Jaylen

Brown

Brown is managing some soreness in his left knee, which could keep him on the sidelines against New York. If that happens, one of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Dean Wade would likely slide into the starting unit, with both taking on extra minutes.

Jaylen Brown has taken a step back from where he was in Boston, but that was to be expected going from being the primary option in Boston to sometimes being the fourth option in Philadelphia. Nick Nurse has done a good job with rotations to allow the stars to get their touches despite sharing the court together. We won’t be expecting double doubles moving forward, but he won’t have a shocking drop off like what Paul George had when he played for Philadelphia.

After a strong start in his first three appearances for the 76ers, Brown cooled off on Sunday. He shot 3-of-14 from inside the arc against the Pistons, and many of those misses came in the paint. There’s no need to lose any sleep over Brown’s performance against the Pistons, as the overall track record has been good. He’ll look to bounce back on Wednesday against the Pacers.

Brown did what he could to ensure that he’d celebrate a win on his 30th birthday, as he was one of three 76ers to score at least 26 points. According to NBC Sports Philadelphia, this is the first team JB has played on that has ranked in the top-10 in the league in pace. While it’s still extremely early, the returns have been positive for Brown and the 76ers. Philadelphia has one more Week 1 game, facing the Pistons on Sunday.

On most nights, when a player needs 20 shots to score 21 points, the efficiency is an issue. That wasn’t the case for Brown, who shot 50 percent from the field against the Cavaliers. He didn’t attempt any free throws on Thursday and has four total through two games. Given Philadelphia’s offensive firepower, Brown could miss out on some of those “free points” that helped him average a career-best 28.7 points per game last season.

Brown’s first game as a Sixer highlighted both the good and bad of what he could provide this season. The volume that he had in Boston, especially last season, simply wasn’t there, but he was more efficient than he has been throughout his career. Perhaps more defensive contributions, like we saw in this game, could be another bonus due to less responsibility on offense. The sample size is too small to draw any real conclusions other than Brown was productive in his debut.

The 76ers played Monday’s game without several key contributors, so there wasn’t much to critique regarding head coach Nick Nurse’s rotations. However, Brown was impressive in his unofficial 76ers debut, scoring efficiently on all three levels. With a current ADP in the high 20s, JB’s name is being called a bit too early in category-league drafts. However, playing alongside Tyrese Maxey and LeBron James could make him a more efficient player on the offensive end of the floor.

The 76ers will open their preseason without multiple key players, including Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James and Joel Embiid. With those expected starters unavailable, KCP, Wade and Hukporti will start. The latter may be the one to watch, as he’ll be competing with the currently injured Adem Bona for the right to back up Embiid. There isn’t much to gain from drafting Hukporti in most leagues, but Embiid’s injury history makes it possible that the former Knick will be a relevant streamer at some point during the regular season.

The blockbuster deal between Eastern Conference foes swaps two highly regarded two-way wings. George, who is coming off an injury-plagued second season with the Sixers, averaged 17.3 points and 5.3 rebounds across 37 regular-season games. While no longer in his prime, the veteran is still a capable perimeter defender and scorer, with the size and skill set to comfortably play either forward position. Despite being far removed from his days as a Tier 1 fantasy basketball option, he’ll have some fantasy value in Boston, particularly due to his high-volume three-point shooting in a system that encourages shots from beyond the arc.

The Celtics have been shopping Brown for a while now, and they finally found an offer that made moving on from the five-time All-Star worthwhile. Coming off the best individual season of his NBA career, the 6-foot-6 wing is headed to Philadelphia. Last season, Brown averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.0 three-pointers while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 79.5 percent from the foul line. Joining forces with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey likely puts a dent in Brown’s usage, but his fantasy value should not take too big of a hit, if any, in Philadelphia.