Jaylen Brown Has Quietly Transformed the 76ers in One Major Area

The Philadelphia 76ers came into the season with very high expectations. Obviously the biggest one was winning a NBA championship, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t other aspirations. This team made many improvements to the roster in an attempt to get better offensively. 

A funny thing is, it seems that their defense has improved more than the offense. Now, that's not to say this offense doesn’t command respect; it was just expected that this team’s offense would outperform the defense, and that hasn’t been the case. However, Jaylen Brown has made it a point to be the vocal leader defensively. 

"I try to be vocal, but not annoying, just to make sure we maintain those consistent habits," Brown said.

Since Brown’s arrival, you can clearly see how much the defensive intensity picks up. The team ranks third in the NBA in defense. Along with Brown is LeBron James, and he has always shown up defensively when it mattered the most. When this team talked about building communication and understanding the style of their head coach, it was always defense first. 

Brown has recently found his offensive stride, but before that, he made his case defensively. Truthfully, that was the reason he was brought into Philadelphia. His ability to be a two-way player was too good to pass up. There’s always a cliché saying that offense sells tickets and defense wins championships. With this team, that saying rings true throughout the arena. 

There’ something to be said about Brown and his thought process of how he wants to make sure he’s heard but not overstep his boundaries and be considered annoying. As a leader, sometimes you have to be annoying; that’s the kind of thing that makes a good team a great one. On top of that, defensively you have to be repetitive so that your teammates can get an understanding of how you play defensively.

It makes sense considering players like Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid have been in the system longer, but Brown is the better defender between the two. So, he could bring his knowledge to the team and improve on where things go wrong, and it seems he’s done just that.  There's a reason it’s been such massive improvement in one category in just one season. 

Defense is the moniker of head coach Nick Nurse, and it seems the 76ers have followed his lead and are determined to be the best in the league, and it starts with their newest leader, Jaylen Brown.