Celtics’ Jaylen Brown talks fighting complacency, relationship with the media, and more on ‘Hot Ones’

Brown touched on a number of topics with host Sean Evans, from defending a title to Joe Mazzulla’s unique coaching approach.

A busy summer rolls on for Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who appeared this week on the popular YouTube interview show “Hot Ones,” where guests answer questions while eating progressively spicier chicken wings.

Brown touched on a number of topics with host Sean Evans, from defending a title to the most important people in NBA history — Michael Jordan and Bill Russell were among Brown’s choices — to Joe Mazzulla’s unique coaching approach.

Brown was first asked about how the mind-set changes for the Celtics as they become the hunted as defending champions this season.

“I think the pressure and the expectation level needs to be raised,” Brown said. “Human nature kind of seeps in once you win, and makes you kind of relax. Complacency … we’ve got to fight that.”

Evans also asked Brown about the evolution of his relationship with the media, which has been strained at points, and in particular about the “state your source” shirt Brown donned for June’s championship parade.

“I don’t really do too many podcasts, too much talking, interviews, I rarely do them,” Brown said. “So some of the narratives float and I allow them to float, but going forward I look forward to clearing up some misconceptions and addressing some things in the past. Maybe me and Stephen A. [Smith, the ESPN host whose comments prompted the shirt] will have a sit-down and hash things out.”

Asked about his favorite “Mazzulla-ism,” Brown revealed another great line from his coach.

“One of coach Mazzulla’s favorite quotes is like: ‘There’s no such thing as a foul. You either die or you don’t,’” Brown said with a laugh. “He just has a bunch of like quotes and mentality. One of the things he’s coined is like, we call our offense the ‘killer whale offense’ and we attack seals … we just study how killer whales attack as a unit, and we built our offense kind of off [that].

“Joe definitely has a bunch of crazy stuff, but it’s a method to his madness and it obviously works.”

As the spice got more intense later in the episode, Brown answered a couple quick-fire questions.

Which non-playoff team will take the biggest step forward this year?

“Memphis.”

A star you most want to see in the dunk contest?

“Zion [Williamson].”

The Celtics will win back-to-back NBA titles if …?

“We stay healthy.”