Jaylen Brown Set To Enter First Sixers Season With ‘kill' Mentality

Jaylen Brown set to enter first Sixers season with ‘kill' mentality originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

What has happened since July 1, the day the Sixers made the blockbuster move to acquire Jaylen Brown from their conference rival, Boston Celtics?

A lot of questions have been raised over the past two months about his relationship with the Celtics and, more importantly, his former teammate of nine seasons, six-time All-Star, Jayson Tatum. On August 6, Brown held his introductory press conference with the Sixers at the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center in Philadelphia, where reporters asked if he and Tatum were still in touch.

“Not really,” he responded.

Despite the lack of communication between Brown and his former teammate, he’s doing his best to leave his former city on good terms.

Let’s fast forward earlier this week. Brown organized a single-day farewell block party – the 741 Frequency Fest – a free public thank you event and goodbye celebration for Boston fans after playing ten seasons with the Celtics.

Brown’s farewell party was also livestreamed on his FCHWPO Twitch channel, where he also streamed again once the event concluded.

Brown wasted no time diving right into his offseason with the Sixers.

“It’s been a great summer,” he said. “We’ve been working, don’t let it fool you, don’t let nothing fool you, we’ve been in the gym, we’ve been working. I know y’all seen some of the workouts and stuff like that.”

Yes, yes, we have Jaylen.

On Aug. 19, NBA trainer Chris Johnson posted an Instagram video that featured Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and LeBron James working out together. The video has 10.8 million views — one of the most-viewed videos on Johnson’s page. 

During the stream, Brown disclosed that the workout took place in the “birthplace of The Bean,” referring to the late, great Kobe Bryant and the city of Philadelphia.

“We’ve been working, building chemistry with the guys,” he said. “Maxey is a dawg, LeBron is the f****** — don’t even need to say what LeBron is, he looks good, healthy.”

Aside from Brown working out with Maxey and James, he also gave a shoutout to the youngsters.

“Been working with the young guys. Labaron [Philon Jr.], VJ [Edgecombe]. Dogs. Even [Dominick] Barlow, [Adem] Bona, Anfernee [Simons]. I worked out with everyone on the team constantly.

“I’m grateful to the city of Philadelphia already and I ain’t even been there for that long. I’m grateful that they’ve just been a warm embrace.”

The season hasn’t even begun yet and it seems like Brown is already enjoying the City of Brotherly Love.

Brown then went on to express how he has been perceived, discussed and handled by those within the basketball world. Was he talking about the Celtics organization? USA Basketball? The media? He doesn’t say for sure and leaves it up to the viewers to interpret.

“For reasons I don’t need to share, I just feel like people don’t be understanding.”

“There is politics and so much stuff that goes on behind closed doors … It is what it is, but that just only motivates me even more to come out and show you who I am versus you trying to create these narratives and create these storylines because, in reality, you know what it is.”

But the narratives still linger about the type of person he is.

“And now they create these narratives that I’m saying ‘I’m the smartest person in the room’ or ‘I got a disease.’ Colin Cowherd, you know, to quote him, he said ‘it’s a disease’ or to quote one of his sources. Like these people is crazy, bro, and y’all got to see it.”

“These companies they be crazy. Corporations they be crazy, they be lying to us, they be putting stuff, propaganda out, putting out false statements, stuff that’s not even true. That’s why I started streaming in the first place. Because these industries be so corrupt bro, we force the hand. I want the chat to be able to see it, be able to stand up.”

If there’s one thing the Sixers are going to get from Brown, it’s intensity.

We saw a glimpse of that intensity between him and Embiid in Game 7 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, when the Sixers overcame a 3-1 deficit to take the series at TD Garden.

“My mentality is kill … I feel like I want blood this year,” he said. “I feel like that’s the mentality, I want blood.”

As a Sixers fan, that’s a sentence that makes your mouth water. To have a player as driven as Brown makes all the difference for a team like the Sixers. This is a player who is already an NBA champion, Finals MVP and five-time NBA All-Star. For him to be this motivated going into his first season with Philadelphia is a scary sight.

Only 48 days until new-look Sixers take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, but who’s counting.