On Monday, several teams around the NBA held media day, including the Philadelphia 76ers, with newly acquired All-NBA wing Jaylen Brown in attendance. Brown is hoping to prove his doubters wrong this year after the Boston Celtics shockingly traded him to their divisional rivals following last year's playoff series between the two teams.
Numerous unfavorable reports have come out about Brown in the months since then, including sports media personality Colin Cowherd claiming that Brown's perceived propensity to think he's the smartest person in every room was a “disease.”
Now, Brown has taken aim at those criticisms.
“Brown mentions Colin Cowherd's use of the word ‘disease' when talking about ‘concerning,” “bizarre' discussions of him with ‘undertones,'” reported Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice on X, formerly Twitter.
“Brown says he understands the role of anonymous sources in reporting, but there needs to be a ‘balance.'
Article Continues BelowIn addition to those criticisms, Brown also faced hot takes that he was not as good as his raw numbers last year suggested, with advanced stats and analytics painting a much less favorable picture of his impact on the Celtics over the years.
Still, those weren't nearly enough to stop the 76ers from swooping in and trading for him when the Celtics made him available, giving up Paul George and some draft compensation in the process.
A couple of weeks later, the team added LeBron James in free agency, completing arguably the biggest offseason makeover in the NBA this year and seemingly giving themselves a legit shot at competing for an NBA title this season.
The 76ers will open up their new year on October 20 with a road game vs the reigning champion New York Knicks.