The conventional wisdom going into the 2016 Draft was that if you didn’t have a top-two pick, you weren’t going to get much. Well, Boston was picking third (via the Nets), and Celtics fans were a) not happy, and b) not sure who to draft, with names like Dunn, Hield, Chriss, Murray and Bender all receiving support.
Still, it was surprising – shocking, even – that fans attending the draft party at the Garden were booing when Jaylen Brown’s name was announced.
Fast forward to today, when this interesting info came through on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/o_myilmaz/status/836945602789445633
Wait, we were told Ingram was a sure thing. Yes, he’s young, and he should improve with experience. But having your shooting percentages fall within Ben Wallace range is not a good look. Not at all.
Meanwhile, Jaylen has been contributing on a winning team and getting noticeably better every night. So, take a look at a head-to-head comparison of Brown and Ingram, generated on basketball-reference.com. Jaylen’s stats are generally better, especially in the Per 100 Possessions stats, which include his advantage in both offensive and defensive rating.
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The Celtics should still be pleased with their choice at No. 3. Since Bradley suffered a setback to his strained Achilles on Jan. 16, Brown — thrust into the starting lineup for 12 games — has averaged 14.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per 36 minutes while shooting 45.0 percent from the field, including 37.8 percent from behind the arc. During that span, he has shown flashes of the dynamic scorer he might become, earning free throw attempts at a better rate than any other Boston player with the exception of Isaiah Thomas. With Brown filling in as a starter over the last month, the Celtics went 10-2.
Random stat: Jaylen Brown has not committed a turnover in the post this season, according to NBA dot com. Scores 1.14 PPP down there, too.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 1, 2017
And Jaylen has had some memorable highlights just in the past two games.
Jaylen Brown gets up and throws it down! https://t.co/PUbZ7ktXrw
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 28, 2017
Jaylen Brown knocks down the corner trey AND gets the foul! https://t.co/zfd4Bdaag3
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 27, 2017
I know what Lakers fans will say. It’s less than one season; small sample sizes; stats can be shaped to make a point; Ingram has had highlights, too; etc. etc. And those things are true.
Nevertheless, it says here that, at this point, Jaylen Brown appears to be the better of the two draft choices. And since top pick Ben Simmons has yet to play a minute due to injury, the bottom line is, so far, the No. 3 pick has been delivering more value than Nos. 1 and 2 – even though it was only a “two-player draft.”
The Celtics play at LA this Friday night. Let’s hope Brown and Ingram are matched up head-to-head.
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