30 NBA Stories: Jaylen Brown, the talented scholar

jaylen brown, the gifted scholar

When Brown walked into the chess club, the rest of the class stared at him as if he had gone to the wrong room. Brown, instead of being intimidated, walked over to one of the tables and began to play with other Berkeley students. "Chess is a bit like life. All your decisions have to be made thinking about the future and its consequences," says Brown.

He was passionate about chess, just like playing the piano, guitar or learning languages, but he couldn't entertain himself too much. In just two hours he had to be training with his teammates on the California Bears courts and surely no one would expect to find him at the chess club. There were a few months of competition left and then it would be time to leave Cal, heading to the NBA. But for Jaylen Brown, basketball was never the most important thing, but another step in her life plan, a mandatory stop but not one that made her ignore the rest of the stops.

student of life

Jaylen Brown was born on October 24, 1996 in Marietta, a city of about 60,000 inhabitants in northern Georgia. The son of Quenton and Mechalle Brown, now divorced, Jaylen always grew up under the premise that the most important thing in life was education. Her parents wanted Jaylen to question the why of things, beyond accepting them. To do this, they always believed it was important that he prioritize studies above all else. His father, Quenton M. Brown, is a professional boxer, champion in 2015 and 2016 in the heavyweight class of the World Boxing Union. She currently lives in Hawaii but during Jaylen's childhood she was instrumental in helping her balance school with sports. His mother was in charge of making him understand the importance. "Basketball is not who you are, but what you do," he used to remind him after defeats and disappointments on the court.

Jaylen enrolled at Wheeler High School, a Marietta high school where she could play at a high level without giving up her studies. In his senior year, Brown led his team to the Georgia High School Association state championship. In the tournament final, Brown gave Wheeler victory with two decisive free kicks with seven tenths to go. The youngster finished the season averaging 28 points and 13 rebounds and being an indispensable part of his team's 30-3 record over the year.

After finishing high school, Brown was ranked among the top three or four players of his generation in America, behind only Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram and Skal Labissiere. Being a 5-star recruit, he had offers from dozens of university programs and the final decision rested with him. Despite the sports powerhouses showing interest, Jaylen had other plans when it came to choosing her college destination.

Prior to committing to any program, Jaylen Brown received numerous honors in Georgia: Gatorade Georgia Boys Player of the Year, All-USA Georgia Player, and Georgia Mr. Basketball, among others. In addition, he was chosen to participate in the McDonalds All-American Game that is held annually, where he shared a team with Ben Simmons, among others. Finally, on May 1, 2015, Brown announced his commitment to the University of California, Berkeley.

At Cal, Jaylen started to show signs of being a different guy. One of the first to notice was Mohamad Muqtar, director of student services for campus athletes: “This kid is looking for a way. As soon as he arrived, he told me "I can play in the NBA, but I'm looking for something different" and that's why he rejected more ambitious programs to come to Berkeley." For Jaylen, college was much more than basketball. He knew that eventually he would have to put his degree on hold and jump into the NBA, but one day he would return for sure. At Berkeley Jaylen did much more than play basketball. He started taking Spanish classes, with the idea of ​​learning three more languages ​​before he turned 25. The chess club is just another example of a player who always did what no one expected of him. “He is a scholar, as well as a player”, recalls his coach Cuonzo Martin, “on the pitch he has endless potential but off it he also wants to carve out a future”.

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different from the rest

During his tenure at Cal, Brown enrolled in a graduate-level class in the sports in education curriculum, surrounded by students much older than himself. Despite his initial reluctance, everyone remembers that Brown ended up being one of the group and participated frequently. “Sport is actually a control mechanism. If people didn't have sport, they would be much more disappointed with their role in society and there would be much more anger and discontent over situations like hunger or poverty. Sport is a way of channeling our energy towards something positive”, Jaylen Brown declared at the time.

Sportsmanlike, Brown helped lead the Bears to March Madness for the first time in three years and finished the year averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists in 27 minutes of play. He received late-season Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors and was also part of his conference's best team.

Jaylen Brown decided not to return to California after the summer and announced his intention to enter the NBA Draft. Pundits were confident that Brown would be picked around third but there were still plenty of practice sessions and interviews with the teams to go. The decision to enter the Draft without hiring an agent was one of the most controversial. An anonymous league GM stated that Jaylen was the “type of 19-year-old going into the Draft without an agent, a player who might seem 'too smart' to be in the league.”

nba as a speaker

That summer, Brown participated in the Summer League with the Celtics jersey and ended up averaging 16 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, under the watchful eye of Danny Ainge o Brad Stevens. His rookie season wasn't spectacular, but it did show plenty of potential for Brown. League veterans often seek clarification against rookies, trying to expose them. Brown, for his part, kept these players at bay, allowing just 0.9 points per clearance during his first year, the 66th-best mark in the league, after having defended scorers like Klay Thompson or LeBron James.

Brown scored his season-high scorer in January 2017 against Orlando by scoring 20 points off the bench and helped the Celtics clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last season. His performances at PO were up to par, but Boston fell to Cleveland in the conference finals after five games. In his rookie season, Jaylen Brown ended up averaging 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists, numbers that earned him a place on the NBA's second rookie team.

Author's Notes:

Anecdotes about Guthrie Street as well as quotes from Moore are part of the piece in SLAM Magazine.

This article belongs to the series of 30 Players - 30 Weeks - 30 Stories that is published every Monday in Solobasket:

You can also read the series of 18 ACB Stories on Solobasket.