Close your eyes for a moment and allow yourself to envision a hypothetical scenario in 2024.
The Celtics are riding a a six-game winning streak and are facing the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. It’s 92 apiece with 3:30 remaining, the Knicks are on a run and the New York fans are getting rowdy.
Kristaps Porzingis are Jrue Holiday are sidelined with injuries. Jayson Tatum and Al Horford have both fouled out. Luke Kornet is out for personal reasons (I didn’t say it was a moment of tranquility). The Celtics are in trouble.
But wait a minute. They still have Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta. Not too shabby! Shooting? Absolutely. Playmaking? You betcha. Chemistry? Off the charts. There’s just one question: Brown at the 4? Would it work?
Well, in 2025-26 – with a guard-heavy, defensively unproven and significantly less-experienced roster – it might have to.
The beauty of that 2023-24 season was that no matter who was on the floor, you genuinely expected them to pull it out every time. Joe Mazzulla was a master puppeteer, and the players consistently rose to the challenge when it mattered most – especially in the playoffs, when they grew stronger and stronger to become an unstoppable unit.
No one on the outside is expecting that kind of season this year (if you are, I’ve got news for you, buddy), but if you convince yourself it’s 2023, you can still enjoy an energetic and scrappy Pritchard-White-Hauser-Brown-Queta five that has years of playing together.
It’s like buying reduced-fat ice cream. Does it taste like the real deal? Probably not, but it’s still ice cream, and you love ice cream.
Pritchard and White have proven they know how to step up in the clutch. Hauser is a knock-down shooter who has expanded his game since that championship season. Queta has come a long way and looks poised for a breakout year. But what about Brown at the 4?
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Brown over the past near-decade, it’s that the man absolutely loves a challenge. Every NBA player is competitive, but Brown is on another level. If you tell him he shouldn’t have been taken third overall, he’ll prove you wrong. If you tell him Tatum is the only superstar on the Celtics, he’ll prove you wrong. This year, if you tell him it’s a gap season, I’m fairly certain he’s going to prove you wrong.
You think the man’s going to waste a year of his prime? Think again.
Putting the 6-foot-6-inch Brown at the 4 in crunch time puts other teams in a bind. If you go big, Brown is fully capable of digging in defensively and providing physicality and brute force. On the other end, good luck to a stiff 6-foot-9-inch power forward trying to slow him down.
If you go small, and try to fight fire with fire, advantage Brown. He has elite footwork, a steadily growing arsenal of post moves and is lethal in transition. Brown is better than almost every other wing roughly his size, which means the Celtics would have an advantage as well.
Would it be perfect? Probably not. Basketball rarely is. But it’s so crazy, it just might work.
I’m not saying he should play at the 4 the entire game (Chris Boucher, Jordan Walsh and others deserve a shot). But late in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, you want your best lineup out there. Anfernee Simons will certainly have a chance to enter the chat, but until further notice, that lineup is Pritchard, White, Hauser, Brown and Queta.
They’ve done it before, and they can do it again – and yes, they can do it with Brown at the 4.
