It's been more than a month since the Boston Celtics stunningly traded Jaylen Brown to the rival Philadelphia 76ers, yet we hadn't heard from Brown in that time. In fairness, he was busy with a pretty important first task with his new team: recruiting LeBron James. And after several weeks of clandestine communication, Brown and his 76ers secured a commitment from arguably the greatest player of all time.
With the roster seemingly complete for the time being, the 76ers began introducing their new players to Philadelphia. While James is not expected to speak until media day, Brown held his initial press conference in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Here's what stood out from his first formal media session as a member of the 76ers.
Brown addresses Celtics exit, Tatum relationship
There have been quite a few questions over the past year about the relationship between Brown and his former Boston Celtics co-star Jayson Tatum. Brown just had a career season with Tatum sidelined for much of it as he recovered from a torn Achilles. After the Celtics were eliminated in the first round by the 76ers, Brown called it his "favorite year" of his career. On Thursday, Brown was asked about his relationship with Tatum and revealed there hasn't been much, if any, communication between them lately.
"We won a championship together," Brown said. "Anybody that you win a championship with, you would think, like, that's what a brotherhood or a lifelong legacy would entail. Obviously, there's ups and downs in any type of relationship. But on my end, there's nothing but respect. Besides when he plays the Sixers, I hope he does well. Other than that, everything from me is based in respect."
But have they been able to talk since the trade occurred?
"Not really," Brown said.
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Brown has expressed disappointment about how the Celtics handled his exit. Brown was dangled in the trade talks centered on Giannis Antetokounmpo before ultimately being moved to Philadelphia. Specifically, Brown was asked what bothered him "about how this transpired."
"The whole process," Brown said.
Despite widespread speculation about the Celtics' motivation for trading Brown, he did not elaborate on specifics but was clear that he is "grateful" for his overall experience in Boston.
"My mind is so focused on what's in front of me. To be honest, I'm moving on," Brown said. "Maybe one day we'll share the details of how everything transpired and the moving parts that took place in this. Obviously there's a lot of speculation. I feel no need to chime in on it because I'm focused on what's in front of me.
"I'm very grateful for my experience, my tenure in Boston. Ten years is a perfect cycle, perfect number for completion. We won a championship and I have nothing but respect for the city of Boston. But now it's time to move forward."
Whose team is it? 'Whatever it takes'
Before landing in Philadelphia, the story of Brown's offseason was whether or not he would get his "own" team, a franchise in which he could unquestionably be the centerpiece. Philadelphia is about as far from that as he can get.
James is the most accomplished member of the 76ers. Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid are homegrown stars. Throw in VJ Edgecombe and the 76ers have more ball-handling and scoring than almost any team in NBA history. On that note, Brown rejected the "whose team is it" premise entirely. "It doesn't have to be anybody's team," he said. The key, he said, will be "respect and work."
"It's a lot guys with talent and egos," Brown explained. "But to win, you got to be able to sacrifice and have trust and communication. I want to come in transparent and with my agenda on the table. 'Look, this is what I'm here to do, this is what I want to do. I want to win.' And we can figure out how to respectfully move around each other. It takes a level of time to develop and earn respect from each other. My approach has been my work ethic -- being the first to the gym, being in the film room. I'm looking forward to learning from LeBron and from all those guys. With LeBron, everything he's endured during his career… one of my favorite things to do is learn. I can't wait to soak up as much information as I can and apply it to myself."
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What sacrifice means differs across the board. Everyone will have to give up shots. That's a given. For Brown, that will probably mean devoting even more of his energy and attention to defense. James is 42. Embiid has lost most of his defensive mobility and Maxey is a small guard. Brown is already adept at guarding the ball, but given the limitations some of his teammates have on that end of the floor, he'll have to be at his best in all defensive facets for this team to reach its potential. If he can do that while minimizing turnovers and taking good shots, he'll hold up his end of the bargain for this potential superteam.
"My focus is winning," Brown said. "Other people's focus may be scoring. My focus is going into every practice, every meeting, every shootaround, every film session is, 'How do we win night in and night out?' Sometimes that may change. Sometimes that may look different. Whatever it takes. At this point in my career, nothing else really moves me. The only thing that's going to move me is doing something collectively -- a championship. All the other stuff is just a distraction to me."
Brown's relationship with Joel Embiid, new teammates
After the Celtics lost their first-round series against the 76ers, Brown took aim at Embiid for flopping. "I mean, this is my personal opinion on basketball. Some of y'all might disagree, you know what I mean? But argue with your grandma. Flopping has ruined our game," Brown said on a Twitch stream in May. "Joel Embiid is a great player, one of the best bigs in f---ing basketball history, flops. He knows it. This ain't breaking news."
Embiid's free-throw attempts were more or less in line with his statistical norms in that series, but Brown was called for several offensive fouls for using his off-arm to try to generate space in the series. In that same stream, he would call out the referees for having an "agenda" against him.
If there's any lingering bad blood between the two parties, Brown didn't let it spill into Thursday's press conference. He revealed that the two spoke on the day of the trade.
"Joel, it's been good. Me and Joel have been friends throughout the years. Have mutual respect," Brown said. "I know he loves soccer. I love soccer. So we talk about that a lot, and stuff like that. He reached out when I got traded, he reached out the same day and I talked to him on the phone."
Brown said Maxey and Edgecombe were the first of his new teammates to reach out, but also admitted he wasn't interested in the flood of interactions headed his way when the trade took place.
"When I first got traded, I just threw my phone across the room," Brown said with a laugh.
76ers look good 'on paper,' but can't 'skip steps'
After the trade and subsequent signing of James, Brown said he and his new teammates "talk damn near every day" and singled out James as being "active" in their new group chat.
"We're just trying to all get on the same page," Brown said. "I think everybody knows how incredible the opportunity that we have is, but we also got to put in the work. My focus is on that."
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With the roster put together by new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey and the rest of Philadelphia's front office, the 76ers are now considered one of the favorites to win the title next season. Brown is aware of the talent assembled and how the roster looks "on paper," but reiterated that it can only take the team so far.
"Obviously, on paper, we're excellent. We have a lot of talent. What you have on paper doesn't really mean nothing. It can if you put the work in, but if you allow distractions to get into your locker room, it can be a detriment," Brown said. "I'm aware it can go either way. It takes work and transparency and leadership can really guide this thing or not. On paper, we look great, but let's slow down. It takes real work every day to make something like this happen. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to doing whatever I need to do to make sure we get on the same page and focused on the same thing. If we do that, then we'll be where we need to be."
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