We’re almost there. In less than a month, we’ll all be getting our first look at Jayson Tatum and the defending champion Boston Celtics. Sure, it’ll just be a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets, but it’ll be an opportunity to see Tatum and the boys nonetheless.
With the game being played in Abu Dhabi, an international neutral site, I’d imagine that the stars will be playing their fair share of minutes, at least if Adam Silver has anything to say about it.
Of course, it’s always exciting to get a glimpse of how the squad is looking, maybe some of the new players in particular. In this case, the most intriguing story on Boston’s roster might be Tatum.
The storyline is going to span far past October 4, but that’ll be the first chapter in Jayson Tatum’s post-championship career arc (the Olympics were just the prologue that no one actually needed to read).
It feels like this upcoming season is going to be a great opportunity for the 26-year-old to take his game to a new level.
Why does it feel like that?
Well, a little relief can go a long way sometimes.
Think about it. The sheer amount of pressure that Tatum (as well as Jaylen Brown) has been under to get over the championship hump for the last five or six seasons has been unbelievable. Sure, it’s something that he had to learn to deal with, and clearly managed to succeed in spite of. But, at the same time, not having that consistent weight on his shoulders opens the door for his game to loosen up.
“There’s so many things they can debate — is he the best player, is he top five? They can’t debate that I won a championship, it’s something that they can’t take from me,” Tatum said on an “Old Man and the Three” appearance back in July. “I sleep so much better at night.”
“I don’t care. I honestly don’t care what they say anymore,” he continued. “It’s like ‘Yo, I did it.’ The thing that they said I couldn’t do, I did.”
Make no mistake, Tatum was excellent last season. He earned his fourth All-NBA selection, making the First Team for the third-straight season, made a trip to the All-Star Game for the fifth time, and of course, capped it off with an NBA title.
So, what does the next level look like for someone who clearly sits among the league’s elite?
A 26.9 point, 8.1 rebound, and 4.9 assist average statline with 47.1/37.6 shooting splits is nothing to sneeze at. Even in the playoffs, when his efficiency took a bit of a dip (partly because the man was seeing three defenders every time he touched the ball), Tatum remained effective by thriving in the non-scoring areas of the game. Both his rebounding and assist numbers increased as he proved to be willing to do whatever it took for Banner 18 to become a reality.
Despite the above, Tatum still isn’t the type of player who strikes fear into the hearts of opposing fanbases — at least not to the highest degree, not yet. In order for him to get there he’s got to be a better closer.
How often do you, as a fan of the Celtics, feel completely confident that he’s going to get a bucket, or at least a good look in the closing minutes of games?
Typically, when push comes to shove, JT winds up having to take a contested pull-up, whether it’s from the midrange or from three.
The gripe here isn’t only with shots when the game is on the line, these were all just burned into my brain as examples to feature here.
For what it’s worth, there are going to be times where these are the shots that you have to live with, especially when defenses are keying in on Tatum. That doesn’t change the fact that he can serve to be a bit more disciplined in closing situations.
A great example of this was in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, when he scored 11 fourth quarter points by getting downhill.
Here are literally all of his field-goal attempts from that final frame (except one layup that NBA.com didn’t have in the archives).
All of his inside-the-arc shots came from within the paint. He meant business, got downhill, and forced the issue — plain and simple. I mean, at this point of the game, reality was settling in that they’d be lifting the Larry O’Brien that night.
Watching this quarter was like seeing a switch be flipped in real time. Tatum realized that he was better than everyone and went to the hole. He was playing pressure free basketball for the first time in who knows how long and he looked scary good doing it.
If he plays that way consistently this season, JT may force his way into the MVP race. That (and repeating, of course) has to be his next step, right?
