Celtics Notes: Jaylen Brown, Bench, Jayson Tatum

“I feel like on both sides of the ball. I’m playing the best basketball of my life,” Brown told Jay King of The Athletic. “Most people, how they watch the game, they don’t really watch, so it’s like they evaluate it by statistics.”

Brown is averaging 22.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists — all down from last season. But he has a point, because the Celtics look even better than they did last year and Brown is playing as well as ever.

“I feel like I’m a different player,” Brown told King. “I still have the same essence. That aggressiveness is where my tone is always going to be, but I’m seeing the floor, making the right reads, trying to get others involved all at the same time.”

• In case you missed it, the Celtics reportedly are looking to strengthen their bench before the February trade deadline, as we relayed here.
• And trying to get some help in reserve is undoubtedly something Boston should do, wrote Erik Beaston of Bleacher Report. “The front office must keep an eye on the situations in Utah, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Washington, and Detroit as those squads potentially embark on fire sales that will potentially see quality role players up for grabs via trade,” Beaston wrote.
• Star wing Jayson Tatum said he loves playing in Boston and hanging another banner is the ultimate goal. “They love their sports teams, they love their guys. And I feel like I’ve been embraced, I feel like they’ve accepted me as one of their guys,” Tatum said on the Point Forward podcast with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner. “There’s a sense of pride, there’s an edge you have to have to play here. I can only imagine the love — I know how much love I get now. I can only imagine the love, the reception, if you hung one of those banners up.”