Why Jaylen Brown Might Be Better Than Jayson Tatum

We test the idea that Boston’s brightest star is its best playoff engine and make the case for Jalen Brown’s two‑way edge over Jason Tatum. From 2022 to 2024, we track matchups, efficiency, leadership, and why Finals MVP shifts the value scale.

• framing the Celtics‑Lakers context and the JB vs JT question
• accolades and regular season optics versus playoff weight
• 2022 Finals impact, Wiggins matchup, and efficiency gaps
• 2024 Finals assignments on Luka and the Finals MVP case
• clutch moments, consistency, and two‑way value
• leadership, maturity, and marketability dynamics
• usage, metrics, and how context shapes roles
• team‑building thought experiment around JB or JT

Like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone who’s anyone who’s better between JB and JT, as well as my show

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stakes As A Lakers Fan
• 0:28 Who’s Boston’s Real Guy
• 1:33 Regular Season Accolades vs Context
• 3:00 2022 Finals: Impact And Matchups
• 5:10 2024 Finals: Defense On Luka And MVP
• 6:40 Clutch, Consistency, And Two‑Way Value
• 9:10 Leadership, Maturity, And Marketability
• 10:45 Usage, Metrics, And Playoff Weight
• 12:10 Building Around JB Or JT
• 13:20 Audience Challenge And Sign‑Off

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now, today's gonna be an interesting conversation because y'all know I'm a Lakers fan, but y'all know I love hoops. And I got I've been I've been frustrated. I've been frustrated because I've had conversations about Celtics. And keep in mind too, the Celtics just played my Lakers. They put straight BTA work, and we were relatively healthy. They're still missing J's still missing Jason Tatum. And it was BTA work. It's disgusting. And so after these, after this, after this belt whooping, people were asking me, who do you think is better? Right? You start hearing conversation, you start having nice little dialogue. And I believe that Jalen Brown is better than Jason Tatum. So who's really the guy in Boston? I actually think that Jalen Brown has been the guy in Boston. Let's think about this, for example. Now, Jason Tatum is the face of the franchise. He's a usually a perennial MVP candidate. But when we think of Jalen Brown, he's a two-way force. Finals MVP, elite playoff riser. The question that looms, like I said, who's the guy between the two for the Celtics? Regular season resumes. Jason Tatum, he he's the higher career scoring average, more all NBA selections, more all-star appearance all-star appearances. You can view him as the offensive focal point of the all of the Celtics, elite shot creator at about 6'8 to 6'10. So, you know, that height does matter, right? But Hort matters more. And Jalen Brown gives us 20 to 25 every season. Well, at least since Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irvin got off the squad. Ever since these two boys have been the focus, that's what he's been doing. He gives you strong efficiency inside the arc, improved playmaker, and is a more physical downhill attacker. So, yes, when we talk about accolades, they can lean Jason Tatum. But context does matter. Now, I've heard people saying that Jason Tatum carries a larger offensive burden, and I think he's actually been pushed to be the face of the Celtics. But that that word pushed really means forced to me. Yes, he's earned it, but I think so has Jalen Brown, too. But I'm talking about before this season as well. Now, when we're talking about regular season, right, JTB doing his thing. Playoffs, he's had wonderful performances. We've seen a 50-point game seven from him, right? Against the 76ers. That's cool. But when we talk about playoffs, we gotta think that leans Jalen Brown's way. Let's take it back to 2022, right? Well, who was the better player in 2022? Versus the Warriors. I'd like to say that it was in fact Steph Curry. No, well, well, yes, technically Steph Curry, but Jalen Brown. Now Jalen Brown had to guard Steph Curry and Clay Thompson. Jason Tatum had to guard Andrew Wiggins. Let's be clear. Steph Curry wins finals MVP. A lot of people were trying to stop Steph Curry. But Jalen Brown's offensively outperforms Jason Tatum. Okay? We're talking about efficiency, talking about scoring more, getting more rebounds. Yes, JT might have had more assists. And then defensively, he surprisingly actually got more. He's the bigger player, so I would hope that he'd get more blocks. Steals you can argue about. But I think when it comes to impact, Jalen Brown mattered a little bit more than Jason Tatum. Not to mention, Jason Tatum actually got outplayed by his own matchup, Andrew Wiggins. Which, if you want to say, Well, yeah, well, Steph Curry, I'll play JB. Look who you just had to mention. Steph Curry. Arguably the greatest player in NBA history. Like there are players that there are people out here, fans out here, that say Steph Curry is the GOAT. We're not saying that about Andrew Wiggins. We're not. Hell, we're not even saying he's the best Canadian player. Like, like, come on now. Andrew cool, though. Don't get me wrong. Wiggs was cool. He almost won finals MVP. Too bad this ain't horseshoes because almost don't count unless we're playing in horseshoots or grenades, I guess. So again, that was 2022. And I was told, oh, well, if JB stepped up like this four years ago, we would have had three titles. Well, what about Jason Tatum? He got outplayed by Andrew Wiggins. Andrew was strapping that tail. And in the same breath, Andrew was hooping. So Jason Tatum couldn't even stop Andrew Wiggins. Just saying. Now let's take this on to the 2024 finals, where we're going up against the Dallas Mavericks. Their team ends up winning. Who is Jalen Brown guarding? Luca Donczyk. Now Luca played high, but he gave his regular season production. He didn't play upwards like we expect. Jalen Brown had to guard Luca while giving similar production to Jason Tatum. And let's let's be clear: Jason Tatum had more of a green light than Jalen Brown. Once again, Jalen Brown takes 14 less shots than Jason Tatum. Gets one more bucket or one less bucket than Jason Tatum. So clearly the efficiency was not there for JT. And it's not like JB wasn't getting focused on in the finals. Alright? He ends up winning finals MVP. And again, having to guard Lou Kadonchik. That wasn't JT's assignment. It won't. Now we can talk about Jason Tatum having multiple 40-point playoff games. Like I said, that 50-point game against the 76ers. But we got to focus on the inconsistency. Who's more clutch? That might have to be Jalen Brown. Again, finals MVP. That matters. How are we going to talk about Jason Tatum being better than Jalen Brown? But Jalen Brown outperforming Jason Tatum in the finals. Not once, but twice. Now both of them are defensive, or let me rephrase this. They're both two-way players. Jalen Brown just has more of an impact on the defensive end. Yes, when we're talking about talent on the offensive end, JT has more talent. Coming out of college, JT went to my Blue Devils. So again, I should be biased for JT. Jalen Brown was viewed as more of a prospect, a project coming out of Cal. I think Jalen Brown has upped his play every single season he's been in the NBA. You can make an argument that JT has not, although I think he has, but Jalen Brown's made more jumps than JT has. Now, Jalen Brown's an elite on ball defender, better on ball defender than JT. He guards one through four. He's stronger at a point of attack on defense. JT's very good team defender, very solid rebounder. And again, he's 6'10. Supposed to be. Strong weak side rim protection. I'm not going to act like though he's swatting shots. He's just decent at it. Probably better than JB because JB's a little shorter. But hey, there's an argument to be made too that maybe JB is as good of a defender. It's just that JT's taller. So when we're talking about individual stoppers, I'm going Jalen Brown. Team defense, I'm going JT, but I got to give overall defensive edge to Jalen Brown. And again, this season, we've seen Jalen Brown's offensive game explode. We've seen his playmaking improve. Now again, Tatum is the organizational's cornerstone, but I think that's because he's the more quote unquote marketable player. His game looks sexier, right? Like we love his son. Cool. Let's not forget though, Jalen Brown should be viewed as the leader on this team. Vice president of the NBA Players Association. I think we got to factor that in, stuff like that in. Jalen Brown seems to be more mature as a person. So he's more confident at times. He's more assured of himself. JT might have more talent. Got more at his disposal. May have more in his bag. But again, he's been more inefficient. I look at these two as Kobe Bryant as T Mac, where Jalen Brown reminds me of Kobe and Jason Tatum reminds me of T Mac. T Mac had more talent to me. Kobe was more mature. Kobe was more definitive. Kobe had more heart. You know what I'm saying? He had more heart, ladies and gentlemen. He had more, he had a stronger work ethic. And I remember when I heard Jalen Brown come into the league saying he wants to be the best player. He wants to get better every season. And I genuinely believed him. Not saying that I don't believe Jason Tatum wants it to. I just believe it more in Jalen Brown. So again, when we're thinking of Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown doesn't get featured the same that JT does. The usage rate, it leans JT. The win shares, okay, cool. You can say that leans JT as well, which stuff like that matters. But Brown, JB, he gets shortchanged unnecessarily, and I'm glad that this season we get to see what he's made of. So if you're looking at who's the better player, if you're going off accolades, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to know what you think of as your better player. I look at it as who's better from a two-way perspective. If you're offense, if you're an offensive player, you got to be extremely elite to outplay a two-way player for me. Both of these guys are two-way players. Intangibles matter. Production over potential matters. So when I'm sitting down, yes, I think Tatum does have a higher ceiling. Can we say he's proven to be a number one option? Sure. He has the more accolades. Does he have more defensive attention? I don't know. I don't know about that. That's subjective. He's had the MVP level seasons, but again, part of that is because the Celtics have been trying to force him as the guy. But when we look at production, while MVP level seasons matter, remember that's regular season. What matters more? Regular season or playoffs? And to be clear, JB has proved to be the better player, especially in the playoffs. If not, all right, let's take it back to 2022 and 2024. JB outplayed JT. Finals MVP does matter. Elite to a balanced player. More elite than JT for me. So I hear you all. If we're thinking overall value, right, like who has the better bag, who has more versatility potential, who has more talent, I get you if you say JT. But if we're talking who has the better finals, who can dominate physically, who sometimes looks more composed and under pressure, that's Jalen Brown. So I hear people when they say that Tatum is a better overall player. But Brown has been closer to JT than people realize. And I'm talking about not just this season, I'm talking about for years. For years. And in certain playoff environments, he's arguably more impactful. So we can say that JT might be perceived as the better player. You gotta not, you have to focus and pay attention to JB. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm definitely curious what's your thoughts about who's better between Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Funny enough, if I had to build a team around either player, it's a tough conversation. I can lean JB. I can lean JT. The Celtics have two great prospects. They don't need to get rid of either, and I'm glad they haven't. Actually, I take that back. I'm mad they haven't because I think my Lakers could do a nice job of getting JB. I would love that. Although he's been in some recent controversy with that in Hollywood, I think, where he tried to have a party and that got a little itched. That got a little interested. Yeah, we might not be able to get JB as I think about it now. But the Celtics, they did a wonderful job of keeping both players and letting them develop. But I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, who you all believe is the better player. So definitely make sure you like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone who's anyone who's better between JB and JT, as well as my show. My name is Trey, and I'm the host of Get a Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.