"At This Point, We’re Part Of Each Other’s Destiny" - Jaylen Brown Opened Up About Everything From His Relationship With Jayson Tatum To Still Being Haunted By The Finals Loss
Yup, you can go ahead and inject that video directly into my veins.
With so much "drama" surrounding Jaylen Brown after a couple of articles came out (while the Celts were losing) and then with Perk doing Perk things and saying stuff like this
it is refreshing to hear Jaylen open up for 10 minutes and actually speak for himself. I dunno, while none of us have any idea how Jaylen truly feels/thinks, did that sound like a player looking to leave his current team? I suppose it depends on how you already felt about the situation. Those who think he wants to leave will always think that no matter what he says, and those who don't will feel the same. All we can do is wait.
Putting that aside, there were a few things that stood out to me after watching this a few times over.
It's no surprise hearing Jaylen talk about his relationship with Smart. While they may have butted heads in the past, one look at their on court chemistry tells you all you need to know. Not only do they campaign for each other off the floor, but they practically share a brain while on the floor. How many times have we seen those two perfectly execute that backdoor cut play in transition? You get stuff like that through years of playing together, going through the ups and downs together, learning how to get the best out of one another. The Anti-Smart weirdos out there always seem to ignore this pretty important aspect of Smart's role on this team.
The two best players LOVE him and love playing with him. That's all that matters at the end of the day.
It was also hard to ignore the Tatum section. How many times have we heard "I'm not sure Jaylen and Tatum have the best relationship!" from sports talk radio. In fact, it literally just happened like a week ago
Well…was this good enough for people? How many times have we heard
"Jaylen is jealous of Tatum"
"Jaylen doesn't want to be a 2nd option, he wants to run his own team"
From people who have absolutely no idea how Jaylen thinks? Did that sound like a guy who doesn't like being in Tatum's "shadow"? Sure didn't to me, and unless you're calling Jaylen Brown a liar, I'm not sure how you could still have that take. Despite all the countless times that both have said there are no issues between them and they bring the best out of each other, people still try and make this a thing
And finally, probably my most favorite part of the whole thing.
The NBA Finals loss still haunts Jaylen and the team.
Guess who can relate to that? Me. You. Any Celtics fan out there. I too wake up every day haunted by what happened in June. All these months later I've still never watched a single highlight from Game 4. Is that sad? Most definitely, especially since I can do nothing about it this time around.
But you know who can? Jaylen Brown. So with a week to go until the playoffs, it's fantastic news to hear that coming up short still fuels him. That he's obsessed with it even all these months later. While winning a title is certainly no guarantee, and it will take playing at a very high level on a consistent basis just to get to the Finals, I love the mentality. Jaylen sounds like a guy who is ready and prepared for the physical and mental challenge of trying to get back, and this time reaching the top of the mountain.
Will a video like this go as viral as the articles a few weeks ago? Will it be the lead topic on ESPN and every sports talk radio show? Of course not. Why? Because it kind of kills those narratives we heard in mid March. That's fine in my eyes though. Who gives a shit about that.
What matters is what the Celtics accomplish from here on out. All the drama, all the speculation about his future, none of that matters at the moment. Stay healthy, play smart, and win the whole fucking thing and the rest of things will take care of themselves.
Love and Trust
P.S.
It was also pretty clear that Jaylen got the hint about the #JaylenBrownIsAForward campaign for All NBA. That's a guy who gets it.