The Celtics have lost two games in a row. As the team leader in the new season, should Brown be traded by the team?

After the new regular season started, the league turned into a scoring battle. In the first two games of the game, Doncic scored 43 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists in the opening game. He scored 49 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists against the Timberwolves. He scored 92 points in the first two games, breaking the 56-year Lakers record held by Jerry West! Bunyama did not give in too much. He scored 40 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks against the Mavericks, and scored 29 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks against the Pelicans. He has just turned 21 years old and has slowly led the Spurs to rise. There is also Alexander, who won a personal honors Grand Slam last season. He scored 35 points against the Rockets and 55 points against the Pacers. The biggest controversy about him is that he took 40 free throws in the first two games. This is unprecedented.

What determines the upper limit of a team must be the strength of the core. Compared with the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference is actually not very attractive in the new season. However, in the first few days of the season, only the Bucks and Knicks have taken the lead in winning two consecutive games. And at the bottom of the Eastern Conference is the Eastern Conference hegemon of the past 10 years: the Celtics! As we all know, the Celtics were blocked from the Eastern Conference Finals by the Knicks last season. Tatum's Achilles tendon was seriously injured, which made the Celtics management determined to rebuild in advance. During the offseason, he sent away Porcelain and Holiday, and also waved goodbye to Horford. They temporarily chose to keep Anfernee Simons, who was traded from the Trail Blazers, with a contract year and a salary of US$27.68 million, but there was no suspense about sending him away before the trade deadline. He will be a substitute after the start of the new season.

Let's start with the Celtics' first two games. In the battle with the 76ers, the Celtics once led by 13 points, but were reversed by the 76ers, allowing the 76ers' backcourt double stars Maxey (40 points) and third overall pick Edgcomb (34 points) to both explode. In a battle with the Knicks, the favorites in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics were even more embarrassed: they were still leading in the first quarter, but were instantly defeated in the second quarter, trailing the Knicks by 24 points at one point. The Knicks spent the entire second half chasing points and couldn't catch up. The Knicks also let the substitutes practice easily early. After Tatum fell, the team's original second-in-command, Jaylen Brown, successfully took over. As early as the media day, Jaylen Brown said that although the outside world underestimates us, our ceiling is still very high, and we are entering a new era!

In these two games, Jaylen Brown averaged 24 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, as well as a career-high 4.5 turnovers. His two shooting percentages of 50% + 45% are indeed much higher than in his previous career. But what's puzzling is that Brown's On-Off value in these two games was -9.2! When he is on the court, the team loses by 9.1 points per 100 possessions; when he is not on the court, the team wins by 0.1 points per 100 possessions! The biggest difference here is Jaylen Brown's defensive plus-minus: -24.5 (defensive efficiency on the court is 122.5, team defensive efficiency off the court is 98). Last summer, Jaylen Brown was elected as the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, becoming the first conference finals MVP in NBA history who was not selected for the All-NBA Team. He also beat Tatum to win the Finals MVP. In the new season, Brown ranked 19th on the ESPN Top 100 Players list.

is even higher than Kawhi (20th) and Harden (23rd). In Jaylen Brown's own words, I never made the All-Defensive team, and that's the only thing that bothers me. But with this high-level efficiency, can Brown make the best defensive team? Taking a step back, can he lead the Celtics out of their tail-end situation? In the summer of 2023, Brown and the Celtics reached a five-year maximum super maximum salary of 304 million. There are 4 years left in this contract. Starting from the new season, the salaries are: 53.14 million + 57.08 million + 61.02 million + 64.95 million, totaling 240 million. But Brown has been a typical representative of high salary and low energy from beginning to end, similar to Paul George. Just to give an example, the Celtics won 61 games last season, and Brown's personal win contribution was +6.1!

One tenth! But from within the team, he is still not on the same level as Tatum, Pritchard, Derrick White, the injury-plagued Porcelain and the aging Holiday! But during the offseason, both of them were sent away, and the Celtics' total salary for the new season is still above the luxury tax line! Tatum recovered faster than expected. From a personal perspective, he hopes to return at the end of the season. However, in the words of the Boston media, the team hopes to let Tatum rest more. If the condition for his non-return is met, there is "no need to come back", which is equivalent to withdrawing from the competition early. On the one hand, Brown does not match the level of his salary contribution to the team. On the other hand, as long as the Celtics have both top picks, the salary pressure is very high.

After all, Tatum’s 5-year super maximum salary of 315 million has just been implemented! Derrick White is not for sale, and Hauser, Pritchard and others are very cost-effective. It seems that only Jaylen Brown is left. During the offseason, some US media analyzed that if the Celtics choose to cash out at a high level, Brown is still worth at least 4 first-round picks + 2 immediate combat capabilities. When Tatum is away in the new season, it may be Brown's best opportunity to improve his statistics. But if the Celtics continue to play at this level, Brown will be the one to leave next summer! FMVP is not the best player on the team, which is unreasonable in itself. There is no need for Tatum to force his comeback. No matter what the result is when Brown leads the team, the Celtics can send him away.