Jaylen Brown seen by NBA insiders as possible playoff breakout player

Boston’s Jaylen Brown was seen as a potential breakout player in the 2020 NBA Playoffs by a group of 12 scouts, coaches and executives.

Boston Celtics fourth-year shooting guard Jaylen Brown is among a group of rising stars anticipated to have a breakout postseason by a group of a dozen scouts, coaches and front-office executives polled by ESPN in a story by Tim Bontemps.

Along with Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Brandon Clarke, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies), Donte DiVincenzo (Milwaukee Bucks), Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Luguentz Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder), De’Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings), and Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans), Brown is seen as one of the league’s younger players most likely to have a breakout postseason.

The Cal-Berkeley product has had the best season of his career by far in 2019-20, logging 20.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, up from a career average of 12.9 points, 4.4 boards and 1.4 assists per contest.

If not for teammate Jayson Tatum’s explosive growth at the same time, the Georgia native would likely be garnering greater media attention.

A strong postseason performance in line with how Brown has played in the regular season may go a long way with catapulting the young wing back into the national conversation of the NBA’s top young players.

The outspoken shooting guard has been keeping busy by taking a leadership role in his position as a National Basketball Players Association Vice President with regards to both concerns about COVID-19 within the league and protests over the killing of George Floyd.

But we shouldn’t give his impressive growth on the court short shrift just because of the impressive things he’s been up to off of it, and it’s good to see that recognition coming from non-Celtics circles.

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