans on because of his demeanor, the way he carries himself, he's just a high-character dude. You'll never hear me say anything bad about Al because he's such a great guy," said Brown.
The Celtics will be leaning on Brown as they ramp up their play leading up to the playoffs, either in a bench or starting role. He'll try to continue his strong play as Boston continues its California road trip on Saturday against LeBron and the Lakers.
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