Can Jaylen Brown, LeBron and Embiid Make Philly Work?

SportsGrid
3 followers
Oct 21, 2026
AI Generated·May contain errors
Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe speaker analyzes the personality clash between Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, contrasting Tatum's family-oriented focus on basketball with Brown's activism and desire for the spotlight. This dynamic is used to question how Brown will integrate into a Philadelphia team led by LeBron James and Joel Embiid, specifically regarding ego, priorities, and the pressure of a demanding fan base.
I think the easiest way to describe the Jalen Brown
and Jason Tatum dynamic to me, Jason
Tatum had a son very young.
He had Deuce very young, 19, I believe he was, when Deuce was born.
He gets drafted out of Duke.
He's 18.
He has a child.
He has to become a father.
His mother moves to Boston to help him raise his son,
and he has to grow up very quickly.
He has to become a parent very quickly.
And I think there are, as a dad,
and if you have children, I think you recognize, even
at 19, you recognize that your brain, your mind,
your life, and your priorities all change
in the wake of a child being born.
And if you're taking responsibility
and you're going to be a part of that child's life and
you're going to raise that child,
that your outlook on life in certain dynamics in society
don't matter nearly as much to you as your child does.
Jalen, as far as I know, doesn't have children.
And as far as I know, Jalen Brown,
starting his own family, he hasn't done that yet.
I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty confident I'm not.
Or I am right on that.
He wanted to be a social activist.
He wanted to go to Atlanta and lead marches.
He wanted to be outspoken on social media.
He wanted to hold rallies.
He went to MIT.
He held different events at Harvard.
He became a very vocal person
in the Boston community for social change, okay?
There's nothing wrong with that,
but I think Jason Tatum wanted Jalen Brown to shut up.
I think he wanted him to play basketball,
and that's it, because that's what Jason Tatum
was about.
He was about basketball, and if you're the Boston Celtics
and you're trying to win championships,
while you understand how important everything
is that Jalen Brown was doing, it does distract
from your main goal, which is to win a championship.
In the city of Boston,
social issues become lightning rods.
It's a very polarizing city. A lot of people have very strong
opinions, strong beliefs, and they're not afraid to share it.
And so if you're out there on the
other side of some people's beliefs,
you get a lot of flack from sports radio callers or columnists
or sports talk show hosts or whatever,
or podcasters, you get a lot of heat coming back.
So how does that work in Philadelphia?
That's a long way of getting to this point.
But how does that work in Philly?
Because if they feel like your priority is your platform,
your live streams, your sneaker
line, all the things that Jalen Brown does,
how does LeBron handle that?
Because LeBron's about championships.
LeBron's about platform.
But LeBron's always been the biggest star.
He's always been the alpha.
and not only just the alpha from a talent perspective,
he's an alpha from a personality standpoint.
LeBron's the one that does all the talking.
LeBron's the one that goes to the podium.
LeBron's the one that sets the stage.
So now he goes to Philadelphia
and is Jalen Brown comfortable with acquiescing to LeBron
because he was not to Jason Tatum.
I mean, that was the problem when Jason Tatum got hurt
and Jalen Brown had an unbelievable regular season.
they lost in horrific fashion in the playoffs,
but he called it his favorite season. He called
it his favorite season. And everybody in Boston went,
What the hell are you talking about?
How could that be your favorite season?
You won a championship. You were a finals MVP.
You won it all. And the year you lost was your favorite.
Oh, cause you were the guy.
It was about you because you were the focal point.
That's why it was your favorite season.
And he spent the next like two weeks trying
to backtrack from that comment.
But Philly fans are very similar to Boston fans.
They're going to take you apart if they think
that you are not focused on one sole goal,
which is to win a championship.
So that's my question about the dynamic in Philadelphia.
LeBron and Embiid, no problem.
I got no issue with LeBron
and Embiid being together with Edgecombe and the young talent
that they've got.
Philadelphia has got that core right there.
But Jalen Brown's addition to that roster is very curious to me,
and I think it's going
to be interesting to see how it all works.
Now, LeBron might be hurt and Embiid might be hurt.
We may not see the starting five together
in Philadelphia for a long period of time,
but we'll see it tonight and we'll see how this is going to work.
It might work for a month.
It might work for two months.
But how does this dynamic work in Philly
is my main question for the season of the NBA.
Because on paper,
the Sixers are the best team in basketball, but it's on paper.
On paper, the Rams were supposed to be a super team,
and sportsbooks were taking a 17-0 wager
on the yes that the Rams are going to run the table.
And through six weeks, they have four losses.
I'm not saying that the Sixers are going to fall on their face
and lose 25-30 games and wind up like 52-30, but I don't think
this team is going to be a Warriors type, a 72-10 type.
I don't think that's going to be possible.
The health alone is a big problem.
