The Los Angeles Lakers hosted California forward Jaylen Brown for a workout on Friday. Though not a candidate for the Lakers’ second overall pick in the NBA Draft in about two weeks, Brown is an intriguing lottery prospect.
Cal forward Jaylen Brown goes through a predraft workout for the Lakers pic.twitter.com/Bp2D1EO4gS
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 10, 2016
After his workout, Brown spoke at length to the media about everything that transpired.
First, the Cal product endeared himself to Lakers fans before a somewhat controversial comment about the team’s history:
Jaylen Brown's favorite team? Yep, the Lakers. Best Lakers player ever? No, not Kobe. Brown said it's Kareem, Magic.
— janis carr (@janiscarr) June 10, 2016
That said, Brown spoke glowingly about Kobe Bryant, especially with regards to his unmatched work ethic:
Draft prospect Jaylen Brown: "A lot of people want to get to the level of a Kobe Bryant, but nobody wants to put in the work that he did."
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 10, 2016
Then, the forward, criticized heavily for his poor shooting in college, spoke about expectations based off of that weakness in his game:
Jaylen Brown said teams have lower expectations of his shooting coming in to these workouts, but thinks he’s proved otherwise
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) June 10, 2016
Brown wisely seems to be taking this process seriously, as he spoke about wanting to spend his summer improvinghis game:
Brown: "Now that school's over, you just get to focus on your craft. You're in the gym every day just working out & staying in grind mode."
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) June 10, 2016
Brown is a decisive player in this draft. His poor shooting is an enormous red flag in terms of his ceiling as an NBA player, but judging by his comments, he has the right mentality and is dedicated to working hard to improve his game.
I am Danny’s biggest critic but I think he did a really good job last night. Have you seen the tape on Brown, he is VERY Athletic something the Celtics are sorely lacking to compete at the next level. Danny has to a fault avoided the international players that other successful teams have employed, got two with great potential. Took two from an overload of second round picks and turned it into a down the road first. That is very Patriot like. Never thought I would say, good job Danny. the trades you don’t make sometimes turn out to be the best ones.