Revisiting Jaylen Brown’s ‘mature’ recruitment: Why the future NBA Finals MVP chose Cal over power programs

Now one NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and an unexpected but deserving Finals MVP, Jaylen Brown was never your typical NBA player. More than just an All-Star player, Brown is an All-Star intellectual and a person who has never been afraid to do things his way to achieve his goals.

That willingness to achieve his goals by doing what he thought was best dates back to 2025, when he surprisingly committed to California in May of his senior year.

One of the top five prospects Because of his 6-foot-4 size, abundant athleticism and scoring ability, the Marietta, Ga., product was courted by the best of the best. He visited Kansas and UCLA, among othersbefore settling into the top four: Cal, Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina.

Brown marched to the beat of his own drum. He was intelligent, analytical and aware of how he presented himself to the world. It wasn’t because of the brand. It was very important to Brown that people understand that he was more than just a basketball player and that he wasn’t putting on a show. To recruit him, you didn’t have to go through handlers; it was basically him and his mother, Mechalle Brown, who were trying to find the best place.

“He was one of the most mature and intelligent kids I’ve ever recruited,” an assistant coach involved in the process told CBS Sports. “You felt like you were talking to real people, the questions were authentic, and it was like dealing with a mature adult.”

In most recruitments, there are rumors about leanings one way or another, and that certainly happened with Brown. Early in his senior year, there were times when both UCLA, coached by Steve Alford, and Kansas were considered to be in strong positions before fading. Even late in the process, it was thought that Michigan, coached by John Beilein, was in strong contention to sign Brown if he didn’t go to Kentucky.

To make things difficult to read, Brown himself was quite quiet. He didn’t promote himself, he didn’t do much press and he never let much slip. Such recruitment seems like a foreign concept a decade later.

As Brown’s recruitment progressed in the spring of his senior year, most thought that John Calipari and the Wildcats had taken control of the recruitment. Even when Brown made a much-publicized “surprise visit” to Cal in late March 2015, most dismissed his chances and refused to believe that Cuonzo Martin could beat Calipari head-on.

Then, in mid-April, Cal got a five-star award Ivan Rabb, a striker who had a good relationship with Brown, and things started to improve. Between Rabb, Cal’s academics and Martin’s ability to build relationships, they were generating real momentum, but there was also another factor. One of the program’s best players, former NBA All-Star Shareef Abdur-Rahim, played at the same school as Brown, and while it has never been discussed publicly, there are many who believe he helped mentor his fellow alumnus. from Wheeler High School. in the direction of Cal.

When Brown finally committed on Friday, May 1, he did so in the most Jaylen Brown way possible, simply telling former 247Sports director of basketball Evan Daniels that he had committed. The news was apparently confirmed by a tweet from Cuonzo Martin.

During his time at Cal, Brown played in and started 34 games in the 2015-16 season. He averaged 27.6 minutes, 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists while shooting 43.1% from the field and 29.4% from three. Cal went 23-11 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament — and Cal hasn’t made the Big Dance since. Martin resigned the following season and left for Missouri.

Brown was selected third overall in 2016 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, right after Ben Simmons, who went number 1 to the Philadelphia 76ers, and Brandon Ingram, who went number 2 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now, he’s an NBA champion who has reached the pinnacle of his sport by doing what he’s always done and trusting that he knows what’s best for his future.