Jaylen Brown was the top player in Georgia’s 2015 class. He just wrapped up his junior season at Wheeler High School. The year ended earlier than he would have liked it to. A huge travel season was waiting in the spring and summer and the conversation was out there about who the top dog was in the class at a national level. It was a storyline I know Jaylen wanted to not only be in but start on his own with the Preview. 

So when he showed up to the Elite Preview in 2014 at Norcross, he brought purpose with him. 

During a quiet moment of the camp, I pulled up a chair with Brown and asked him why he came to camp. 

“Why not?” he said with some confusion in his voice to my question. “If I don’t come then someone else is leaving here today the best player in Georgia and I know that’s not the case.”

I’m paraphrasing there but that’s what Brown played like. And he never looked back. The quest to becoming the number one player in the country was his goal that spring. He finished the year as the top guy in the class in our rankings. 

When I reached out him and said congrats about that spot, he said “Thanks but I’m only concerned about being the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.” 

He was a senior in high school. Less than 18 months later, he walked across the stage, shook Adam Silver’s hand and put on a hat with the legendary Boston Celtics logo on it. 

Brown was the second pick in the draft. I think he will be playing his first NBA season with something to prove this winter.