Jaylen Brown Getting Clamped By A School Principal Is Actually A Fantastic Sign For The Boston Celtics

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The 2025-26 Boston Celtics season is going to be pretty weird. It's not all that often you see title-contending teams suddenly enter a mini-reset season due to injury, only for that same team to be right back to title-contention expectations once that player returns. It's this weird NBA limbo type situation where you get one year where it's in your best interest to kind of be as bad as possible, knowing that it can reward you with an asset to really help you once that player returns from injury. At the same time, you're core is still built around winners and the caliber of talent you need to win at a high level. Those players don't often lose.

Think of it like the 1996-97 Spurs. The year prior, that team had won 59 games. The next season, David Robinson only played 6 games, they finished 20-62 and were immediately rewarded with a pretty decent player in Tim Duncan, maybe you've heard of him. The next season? The Spurs were right back to 56 wins and by Year 2 of Duncan, they won the title.

Think of it like the 2019-20 Warriors. The year prior, that team had won 59 games and just lost in the NBA Finals. The next season, Steph Curry played 5 games, they finished 15-50 and were immediately rewarded with a top 2 pick (they missed on it, but the asset value was great). It took 2 years, but that team eventually won another title.

Last season, the Celts won 61 games. This upcoming season, Jayson Tatum will play 0 games (please take your time). This is the Celtics' opportunity to obtain a high-value asset that they can either choose to keep for the next iteration of the roster or instead use to flip for a more established player. Remember, this is a front office that has never picked higher than #28. Even if that pick ends up being #8 or something along those lines, that's still a MUCH higher level than any previous draft in the Brad Stevens Era.

What makes this so interesting is what it means for someone like Jaylen Brown, who is now tasked with carrying a roster that, if we're being objective, is positioned for disaster. I'm a firm believer in guys like Jaylen/White/Pritchard etc could all have awesome seasons, and it's still not going to mean all that much when it comes to their win total. There are still countless issues/holes with their roster from a talent perspective, size perspective, mobility perspective, there are issues on the perimeter and the rim, and until that group shows us something that they've literally all never done before, it's going to be a bumpy ride even if those three have awesome seasons.

The good news is based on the latest footage of Jaylen's summer, we could very well be in a fantastic position given what the 2025-26 season is about

Now I know what you may be thinking. This is a pretty tough look for the Celtics #1 option this year and a player on a supermax deal. Those guys can't be finding themselves in hell via the perimeter defense of a school principal. Nothing again that guy either, that was elite on ball defense. Everyone knows in those situations you have to play into Jaylen's space. The tape is the tape and sadly, that tape exists. Get into Jaylen's air space, reach, force him to take care of the basketball. 

As we saw, things didn't go great. That could have easily been Game 7 of the 2023 ECF based on what I saw, and naturally Jaylen is getting dragged on the internet for it.

I'm here to tell you that it's actually a fantastic sign.

If you're telling me Jaylen's handle is still not great and it's going to be a disaster in real games that might lead to losses? I'm in! Those only help my overall goal. While some might think something like that is a negative, not for the 2025-26 Boston Celtics. In fact, I'll argue it's actually exactly what they need. 

There's also something else I would like to bring to your attention. Then last time we saw an embarrassing Jaylen Brown practice clip go viral for all the wrong reasons was back in October 2023 when this happened

Oh man, a left-hand joke. So classic. We all remember what eventually followed in the 2023-24 NBA season correct? No? Well, allow me to remind you

Only the season of Jaylen's life which helped carry the Celtics to their league leading 18th championship banner. Seems good, but who am I to say.

So I look at that viral clip and I see it as a win/win situation no matter what happens. Either his TOV% as a primary ball handler and offensive engine is going to be a disaster which will ultimately lead to losses, or it actually shows that we're about to get another incredible Jaylen Brown season (while still only probably win in the mis 30s). Either situation works for me

thank you for allowing me to get some spinzone reps in a few months ahead of the season. It's going to be a long one, and everyone needs offseason reps