The 15

By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:

Welp. This isn’t the first time I’ve eaten crow. Turns out Brad Stevens didn’t think as highly of Jaylen Brown as I do. Nor did Stevens seem to even want him on the team, regardless of the underwhelming potential returns.

I won’t turn on Jaylen now that he’s no longer on my team. I won’t suddenly become an on/off metrics guy when I rarely write about those numbers. It’s not that I don’t believe they’re valid—they are. But in Jaylen’s case, I spent years shrugging them off as they came back increasingly dire. The regular-season wins kept pouring in. They built a team with him as the second-best player that went to the Finals twice and won a title. Sure, JB put us in some bad situations in the past, but he also got us out of them.

The night he was drafted to a chorus of boos, Brown said in his first interview as a Celtic that he’d go to war for this city. He did. And he won that war.

In the end, Brown still wished to return to the Celtics and was traded anyway. I’m sure Stevens loves Jaylen on a personal level. But professionally? I bet he fucking hated him. The reasons were probably his late-game decision-making, dribbling when pressured, and of course the aforementioned on/off numbers that found him repulsive despite a career year.

Brown’s fate was sealed the moment he inked that $285 million contract in the summer of 2023, making him the richest player in NBA history at the time. From that point on, he became a negative asset. It didn’t matter what he did—and he did a lot in the ensuing three seasons—the money was simply too much. 

The Celtics saw no path to contention if their top two players were making over $50 million a year. There was even a chance to snag Giannis. If Brown had the value I’ve been saying he did, the Bucks wouldn’t have taken Tyler Herro over him. There are plenty of other reasons that trade didn’t happen, but this is where we are now. The 2024 Finals MVP was moved to Philadelphia for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks.

Obviously, I don’t know what Stevens was actually thinking. But that doesn’t mean I can’t pretend to!

My gut reaction is that Stevens thought George > Jaylen. Even though Jaylen was the younger, healthier, and more proven player, that doesn’t change the fact that the 36-year-old George sent the MVP candidate home in this past playoff series.

Brown is the superior wing in basic counting stats. But George’s on/off numbers destroy Brown’s (negative 4.4 for Brown vs. George’s positive 4.9). Perhaps the idea of getting George into the same system that may have propped up Jaylen—combined with George being a better defender, a smoother offensive fit, and the added draft capital—really enticed Stevens.

I honestly thought that when this moment arrived, I’d be able to write more. But the anticipation proved more impactful than the conclusion. Boston is betting that their depth and star power can improve with George in uniform. They’re also betting on the Los Angeles Clippers being bad in 2028 and the 76ers in 2031—or that those picks become valuable assets they can flip for a star in the near future.

Ultimately, their cap situation remains largely unchanged. What Boston gains is flexibility: eight first-round picks and seven second-rounders. Is this the final roster? We’ll see.

The Jays era is over. What a glorious era it was. They brought Banner 18 home. Now it’s up to Stevens to equip the remaining Jay with the help needed to chase number 19.

There’s a lot of work to be done. I won’t get your hopes up. But I also won’t tell you to despair.

Vinny Jace is a special contributor to The15net.com. He does not live in a baby New York.