Jaylen Brown's NBA education has already begun and the No. 3 overall draft pick has a fiery teacher: new Boston Celtics teammate Marcus Smart.

Over the past week, Brown and Smart have been working out with two Celtics assistant coaches, Micah Shrewsberry and Brandon Bailey, as well as Maine Red Claws head coach Scott Morrison. As one might expect, Smart has brought a fire pit of intensity to the sessions, but Brown declines to back down.

"The nice thing about having both of them here is they can compete together," Morrison told MassLive Wednesday during an appearance on the Locked on Celtics podcast. "For sure Brandon and myself, we've been working on fundamentals and theory and things like that with defense, but there's no better teaching than getting Marcus out there and just seeing and feeling what a real NBA player looks like."

Morrison said he has been "impressed, like everybody, with (Brown's) athleticism."

"He looks like a veteran pro, not a 19-year-old kid, that's for sure," said the Red Claws coach, who spends a lot of time around the Celtics to maximize the affiliation between the two teams. "And skill-wise, since we've been out here I think he's shown a great deal of potential. A lot of people are asking how his shot looks, things like that. I think he has great potential as a shooter and he's explosive to the rim, and he's improving his finishing. Probably the biggest and most important thing is he picks up things quick and he wants to learn, which is a key for anybody who has to develop."

"Marcus has been great," Morrison added, "because he shares his knowledge with Jaylen and says, 'Hey, in the league this isn't going to work,' or, 'Guys are going to do this when you do this.' Like I said, (Brown has) been real good to just listen and pick it up but he doesn't back down either. He'll try to compete with Marcus and both guys are out there to win, but also out there to help each other which has been great.

"Marcus isn't going to give up any easy buckets, even in August. Jaylen's a strong kid, getting stronger, but Marcus has that man strength you can't teach. Getting in the weight room, or just trying to move him, or set a screen in drills, I know I'm coming home with a few bruises every night too."

Celtics fans are curious to see what Brown can provide during his rookie season. Smart will play a big role one way or another, but might be needed to increase his playmaking after the departure of Evan Turner. Morrison believes the third-year pro has another level of creativity within him.

"I think he does," Morrison said. "I think he showed signs last season too at times. I'm not speaking for him but I think any time where you're struggling a bit with your outside shooting you try and maybe you force things around the rim a little bit. But when I watched Marcus, especially in the playoffs when he was playing pretty well, he'd get in the paint, help would come and he could make the open pass, open read. And that's one thing that we work on here too every day is just reads based on what the defense does. So I think you'll see him reach another level. I know he's putting in a lot of time on his shooting all offseason. He works out with us in the morning, he goes to another gym and shoots in the afternoon, and then when we can we go back at night and he joins us for extra shooting then too. So I know he's been serious and, like I said, a great example for a guy like Jaylen."

Listen to the whole podcast with Morrison below. He also discussed his unique coaching journey; the development of youngsters Terry Rozier, Jordan Mickey and James Young; and some ways the Celtics combined analytics and film study to try defeating the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs. Find subscription info for the Locked on Celtics podcast at the bottom of this page.