Jaylen Brown has bigger things on his mind than an All-Star nod
BOSTON -- Jaylen Brown was named an NBA All-Star for the second time of his career on Thursday night. He didn't seem all that excited about it after Friday's shootaround.
"It feels great. The best day of my life," Brown deadpanned to reporters.
It's not that Brown doesn't appreciate the honor. In fact, he's grateful to be selected as one of the 24 "best" players in the league this season.
It's just that, after coming up short in the NBA Finals over the summer, Brown and the Celtics have much bigger fish to fry in 2023.
"We have more important things to worry about," Brown explained. "I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized as the best. But there's a lot of great players that are in our league as well, and the determining factors is voter process politics. I'm grateful, but there is a lot bigger things to worry about."
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla downplayed being selected a head coach for the All-Star Game earlier this week, but Brown is not just following in his coach's footsteps.
"From a mental standpoint, I got in the habit of not letting others determine my value. People will give you accolades or criticize you; I try to stay the same guy," Brown said Friday. "Forgive me if I'm not showing my excitement. I'm extremely grateful."
Brown said that he doesn't like to get too high or too low, which comes in handy in a town like Boston.
"A lot of times, I feel like athletes identify their mood or their status internally about how they perform, and they attach their performance to their feelings and emotions if they had a bad game or had a bad day. Especially in a city like this, you've got to shake that off and respond," said Brown. "Don't carry anything with you; just focus on what's in front of you. I think I really focus on that. I've had a lot of low moments, I've had a lot of high moments, but it's all about the next day."
Look no further than last week, when Brown missed two huge free throws that would have put the Celtics ahead of the Knicks with 7.6 seconds left. Boston lost in overtime, but Brown said those two misses would not send him into a spiral.
A few nights later, Brown led the Celtics with 37 points in an overtime win over the L.A. Lakers.
"Playing in Boston, there's an excellence demanded of you every single day, so you've got no time to be down or low," he said Friday. "You've got to focus on what's next. Because of the fan base here and how involved they are -- you know, how aggressive they are -- you've got to be able to have tough skin. It's not for everybody. We've seen some people come here and struggle with that.
"For me and my own sanity, I just had to be able to move forward," he continued. "Take the good times and the bad times and just roll on. That's kind of a mindset I've always had."
While Brown is certainly honored to be an All-Star, it's clear that there are much bigger things on his to-do list.
