Paul Pierce unsure of Jaylen Brown's future with Celtics: Maybe Jaylen wants the opportunity to be 'the guy'

Though he rededicated himself to basketball and took it as a badge of honor that he recovered from his wounds and played in all 82 games that season and next, Pierce admitted it was a difficult period emotionally as well as physically. And the psychological scars aren’t hard to recall. “It was tough, because I bottled it in for a long time,” he said. “There was a lot of times I’d just go to the gym at 10 or 11 at night. Can’t sleep, 1 o’clock in the morning. We had 24-hour access to our facility, so I’d go there. The police would follow me. I had 24-hour protection for like a good year or so. (Then-Celtic coach) Rick Pitino demanded it.” -via Heavy.com / March 24, 2023

Indeed, the NBA noted that “Colorado authorities did not find sufficient cause to charge Morant with a crime.” Morant was suspended eight games for “conduct detrimental to the league.” Pierce doesn’t necessarily disagree with how the matter played out, but in the moment, he told Heavy Sports he wanted to slow things down. “The thing was, I didn’t want people to make an early judgment,” he said in a Wednesday night conversation. “I think that’s a mistake we make in the social media era. We see things, and then it’s just early judgment. We’re quick to judge instead of let’s find out what’s really going on first. And that’s something I had to learn. I don’t like to see things and then react. I like to see things and just let it play out. Let me see what that really was. Like, I didn’t know if that was a lighter in his hand. You know, them gun lighters? I didn’t know.” -via Heavy.com / March 24, 2023

And though he had personal security and additional observation from local law enforcement, he was advised, as well, to carry a weapon. “My license was to carry on me, but I wasn’t flashing it and doing all that,” Pierce said. “I went and applied and got my license. You know, me and Lynchie (former Celtics director of security Phil Lynch) used to go to the gun range. “I was getting death threats before the case came up. One time I was sitting in a restaurant and they came up and gave me the cordless phone from the restaurant. He was like, ‘Somebody’s calling for you.’ I was like, ‘What?’ It was a threat. That’s what I was dealing with.” -via Heavy.com / March 24, 2023

With Jaylen Brown, there’s no doubt that all of this chatter was coming from outside the organization since it obviously serves the Celtics no good to feed into any of it. The contrast in his remarks is an interesting point to and something I’ll be asking him to clarify at some point as well. With that said, Brown has every right to feel the way he does based on how much his name has been thrown around in the last few years at various points in trade deals. Each side has their reasons for how they handled it but it’s certainly a situation where some scars may remain. Whether or not those factor into his future remains to be seen. -via Booth Newspapers / March 24, 2023

Boston Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown has signed with M88 for management, becoming the first athlete to join the company’s roster of artists and cultural leaders. M88 will now look to create and develop opportunities for Brown in both the entertainment and strategic partnership spaces. -via Deadline / March 23, 2023

Bobby Manning: Asked Mazzulla how he relates to challenges Jaylen described recently: “Just listen and see what he needs from me. Whatever that might be. I love the conversations we have and the relationship that we’re building. I just try to listen to (the players)…whatever they need I’ll do” -via Twitter @RealBobManning / March 23, 2023