{"id":666530,"date":"2026-03-19T07:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666530\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T07:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T07:51:16","slug":"jaylen-brown-reveals-the-unlikely-leadership-style-behind-celtics-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666530\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaylen Brown reveals the unlikely leadership style behind Celtics success"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Before the Celtics\u2019 season started, Jaylen Brown<\/a> decided he wanted to get to know his teammates on a deeper level to figure out how to lead them best. He\u2019d long played alongside guys like Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser, but now he was eager to better understand what made them tick and how he could communicate with them as effectively as possible.<\/p>\n

For Joe Mazzulla, Brown\u2019s relentless pursuit of that question was apparent from the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cJaylen\u2019s approach to leadership this year has been getting to know his teammates \u2013 understanding how to push his teammates\u2019 buttons, how to understand them better, how to communicate with them better,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that he\u2019s taken very seriously, his leadership off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, the behind the scenes of that process may surprise people. In addition to the time Brown spent simply getting to know his teammates, this year, he also opted to learn and memorize their Chinese and Western zodiac signs, and numerology.<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar, zodiac signs are personality traits based on birth timing. Chinese zodiac signs are based on birth year, and are represented by an animal that indicates one\u2019s personality, while Western zodiac signs are based on birth date, on the position of the sun at the time of one\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n

After the Celtics 120-99 win over the Golden State Warriors, when asked about his approach to leadership this season, Brown rattled off each of his teammates\u2019 zodiac signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeemi, he\u2019s Year of the Rabbit,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, his communication is different from D-White, who is Year of the Dog. So, his communication style is different. Hugo is also a Dog. Payton is a Tiger. JT is a Tiger. Ron is a Dragon. Joe\u2019s a Dragon. Nikola, he\u2019s new to our team \u2014 he\u2019s Year of the Horse. It\u2019s Year of the Horse right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those wondering, according to Chinese astrology, here\u2019s the significance behind each of those signs:<\/p>\n

Rabbits (like Neemias Queta) are gentle and empathetic,Dogs (like Derrick White and Hugo Gonzalez) are generous, warm, and easygoing.Tigers (like Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard) are confident and competitive.Dragons (like Ron Harper Jr and Joe Mazzulla) are powerful and ambitious.Horses (like Nikola Vucevic) are energetic and free-spirited<\/p>\n

So, after he learned each teammate\u2019s sign, Brown took it into account when figuring out how to best communicate with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started utilizing that when I speak to each and every guy,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if it would work before the season started, but that stuff definitely works.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Chinese zodiac signs, Brown learned his teammates\u2019 Western zodiac signs. He shared, for example, that Tatum is a Pisces (because his March 3rd birthday falls between February 19th and March 20th). Pisces, according to Western astrology, are known for being empathetic, highly intuitive, and emotionally sensitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned communication styles that work best for each individual,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Brown also studied numerology, a belief system that assigns meaning to numbers, especially those connected to one\u2019s birth date and name. Brown and Sam Hauser, for example, are both fives. (In numerology, the number 5 is all about freedom, change, and adventure; those who have a life path 5 hate feeling restricted).<\/p>\n

Brown said he got inspired to go down this path after a few friends put it on his radar before the season. And, he feels like the results have been fruitful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kind of suggested it \u2014 try to see if it works,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd everybody has a different kind of makeup of who they are and how they approach things. And if you learn a little bit about each person, what makes them tick, you can kind of learn more about how to maximize potential. All that type of stuff added up over the course of the season. And here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Before the Celtics\u2019 season started, Jaylen Brown decided he wanted to get to know his teammates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,37728,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-666530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-features","14":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}