Jaylen Brown makes All-Rookie 2nd team, Bradley screwed out of All Defense

Toronto Raptors v Boston Celtics

Jaylen Brown had a nice year for Boston, culminating today in a 2nd team All-Rookie selection.

Jaylen’s per-game numbers weren’t particularly gaudy, but his impact on this team and future potential are pretty clear. He has the tools to make people wonder in the future how the hell he only made the second team here.

As far as that goes, Dario Saric and Malcom Brogdon are legit first-teamers (I think Saric gets Rookie of the Year). Joel Embiid makes the first team despite playing just 31 games simply because he was a beast for most of those games.

Buddy Hield and Willy Hernangomez did fine, though Hield’s biggest accomplishment this season was being enough of an obsession for Sacramento that they found the DeMarcus Cousins trade palatable. The raw numbers support Hield and Hernangomez ahead of Brown, though a look at the Per 36 and Per 100 possession numbers show Brown comparing very favorably to both. His true shooting percentage is right there with Hield’s, which is not something we might have expected at this time last year. Hield’s reputation as a shooter held up with him cashing in 39% of his 3’s last year, but Brown’s 34% was a nice surprise for a kid whose jumper was considered his biggest weakness.

We can argue that Brown has earned more playing time, and his numbers in 20 games as a starter (in which he played 10 more minutes per game) show he was more efficient with more time. His true shooting was five points better as a starter and he hit 40% from 3 in that role.

This all bodes quite well for the future. If he can make the normal, expected progression, we can easily project pretty big things from this kid.

Meanwhile…

Since this goes by position, Bradley’s 46 points doesn’t make it, but Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 35 does. All those other guys are fine defenders, but I’m happily putting Bradley out there over any of them when I need a stop.

What I really want to know is… who the hell voted for Isaiah Thomas??

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