What a fun week of basketball. The Celtics are clearly not operating at 100% capacity as they gently float towards the All-Star break, but that’s just fine. We don’t need them at 100% in February, and the best part? They are still finding ways to win (and against Brooklyn it appears they found every way to win). Maybe the biggest reason is Jayson Tatum who has found his pull-up jumper and combined it with the best playmaking stretch of his career. Turns out, that’s a pretty effective combo.
Stat of the Week: 6.4 assists per game
Over his last 10 games, Jayson Tatum has done one of two things. He’s either developed some sort of novel echolocation which allows him to understand the geometry of a defense better than before, or he’s getting more comfortable reading defenses the old-fashioned way. We will probably never know which it is, but one thing is for certain, that dude is playmaking at a level he’s never touched before.
In his last 10 games, Tatum is averaging 6.4 assists per game, which is up from his season average of 4.8. The best part is that he’s also averaging 2.5 turnovers during that span, which is exactly in line with his season average of 2.5. Putting on my math glasses (they are slightly larger than my driving glasses but smaller than my reading glasses), that means his assist to turnover ratio has climbed pretty significantly as well (up to 2.56 from 1.92).
I don’t know how real this is, but it’s extremely encouraging and it’s not from some unsustainable uptick in usage either (29.7% during the last 10 and 29.4% for the season). He’s not really passing that much more; instead, the passes he’s throwing are more effective. He’s finding guys in dangerous positions and putting the passes in shooting pockets for clean jumpers. Tatum has always had high level playmaking in his repertoire, but he’s struggled, at times, with finding the right pass-shot mix. Recently, he’s striking the perfect balance and dragging the Celtics towards the All-Star break one dime at a time.
Xs and Oohhhssss: Jayson Tatum making the right reads
A big part of Tatum’s assist jump is him making the right play every single time he’s got the ball. Sometimes it’s a next level pass where he slings it cross-court to an open shooter.
And sometimes it’s just doing the simple thing, like finding Jaylen posting up a mismatch.
Or when KP has deep position.
He’s also gotten really good at using his head and eyes to manipulate the defense.
On this play, he tracks the roll man (KP) with his eyes. That subtle focus pulls in the corner help onto KP and opens up Al for a corner three. On time, on target no-look pass, and it’s good for three. That’s some high-level playmaking from a budding superstar.
But probably the biggest improvement I’ve seen from Tatum is his ability to hit the roll man. Tatum is so good at attacking defenses when he’s played straight up, especially out of the pick-and-roll, that teams don’t do it anymore. Instead, they often put two on the ball and either hard hedge or trap him. In the past, his successes against this type of defense often looked like this:
It’s pretty, but it’s also terrible defense from the Hawks. Better teams won’t allow a 6’9” guy to snake the pick-and-roll all that often.
Against good defense, he’s long had a tendency to pick up his dribble, unable to find the right angle to the rolling screen setter. This forced him to make a pass that escaped the pressure instead of exploited it.
Well, times change, hair grays (especially mine), and Jayson Tatum evolves. In the past few weeks, he is absolutely shredding teams when they put two on the ball, or even just show help, against him in the pick and roll. Sometimes it’s an easy pass to the short roll.
Sometimes it’s a silly one-handed bounce pass between two defenders to Derrick White.
He often isn’t even credited for assists, but his gravity and decision making is the foundation of the Celtics’ offense at this point. Luckily, that foundation keeps getting stronger.
Non-basketball Stuff of the Week: Walshyyyyyyyy
We have an extremely creative and unique nickname for Jordan Walsh over at First to the Floor (like, rate, subscribe). We have dubbed him “Walshy.” I know, wordplay so clever Lil’ Wayne’s jaw would drop.
There’s just something intoxicating about watching a late draft pick get their first minutes. It’s that delightful mixture of low expectations and unbounded optimism. If he’s bad, well it doesn’t really matter. But if he’s good, then Brad Stevens has just uncovered a legitimate rotational piece effectively out of thin air.
We finally got to see Jordan Walsh’s first real, non-garbage NBA minutes, and I’m here to say: not bad. I mean, not good, but also not bad. He flashed some interesting stuff defensively, the shot doesn’t look broken, and his maniacal hustle is endlessly endearing. He’s still got a long way to go to give this team real positive minutes, but that’s ok.
But my favorite part of the whole experience? It seems like every Celtics fan feels the same way about him. I loved the swelling of the crowd noise every time he touched the ball, the palpable excitement when he saved that ball from going out of bounds. This is the type of stuff that makes basketball so fun to watch, why following a team this closely is time well spent. I just have one request, give me more WALSHY!
