Jaylen Brown and the NBA Analytics RACE WAR

Why the NBA Nerds Don't Buy Jaylen Brown

Over the weekend there was a basketball race war and no I’m not referring to the WNBA, though yes that also happened. Instead, I’m talking about an escalation in the conflict between athletes who’ve played and the nerdy WHITES teams hire to determine value of play.

It kicked off with ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks explaining an oddly soft market for the services of Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown on SiriusXM NBA Radio. Marks’ appearance was clipped and provocatively edited by SiriusXM in a manner reminiscent of Homer Simpson talking about “sweet can—” on Rock Bottom. The specific Marks quote that reverberated around the basketball world was:

I had one— not an executive, but an analytics guy— saying, ‘Yeah, we view him as like the 7th best player on a team.’ I was like, ‘Holy crap.’

All-NBA 2nd-teamer Jaylen Brown? Boston’s seventh best player??? Jaylen himself took up a movement to find that unnamed nerd.

If you look at the Marks’ quote in full context he’s correct, by the way. I’m not vouching for “7th best” analytics guy but I’m certainly co-signing, “There’s mixed feelings about him when you talk to teams.” Because Brown, beyond being an idiosyncratic person, is also a strange case. As in, if you look deeper, there are actual basketball reasons for why these NERDS might not be so enamored.