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Now an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an unexpected yet deserving Finals MVP, Jaylen Brown has never been your typical NBA player. More than just an All-Star hooper, Brown is an All-Star intellectual and person who has never been afraid of doing things his way to reach his goals.
That willingness to reach his goals by doing what he felt best stretches all the way back to 2025 when he surprisingly committed to California in May of his senior year.
A top-five ranked prospect because of his 6-foot-7 size, abundant athleticism, and ability to score, the Marietta, Georgia, product was courted by the best of the best. He visited Kansas and UCLA, among others, before settling on a top four of Cal, Kentucky, Michigan, and North Carolina.
Brown marched to the beat of his own drum. He was intelligent, analytical, and conscious of how he presented himself to the world. It wasn’t for branding. It was just very important to Brown that people understood that he was more than just a basketball player and that he wasn’t putting on a show. To recruit him, you didn’t have to go through handlers; it was pretty much him and his mother, Mechalle Brown, who were looking to figure out the best spot.
“He was one of the most mature and intelligent kids that I ever recruited,” one assistant coach involved in the process told CBS Sports. “You felt that you were speaking with real people, the questions were authentic, and it was like dealing with a mature adult.”
In most recruitments, there are rumors about leanings one way or another, and that certainly happened with Brown. Earlier in his senior year, there were times that both UCLA, coached by Steve Alford, and Kansas were thought to be in strong positions before fading. Even late in the process, Michigan, coached by John Beilein, was thought to be in strong contention to land Brown if he didn’t go to Kentucky.
Making things tough to read was the fact that Brown himself was pretty tight-lipped. He didn’t self-promote, he didn’t do a ton of media, and he never let much slip. Such a recruitment…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/revisiting-jaylen-browns-mature-recruitment-why-the-future-nba-finals-mvp-chose-cal-over-power-programs/
Author : Eric Bossi
Publish date : 2024-06-18 13:11:00
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