Training Camp Questions: Will Brown and Tatum Build on Championship?

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum carry contrasting clichés into 2024-25 following what should’ve been their affirming championship run. Will they experience a championship hangover or a 2009-style bump after they figured it out? Everyone will say they’ll enter 2025 more motivated following their Olympic snubs more motivated. They’ll inevitably respond that they’re approaching things the same way that they always do one week from today when training camp begins.

Whatever the motive — Brown and Tatum need to maintain the approach they carried last postseason to set a tone for the rest of the team into 2024-25. Tatum’s pass-first mindset in the Finals allowed other players to hurt Dallas and consistently opened the team’s role players to take advantage of space elsewhere. Brown also benefited, becoming the team’s primary volume scorer and play finisher while using his leftover energy to defend hard.

They allowed the Celtics to become an all-time offense with a defense that stood on par with its scoring unit by manipulating the defensive pressure they drew. Both players enter this season with room to grow.

“Our two guys,” Mazzulla told Locked On Celtics. “Have gone through a little bit of an adverse situation. I gotta be better so I can help them be better … I can control how I help them … that’s how we’re gonna attack it.”

They’ll need to. For Tatum, a disappearing three-point stroke in the playoffs (28.3% on 7.3 att.) devolved into an Olympic run where he didn’t hit a jump shot. Brown struggled at the free throw line (70.3%) and got worse in the playoffs (66%). Brown benefited from being able to hone in on individual matchups on defense in 2024. With Kristaps Porziņģis out, the Celtics could switch more, which will test Brown’s off-ball defense.

Tatum could also be asked to do more defensively in smaller lineups. Against Indiana, he fared well against Myles Turner’s face-up game, while his switches onto stronger post scorers weren’t as productive.

Mazzulla allowed both players to excel last year on offense against varying defensive looks by stressing that they make the right play. That led Tatum to absorbing the bulk of defensive pressure, passing away from it or beating it with difficult shots. Brown often made plays out of the pockets behind it, leading to exceptional shooting seasons from Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Sam Hauser and others. That formula remains. It’ll be interesting to see if teams try to play the Celtics straight up more often defensively.

Chris Mannix said on The Garden Report earlier this summer that some on the Dallas side regretted selling out to stop Tatum, freeing others. Tatum finished that series averaging 7.2 assists with only 3.2 turnovers per game despite shooting 38.8% from the field while his three-pointer fell to 26.3%. White shot 39.5% from three over the five games, Holiday 42.1%, Horford 47.1% and Hauser hit 11 at an absurd 47.8%. All while Tatum and Brown drove-and-kicked from crowds around the rim repeatedly. Brown hit a modest 44% (23.5%) from the field, but earned MVP by logging heavy minutes against Luka Dončić and hitting a clinching shot late in Game 3.

Guarding them one-on-one is easier said than done. Indiana tried it while cutting off the three-point line by leaving the basket available for Boston. Brown shot 51.7% from the field and Tatum converted 46.3% of his attempts while missing from three (30.6%). Miami and Cleveland opted to take the post away from both players, limiting their post-up opportunities and they found answers in both series even with Porziņģis mostly absent.

The reasons are obvious. Few rivals can hide their bad defenders, especially rotating into their second units. White, Holiday and others threatened to shoot or keep the ball moving off the catch while Boston rarely turned the ball over.

We have all the answers, White said at one point last season. They just have to be able to get to them, he added.

Brown and Tatum also enhanced each other, passing directly to each other more than ever before in the east finals against an up-tempo opponent who Mazzulla wanted to match. Tatum found Brown 12.0 times per game in the east finals, then 13.6 times in the Finals, which increased from 6.7 during the regular season. Brown’s feeds back to Tatum increased from 4.3 to 6.5 to 8.8 times per game across that span while limiting his turnovers to 2.7 through the postseason — down from 3.3 in 2023. That marked Brown’s greatest improvement, staying aggressive enough to crack the stingiest interior defenses while avoiding costly mistakes.

Brown rose to the 88th percentile in defensive impact according to ePM (+1.5) last year. Opponents shot 44.8% against him in the regular season, the third-best mark among the Celtics’ regulars. His analytics never seem to pop, perhaps due to his lagging three-pointer, free throw misses and Boston’s rotations, but Brown targeted his weaknesses and shined last year. His 2025 will be more about maintaining and responding to defensive adjustments that opponents throw at him, perhaps while shouldering more offensive load with Porziņģis out. The latter is something to watch following the effectiveness of their two-man game last winter.

Reads will also become more challenging for Brown and Tatum night-to-night with their big teammate out. The matchups will still determine touches, who initiates and who finishes, a simple yet effective formula. Opponents experimented with playing away from Horford during his absence last year, always a risk. One that paid off more often as the veteran fell to 36.8% from three last postseason. With more double-big looks an option as Boston navigates life without Porziņģis, spacing could reduce while the team manages Horford’s minutes.

Tatum, who undoubtedly benefited from his volume three-point shooting last year (career high 55.2 eFG%), would benefit to further develop his mid-range (38.8%, 37.3% playoffs) and find a floater that he’s flashed at times earlier in his career. Defensively, though the numbers didn’t scream elite last year, he guarded up to the five effectively in a strong matchup to do so. His rebounding allows Boston enormous flexibility there.

Tatum’s motor on that end, along with Brown’s, will set a tone for what kind of start the Celtics can achieve through whatever hangover or effects from missing Porziņģis fall on the early schedule. On offense, they learned how to make the right play over and over again. That took sacrifice and might’ve led to both players not earning the individual acclaim they might’ve hoped to achieve. It also led to both becoming champions in stride. Together.