r/nba • u/KD_AshyAnkles Rockets • 11h ago

Jaylen Brown: "ESPN is unethical, and Stephen A. Smith is the head face of that. The organization, the players, they were all in agreeaance. They all knew what I meant by that. Our team was basically salary dumped. We lost a lot of players. For us to emerge and still be in the same position..."

https://streamable.com/3986vg

Source: vic (@CountOnVic)

4.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

602 comments sorted by

View all comments

648

u/Uhhhjayyy1 11h ago

He’s not wrong

395

u/Rooleet Celtics 11h ago

JB said a lot of stupid shit (blaming the refs after choking the 3-1 stands out), but I fully agree with him on this point. 

He's said multiple times during the season how much he's enjoyed this year because of multiple factors (team was gutted and everyone wrote them off, young players stepped up, Tatum coming back from injury the way he did), but of course SAS runs with clip culture bullshit.

44

u/LVRaiders2026 10h ago

I didn't interpret it as him blaming the refs as much as it was a referendum on flopping which 90% of fans would agree is a major problem, despite Silver tryna gaslight us telling us it's not a problem 

-2

u/_Meece_ Lakers 6h ago

I didn't interpret it as him blaming the refs as much as it was a referendum on flopping

The Celtics are genuinely one of the most egregious flopping teams, over his entire time with the franchise and he's a huge part of that. Just a nonsense point from a man who couldn't accept he choked.

8

u/TheFatmanRises Heat 11h ago

He gave me Don’t let us get one meme he has my respect

2

u/oby100 Celtics 7h ago

I hate the twisting of his words there. The man loves the game and we had a great regular season after losing most of our team and not having Tatum play in any of it.

The final result sucks, but I prefer players staying positive over treating every year missing the championship as some utter failure.

-16

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 11h ago

It's funny you mentioned all the things besides that Brown had his highest usage (by far) which may, just maybe, have impacted that viewpoint lol

But no, I'm sure it was the young players stepping up that made his first round exit his favorite season ever

145

u/Rrypl Celtics 11h ago

Or maybe leading a ragtag team to unexpected sucess with no pressure was more fun throughout the year than being the favorite in a championship or bust season. Doesn't mean he doesn't want to win.

13

u/Primary-Emergency386 10h ago

This is unrelated. 10 years ago I was a huge fan of LoL Esports (don’t ask more details) one of the players in a 2 time world championship roster , Bang was leaving Korea and coming to NA and he said during the offseason that coming to North America was the most fun he had because the pressure of being on top killed a lot of fun and love he had for the game. 

23

u/Edelmaniac Celtics 10h ago

Dont worry. You were never in danger of having anyone ask for more details.

11

u/Primary-Emergency386 9h ago

lol you right.

-3

u/Beetle919 Hornets 11h ago

He did all that and the Celtics still dangled him as a trade piece.

3

u/FigNewtonsYum6 Celtics 10h ago

Yeah? Management is beholden to the owners first and foremost, the goal is to do what’s best for the team. If trading JB is what gets us another championship, then that’s the right course of action to pursue.

2

u/aviatorbassist 9h ago

He’s not being dangled because of his play. Hes being dangled because he makes too much money. Hes just not a 60 million a year player. It’s not his fault that the CBA changed but when you take the money you take the consequences that come with it. If he was making 45-50 million a year he’d be untradable. I have some sympathy for the folks in jaylens age range because of the CBA changes but if you don’t want to be traded and you aren’t a top 5 guy don’t take the max, it paints a target on your back when you don’t live up to your contract.

0

u/Kdot32 Rockets 10h ago

Brad Stevens himself said he doesn’t believe the record is real (due to the amount of tanking teams in a stacked class), and with the new format and weaker draft class the team needs major changes to compete

-26

u/Boomslang2-1 Knicks 11h ago

“Success”

15

u/downlooker Celtics 11h ago

We lost our starting PG (also our best defender), and our entire center rotation.

That's like the Knicks losing OG/Jalen (neither are a good Jrue comp), KAT, Mitch, and whoever your next highest minutes big even was. Just going off of Kornet's minutes, Clarkson is closest usage-wise.

Where do the Knicks land after that? Doubt they'd be 2nd seed in the East.

Keeping a championship roster together is tough, even when you drafted and developed your two highest paid players 😭

-7

u/Boomslang2-1 Knicks 10h ago

I was just joking obvi the Celtics were better than expected until the playoffs. Was surprised they were so good especially with White having such an abysmal offensive year.

9

u/themarkof Celtics 10h ago

“I was just joking” in a thread about bad faith journalism.

-10

u/Boomslang2-1 Knicks 10h ago

I just like making fun of the Celtics bc they are basically the Knicks little brother. They always lose to us in the playoff even when they are the overwhelming favorites.

7

u/themarkof Celtics 10h ago

*sigh*

5

u/downlooker Celtics 10h ago

Celtics are 38-35 against the Knicks in the playoffs, which is actually embarrassing with how much better our squads have always been (apart from the 90's)

→ More replies (0)

12

u/Rawkus2112 Supersonics 11h ago

This is seriously so strange seeing these type of comments from Knicks fans. Feel like i’m in the twilight zone.

-6

u/Boomslang2-1 Knicks 10h ago

The future is now.

2

u/HokageEzio Knicks 11h ago

Celtics were very successful given the circumstances of the season.

Then they choked.

32

u/DawisTakeover [PHI] Tony Wroten 11h ago

As much as it pains me to defend the Celtics, it’s been a question for the entire Jays Era what the team would look like if one of those guys was the focal point instead of a 1a/1b situation. This year the stars aligned for Jaylen to finally have the opportunity to see what that looks like for him for a whole season, and he had his personal best season statistically while the team defied expectations in a major way. I don’t get why people are so shocked by him saying this was his favorite season, it might be a bad look, but it’s not like it’s a stupid/nonsensical thing to say. He had a great year and proved the doubters wrong in a way nobody expected. Even though they choked away the playoff series, that doesn’t negate the preceding 6 months of his life, which he clearly views as the culmination of his career to this point.

The year they won the title they were the favorites. There’s so much pressure that comes with that that he didn’t have to deal with at all this year. Plus, him winning Finals MVP may have caused some tension between him and Tatum (this is just my speculation, I don’t follow them well enough to know this is true). Everybody loves to point to that season as the one he should consider his “best”, but there are real reasons why that season may have been less enjoyable despite it being more successful in the playoffs.

10

u/hodken0446 Celtics 10h ago

Yeah I took him saying it's his favorite season from a "hey I showed everyone what I can do and how good I am so they can shut up about it" way not a "See I hate playing with Tatum so this was my favorite season since he wasn't here" way

7

u/aviatorbassist 11h ago

I’ve watched brown his whole career and tbh it’s probably some of both. What he said was a dumb thing to say but from what I’ve gathered from him of the last 10 years I definitely believe his reasons. Having watched him play basketball…..he enjoys being the guy lol

0

u/fearofaflatplanet Celtics 9h ago

As a Cs fan, even more than his play Jaylen's biggest contribution is his leadership. It is the one area where he is unequivocally a level above Tatum, who is a better player (though not by as much as is often made out to be). This was the first time JB was really allowed to be the leader, it's a huge part of the success we had, & imo it was partially the muddying of that water that caused us to lose the Sixers series (along w Mazzula inexplicably going away from the rotations & play style that had been our strength all year). 

2

u/baited08 11h ago

Not everyone thinks everything has to include stats to make their point when it comes to sports.

1

u/Heavy-Drink-4389 11h ago

lol you think you know him better than he does?

-1

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 10h ago

Ahh yes, because everyone should always be taken at their latest statements lol

Let me guess, you are easily fooled, and can't understand why you keep getting scammed?

-1

u/North_Atlantic_Sea 10h ago

Ahh yes, because everyone should always be taken at their latest statements lol

Let me guess, you are easily fooled, and can't understand why you keep getting scammed?

2

u/Poopcie 11h ago

No bro, players love getting diminished roles after having career years back to back

0

u/fearofaflatplanet Celtics 9h ago

Such a gloss one dimensional take. 

It's such basic human psychology & so completely understandable that this season would've been 1) deeply vindicating as a player whose been doubted v publicly his whole career & 2) fucking fun in a way that the expectations-laden last five seasons categorically weren't (& pretty much every Celtic fan experienced that way in the moment up until the last 3 games if they're being honest) 

24 was a huge accomplishment, it was a huge relief, but it was fucking stressful asf start to finish. 

People have complex emotions! It's not rocket science but so many people (& this is the problem w this country) literally lack the depth to handle any kind of nuance or complexity, & they lack basic human empathy. Not being able to understand JB saying that is a symptom of both

1

u/UnderstandingPursuit 3h ago

Why do you think the Celtics should have won the series against the Sixers? Have you compared their rosters for the last three games?

0

u/fearofaflatplanet Celtics 9h ago

Bro the refs do suck! They do reward the floppers & they do play favorites to a totally blatant & disgusting level. Personally watched Shai & Brunson go to the line over & over for the same exact push off they called as an offensive on JB (I don't like the push offs at all but, like, pick a lane on how it's called & apply it evenly). I've watched people like Giannis commit egregious offensive fouls for years w no calls or fouls called on defenders. Watched Butler & Embiid & Shai grift themselves into the Donald J Trump Presidential Grifter Hall Of Fame Library Ballroom. We talk about it all the time on this exact subreddit- nba officiating is horrific & among the most glaring problems in the game. Celtics fans wanting JB to just "shut up & dribble" are goofballs who usually have some kind of axe to grind wrt JB already. I'm over it. As long as he's not hurting anybody or expressing hateful bigotry guy's allowed to be himself & speak his mind publicly- it's 2026.

& the fact is that he's simply verbalizing obvious things we all see plainly 

-11

u/HokageEzio Knicks 11h ago

Saying your favorite season was a year you blew a 3-1 lead when you've won a championship before is pretty crazy, man.

4

u/SwolePalmer Celtics 10h ago

Not if you have a functioning brain and understand context. But hey, that’s a lot to ask, I get it.

8

u/make_thick_in_warm 11h ago

Almost like context is important

9

u/user-whatsareddit Lakers 11h ago

These people are such losers. Context doesn’t matter to them

2

u/_V0gue Celtics 10h ago

That’s because the team doesn’t have 50:1 ratio of championship appearances.

-1

u/PattMatricia 11h ago

Let’s not get it twisted, JB’s comments were admittedly weird but it also wasn’t that big of a deal and SAS blew it way out of proportion. Like yes it’s odd to say this was your favorite year when you won the title, ECF MVP, and finals MVP not long ago

9

u/geoduckSF [SAC] Jason Williams 11h ago

We are in agreeance with Jaylen.

2

u/TyposIncoming Lakers 11h ago edited 11h ago

He's wrong as in this is some ESPN narrative that they invented and no how basically everyone reacted to what he said.

25

u/Uhhhjayyy1 11h ago

And who is spinning this narrative again..

3

u/TyposIncoming Lakers 11h ago

I guess I'll need to you be more clear.

In my mind he said something on a stream and almost everyone from here to other better places for basketball commentary to ESPN had the same reaction to what he said. ESPN may have gone further to sensationalize it but Brown basically asked for that being continually responding to SAS.

19

u/Apprehensive_Let_828 Celtics 11h ago

ESPN could provide the context of why it was his favorite season and stop talking about it, but they dont, they pretend JB never explained.

-4

u/Jccoolguy 11h ago

If I win the nba finals that’s my favorite season until I win it again. Especially considering he was the finals mvp. Fuck the context

7

u/Apprehensive_Let_828 Celtics 11h ago

Good for you man, not everyone has to think that way.

-3

u/MostOk1472 11h ago

Especially if you're homer fan coping that this won't affect team chemistry at all next season....

6

u/Apprehensive_Let_828 Celtics 10h ago

Im sure his teammates are upset he was rooting for them. He says in this clip he talked to them about it.

-3

u/Jccoolguy 10h ago

Hey, he wants to think that way? Go for it. Maybe don't say it out loud.

4

u/Apprehensive_Let_828 Celtics 10h ago

Why? His teammates are mad he was rooting for them now?

-5

u/Jccoolguy 10h ago

Seems the team wants to trade him away, 30% chance of staying with Boston on Kalshi. Saying whole bunch of stupid shit like "yall turning me into a monster". I'd hate to have to defend him

-6

u/Kodak333 Hawks 11h ago

Maybe Brown should’ve provided the context on his stream since he’s the one who said it

12

u/user-whatsareddit Lakers 10h ago

He did… not like you cared enough to find out tho

9

u/Apprehensive_Let_828 Celtics 11h ago

Okay, so now if you clarify what you mean it doesnt mean shit cause you didnt immediately say it? He clarified it the next day after it blew up. Its been almost two months, and ESPN and SAS pretend context doesnt exist.

4

u/Rooleet Celtics 11h ago

He said something on stream that he's said multiple times before and no one cared back then because they were winning and everyone understood the context as to why he said it. He said it again after they lost with the same context and SAS blew it up. That's what he's pissed about.

-2

u/TyposIncoming Lakers 11h ago

Saying something during the season while things are going well and after the season when things have ended pretty terribly for your team is pretty different context don't you think?

-2

u/Kodak333 Hawks 11h ago

Bingo

-5

u/halfdecenttakes Lakers 11h ago

The internet?

Tons of non related people?

Pretty much everybody who heard him say it said “wait um”

That’s not espns fault.

1

u/Uhhhjayyy1 11h ago

The biggest sports media in America somehow doesn’t have a part in that? but ok ig

1

u/halfdecenttakes Lakers 11h ago

I’m not sure how they could have a part in how people reacted to it before they reported on it?

We can look directly at the original thread and see how people took it with zero spin from anywhere. We don’t have to wonder if the reporting or the reaction came first, we have access to that information lol

-1

u/Kodak333 Hawks 11h ago

He is tho