TEAM USA HAD INTERNAL CONCERNS ABOUT JAYLEN BROWN
- Derrick White replaced Kawhi Leonard due to injury, leading to Jaylen Brown's Olympic snub despite his stellar championship-winning campaign with the Boston Celtics.
- It is believed that Team USA prioritized familiarity with White over Brown's flexibility to accept a reduced role.
- Brown's defensive and offensive abilities could have mitigated Team USA's weaknesses, but it is a decision they will have to live with.
Team USA Basketball Men’s National Team get their Paris 2024 Olympic Games campaign underway on Sunday when they take on Serbia in their first Group C game as they seek to claim the gold medal for the fifth consecutive Games.
One person that won’t be part of the Team USA Olympics squad though is Jaylen Brown , who, after Kawhi Leonard was forced to withdraw because of injury, was snubbed of a chance to be in the team with his Boston Celtics teammate Derrick White being called up as the replacement instead, something basketball insider Mark Medina argues is as a result of some concerns that the Team USA selection committee had over him.
Team USAs Decision To Leave Out Brown
When Kawhi Leonard withdrew, Derrick White was named as his replacement
Prior to their five-game basketball showcase in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympics , Team USA effectively made the decision that Kawhi Leonard was not healthy enough to play a part this summer having been dealing with a knee injury since the 2023-24 NBA post-season, and within hours of the announcement that he would be withdrawing, Derrick White was announced as his replacement.
While White had a career year in which he won his first NBA title with the Celtics, averaging 15.2 points on 46.1 percent shooting from the field, and 39.6 percent from behind the arc, he was widely viewed as deserving of the vacated roster spot.
| Jaylen Brown vs. Derrick White - 2023-24 Regular Season Advanced Stats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Jaylen Brown | Derrick White |
| OFF RTG | 120.2 | 122.4 |
| DEF RTG | 111.6 | 109.9 |
| NET RTG | 8.7 | 12.5 |
| EFG% | 55.7 | 57.8 |
| USG% | 28.3 | 18.3 |
| PIE | 11.6 | 10.6 |
However, there was also a case to be made that Boston teammate Jaylen Brown, was equally as deserving, if not more so, of that spot, and while he was happy for his teammate, he also admitted he wasn’t surprised that he wasn't selected, and even went as far as to blame it on the sportswear brand Nike.
For context, Brown had a sponsorship deal with Nike rivals Adidas for the first five seasons of his career, but having been a free agent since 2021, he has often worn Nike shoes, though he covers over the brand’s iconic swoosh logo. On the other hand, White is a Nike athlete.
Browns Olympic Snub Not Due to Nike
While Brown had made his feelings known that he felt his snub from Team USA’s Olympic squad was due to Nike, Medina strongly disagrees, and, instead, argues that Team USA made the decision to prioritize familiarity, having had Derrick White as part of their 2019 FIBA World Cup roster.
Furthermore, the journalist goes on to argue that while Brown is perhaps more deserving than White, and even other Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum , Team USA may have had some ‘internal concern’ about how the 2024 Finals MVP would accept a reduced role to the one that he is used to.
Jaylen Brown certainly thinks this [Olympic snub] has to do with Nike. I don't think it has to do with Nike - I'm not naive about how business plays out in professional sports. But I think it had more to do with the fact that Team USA has a familiarity with Derrick White, and they're not evaluating players as if it's an All-Star game. They're evaluating players as far as team dynamics.
In Brown's defense, he's obviously fully deserving. He's the best player right now on the Celtics, and yet, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White are on the Olympic team. But, I think that Team USA had some concerns about continuity, throwing someone in the mix without previous experience with USA.
The broader thing is, even though Jaylen Brown is a great scorer, he's been an improved passer, a great defender, I think there was an internal concern about how someone of Jaylen Brown's caliber would accept having a significantly reduced role.
Brown May Not Have Been As Flexible With Reduced Role Than White
Medina elaborated on his comments made about Team USA perhaps being concerned about how someone of Brown’s stature would accept a reduced role, where he argued that only LeBron James , Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant – if he features – would be the only players to see significant playing time throughout this Olympic campaign.
However, White has spent the majority of his career playing different roles, and has always been a team-first individual, so the journalist makes the case that he would be ‘more flexible’ with the dynamic of playing time, or lack thereof.
Assuming that Kevin Durant's back, really the only players that are insured to have a very significant role is Kevin Durant, LeBron, James and Steph Curry - everyone else is going to be fluid.
And while Jaylen Brown would be professional, I think that they made the calculation that Derrick White would be more flexible with that dynamic than Jaylen Brown would, and, in Derrick White's defense, he checks all the boxes on what they need. From different positional needs, and being a great defender too, he's improved as a shooter and is a great team guy. So, that's what it came down to.
Finals MVP Fully Deserving of a Roster Spot
Led Celtics to first NBA title since 2008
Having played, and won, all five games of their showcase before Paris, one of the key takeaways is that Team USA have lacked in defensive prowess, which has led to some close encounters, most notably that of South Sudan in which they won by a single point after a LeBron James go-ahead bucket in the dying seconds of the contest, and Germany, where they once again needed James to take over in the fourth quarter.
This defensive void could have perhaps been somewhat mitigated had someone like Brown been on the team, who is not only a high-level defender, but also offers a lot more on offense than White, as evidenced by his 23.9 points scored at a 51.6 percent clip in the Celtics’ championship run - their first since -2008 - while he also averaged 5.9 rebounds, and led the team in steals with 1.2 per contest.
| Jaylen Brown - 2023-24 Regular Season Defensive Statistics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | DFGA | DFG% | DIFF% |
| Overall | 10.8 | 44.8 | -2.4 |
| 2 pointers | 6.4 | 51.7 | -2.6 |
| 3 pointers | 4.3 | 34.5 | -2.4 |
In fact, throughout the post-season, when Brown was on the floor, the Celtics outscored their opposition by an average of 6.2 points per 100 possessions, slightly more than White’s overall impact, in which they would outscore their opponents by 5.5 points per 100 possessions, the lowest positive mark on the team.
It’s scarcely hard to believe that the 2024 Finals MVP isn’t one of the best 12 players in the entire NBA, let alone one of the 12 best players in the USA, especially as the chosen roster is made up of aging superstars who are far beyond their prime and in their Olympics’ last dance – or first if you’re Steph Curry.
But, the team has been set, and that’s what Grant Hill and the rest of the selection committee will have to abide by for better or for worse.
Could this gamble of selecting stars with marred injury histories, such as Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid , pay dividends and lead to gold? Or, will it all combust before their eyes and leave USA basketball reeling with the what ifs, as it pertains to whether or not they should have selected younger talent like Jaylen Brown?
We will just have to wait and see.
All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.
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