A new title: How Tatum and Brown rewrote their legacies in Boston

A new title: How Tatum and Brown rewrote their legacies in Boston originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

We met them 11 years ago this month, even though we didn’t know their names. All we knew then, in June 2013, was that Danny Ainge and the Celtics traded away a couple of champions, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, for a hope chest of draft picks that might develop into stars one day.

On the night of that Celtics-Nets trade, Jaylen Brown was a 16-year-old kid in Atlanta. Jayson Tatum, 15, was a rising high school sophomore in St. Louis. In retrospect, it seems like a ridiculous plan for a championship rebuild: Trade two aging but proven Hall of Famers, sink to the bottom, and essentially wait for the kids to pull you back to the top.

This would be a wait through driving lessons. Prom. Basketball camps and travel teams. Recruiting. One-and-dones. Meddling agents. This meant waiting out random lottery balls. Salary cap-clearing deals. A relentless passion, from executives and fans alike, that tempts you to stop waiting for these nameless, faceless picks and nudges you to cash out now for known players like Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler.

Now, incredibly, we’re only waiting for the parade.

The picks became a pair of third overall choices in back-to-back years, 2016 and 2017. They became All-NBA and All-Star players. They are now championship players.

Brown and Tatum – the Jays, ages 27 and 26 — were always linked. Always. Often unfairly. The success of one often led to a conversation about the shortcomings of the other.

Who was the better player?

Who had the higher ceiling?

Who could be moved in a deal for Anthony Davis or Damian Lillard?

They look different, sound different, play ball with different styles and riffs, have distinct personal and professional outlooks. Yet, you never had to venture too far to hear a hot take about their on-court redundancy and inability to make one another better.

All that goes away now with the Celtics’ emphatic five-game takedown of the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Brown was the Finals MVP with his nearly 21 points-per-game average and ferocious defensive…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/title-tatum-brown-rewrote-legacies-123431187.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-06-21 12:34:31

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