Jaylen Brown is the very best participant on the earth — and the second-best on the Celtics

Welcome to the 2024 SAT examination introduced by the School Board! This yr, in an try to enchantment to in the present day’s youth, the long-essay immediate might seem unusual to some readers. Nonetheless, we imagine it is going to assist us extra pretty consider all college students. Thanks, and good luck!

PROMPT: Is Jaylen Brown the very best participant on the earth and the second-best on his personal group?

Simply kidding, this isn’t the actual SAT neither is it a dream triggered by repressed stress from years in the past if you had been making use of to school. However once I change into president of the world, I’ll make this the lengthy essay query on each standardized take a look at. Your capability to reply it represents greater than your IQ or the effectiveness of curriculum; it unpacks your psychological flexibility, your worldview, and your capability to suppose critically about basketball gamers that don’t make lots of sense.

But it surely’s nonetheless a sure or no query, which suggests you might presumably reply, “no, he’s not. Why would you even ask that, you moron?” This response would rating poorly on the take a look at and can be objectively incorrect. Brown is unquestionably the very best participant on the earth, and positively the second-best participant on the Boston Celtics. There might be no alternatives to revise your reply.

Within the curiosity of educational honesty, this text will act as a solution key, and hopefully additionally educate us why Brown is probably the most fascinating participant in basketball, and why we might by no means fairly determine him out.

First issues first, when answering this query, one should add the necessary nuance that Brown is just the very best participant on the earth to some individuals. This in no way falsifies the reply, as shutting out folks that disagree with you is a elementary a part of being alive. Politics, pal teams and nuclear households couldn’t exist with out this idea. However why just some individuals?

Effectively, within the suite of choices for figuring out who the very best participant within the NBA is, three shine by way of the remainder: league MVP, online-popular consensus, and NBA Finals MVP. Which one you subscribe to will rely in your elementary opinion of how necessary profitable is when answering this query. The league MVP and on-line consensus choose is at present Nikola Jokic, however he misplaced within the second spherical.

In case you’re extra old fashioned or simply refuse any information that isn’t “rings,” maybe NBA Finals MVP could be your choose. This not often matches up with the opposite two classes, however it might occur! In 2019, Kawhi Leonard grabbed the Finals MVP trophy on the Toronto Raptors and located the “finest participant on the earth” award hidden inside it like a type of Russian nesting dolls. After that run, it was simply simple. Saying the Finals MVP merely equals “finest participant on the earth” isn’t a very subtle argument, however it kinda sorta nearly completely all the time works.

It’s a extremely efficient argument to make, nevertheless annoying. Saying “crucial participant on the group that gained the Finals” is a extremely arduous argument to beat, as anybody within the group chat who says there’s something extra necessary than profitable is instantly clowned as a faux sports activities fan who ought to return to Loserville.

Arguing for the significance of “profitable” in sports activities is advocating for veterans in politics. Mother and apple pie. Sunshine and lollipops. Nobody alive dislikes veterans, and any candidate accused of mistreating them is branded as the most important jerk possible. It is likely to be a bit morally simplistic, however it’s positively not incorrect, so basing your worldview on “profitable” is completely nice for this query.

As long as we’re being sufficiently cussed, Jaylen Brown is the very best participant on the earth when in comparison with all different NBA gamers. In keeping with the historical past books, he was crucial participant within the 2024 NBA Finals. That’s the latest Finals, so bam-bam, thank-you-ma’am on half one.

As for half two, sure, Brown can be the second-best participant on the Celtics behind Jayson Tatum. Many, many, many individuals have advised me, wrote me, texted me, commented-at me, known as me or telepathically communicated to me that comparability is the thief of enjoyable and that I ought to simply “get pleasure from each guys” with out worrying about which one is healthier. And similar to the opposite 400 occasions, I categorically refuse.

That mindset is an outrageously boring manner to take a look at sports activities. Merely dwelling in denial about the necessity to make comparisons isn’t going to cease others from making them, and NBA historical past has proven {that a} coherent understanding of everybody’s position on a group is important to success. Prefer it or not, “finest participant” is a type of roles.

I don’t want to dwell on why Tatum is healthier than Brown, since I’ve made the identical argument for six consecutive years and have virtually no real interest in making it once more. Tatum is a extra dynamic participant with fewer limitations, and has confirmed that he may be the centerpiece of an NBA offense in any respect three ranges whereas dominating the ball. Brown has executed lots of that, however has struggled with consistency, ball safety and playmaking in methods Tatum merely has not.

There are arguments that Brown is healthier, particularly if you wish to simply throw my Finals MVP logic proper again in my face. However I don’t discover that as fascinating when evaluating two guys on the group that simply gained, and is far simpler to falsify by saying Tatum missed out on the award by one vote. I additionally didn’t use a single statistic to show that nor do I plan to, as I feel a holistic understanding of a gamers’ recreation is simpler when attempting to ask, merely, “who’s higher?” as a number of information and numbers make Karl Malone the very best participant in NBA historical past which, like, just isn’t true in any respect.

I additionally surprise if Brown really needs to be the very best participant on the earth or on the Celtics. I can go bananas on a Google Doc attempting to persuade you that he’s, however within the immortal phrases of my pal Tom every time we’d be watching a sporting occasion and his group could be on the point of profitable: “you gotta need it!”

Being the “finest” is lots like profitable an Academy Award. It’s imagined to all goal and analytical, however it’s actually only a political marketing campaign and a reputation contest. Tatum positively needs it, and has made it clear for years he needs to go down as one of many all-time greats and to be the face of the NBA in a post-LeBron James world. He’s in Gatorade and SoFi commercials, already has three signature footwear with Jordan and went on The Tonight Present with Jimmy Fallon to advertise his kids’s guide. He’s an unbelievable basketball participant and a public man who needs to be well-known. There’s nothing incorrect with that, and it’s made him simpler to see as “the very best.”

However I all the time really feel like Brown is skeptical of all that. He covers up the logos on his footwear, has his personal customized attire line and spends the summer time touring the world and seeing what the world has to supply. It hasn’t lent itself to the simplistic definitions of “the very best” like Tatum’s story has, however perhaps that’s much more admirable. Brown hasn’t drunk the Kool-Support of the NBA’s company construction, and refuses to be outlined by the labels of others earlier than him.

That’s why he’s my favourite participant, each within the league and on the Celtics. He’s simply probably the most fascinating, probably the most particular person and so in contrast to everybody round him. Brown is the very best and Tatum is healthier. However I’ve seen Jayson Tatums earlier than and can see them once more. I doubt I’ll ever see one other Jaylen Brown.