The spotlight has been on Jaylen Brown since he was named the MVP of both the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, causing folks to look back at his road to this point. And the one question that continues to arise is this: Why did a top-five prospect from Georgia, who was recruited by every major basketball school, choose to play at Cal, whose basketball program is such a mess that Golden Bears fans were overjoyed when Cal went 13-19 overall and 9-11 in the conference this past season?
A report this week by CBS Sports Eric Bossi takes us through the process that led Brown to Berkeley. But one thing should be noted at the outset: Although Cal’s basketball program is struggling now (seven straight losing seasons), that was not the case when Brown committed to Cal on May 1, 2015. At that time the Bears were coming off their eighth straight winning season, and had won more than 20 games in five of those seasons and earned NCAA tournament berths in four of them.
Still it came as a surprise when Brown chose Cal, as noted in the May 2, 2015, ESPN story that reported his commitment. It included this excerpt:
California wasn't even much of a factor for most of Brown's recruitment, as the elite small forward caught people by surprise when he took a visit to Berkeley in March.
The fact that ESPN learned of Brown’s commitment through his AAU coach rather from some flamboyant announcement from Brown himself tells you a lot about Brown.
This week’s CBS Sports story elaborates on Brown’s recruitment, and includes this excerpt:
A top-five prospect because of his 6-foot-7 size, abundant athleticism, and ability to score, the Marietta, Georgia, product was courted by the best of the best.He visited Kansas and UCLA, among others before settling on a top four of Cal, Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina.
Brown marched to the beat of his own drum. He was intelligent, analytical, and conscious of how he presented himself to the world. It wasn't for branding. It was just very important to Brown that people understood that he was more than just a basketball player and that he wasn't putting on a show. To recruit him, you didn't have to go through handlers; it was pretty much him and his mother, Mechalle Brown, who were looking to figure out the best spot.
"He was one of the most mature and intelligent kids that I ever recruited," one assistant coach involved in the process told CBS Sports. "You felt that you were speaking with real people, the questions were authentic, and it was like dealing with a mature adult."
High school highlights:
Brown said little publicly about his recruitment, causing reporters to guess at his intensions.
One key component made a difference. In mid-April, Cal coach Cuonzo Martin got a commitment from five-starrecruit Ivan Rabb, a power forward from Oakland who had a strong relationship with Brown. Another factor may have been Shareef Abdur-Rahim, who went to the same Georgia high school as Brown and played at Cal before becoming an NBA star. But it was the relationship with Rabb and the academics Cal offered that seemed to have more of an impact.
Brown’s recruiting story had an anticlimactic ending, according to the CBS Sports story:
When Brown finally committed on Friday, May 1, he did so in the most Jaylen Brown way possible, simply telling former 247Sports director of basketball Evan Daniels that he had committed.
Brown played just one season at Cal in 2015-16, averaging 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.0 assists while shooting just 29.4 percent from the college three-point line, which was 20 feet, 9 inches at the time, three feet closer than the NBA line. Brown was a first-team all-Pac-12 pick, and the Bears went 23-11 and earned an NCAA Tournament berth. They have not been back to the NCAA tournament since.
Brown was the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Celtics on his way to becoming a star, and his personality became fleshed out in the ensuing years by his outspoken comments and actions regarding social issues and his influence as vice president of the NBA players union.
He was a member of the chess club at Cal, although there are conflicting reports about how good he was. More significant is that, since leaving Cal as an undergraduate, he has taken graduate classes at Cal. He also gave a talk at the Harvard graduate school of education in 2018.
His decision to come to Cal seems less surprising now.
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