How Can Jayson Tatum Actually Help the Celtics This Year?

The second half of the season is upon us, it's not really the second half.

There's like 25, 30 games left in the regular season.

But there are some interesting storylines going into the second half.

And I want to start with Boston, which I think is the most Interesting team out there right now because you've got a Celtics team that's top 3 in the Eastern Conference.

They make a trade that I liked.

They get Nikola Vusovich to fortify that front line, uh, in Boston.

And now, you sit and you wait.

You wait to see what Jayson Tatum is going to do.

And everybody, Evan was reading.

The tea leaves over the last couple of days with Jayson Tatum revealing a five-part documentary that NBC is going to pick up.

That NBC picking up the March 1st game between the Celtics and seventy-Sixers.

Everybody's like, whoa, NBC is doing this, doc.

NBC is picking up that date.

That could be the day Tatum returns.

Listen.

Every time I talk to someone in Tatum's orbit, they tell me nothing's, no decisions been made yet.

He's got to still check some boxes.

I know Tatum talked to Ramona Shelburne during the week and said, I have not yet decided about what I'm going to do.

I know you're friendly with Tatum , so I'm not gonna put you in a position to reveal state secrets here.

But what do you think here?

Like, what do you think?

What, what, what's the vibe you're getting about Tatum?

Like we know he wants to return.

But what do you think it's gonna take for him to get back out there on the court?

I think just um 100% just confidence.

I think him saying he wants to come back for sure, but I just think everybody wants reassurance and make sure like, hey, we're not rushing this thing cause it is.

When you sit back, everybody involved, it's like, yo, he got hurt last May and now he's back 889, 10 months later.

That is kind of crazy to really do that.

And then it's like, what are our aspirations.

So, I feel as though it's going to have to take that type of reassurance and be like, hey, he's 100% back, which he has been practicing, you know what I mean?

And he has been working out, he has been doing his thing.

Obviously, you heard Jalen Brown say he looked, he heard he looked good in practice, so.

I don't knock that.

The hooper that I know, the, the, the person that I know, um, And he's, I mean, he's itching, he's itching to get back.

I, I, I, NBC ain't stupid.

I think I see him on March 1st.

That's his birthday March 3rd, right?

His birthday is March 3rd, so, you know, Jason, he likes to, uh He likes to give himself nice gifts, like big extravagant gifts, and I think, uh, an early comeback versus a team he usually puts up 35 points on, it's probably, that could be one of them.

He does, he does have a history of success against the 76ers.

There's no doubt about that.

That would be a fun team to, to come back at, you know, he said a couple of things over the last few weeks in some interviews.

One, Um, he has said he wants to make sure that he's all the way back.

He wants to get it right the first time.

And then that, that I get, like I understand that.

I, I've told this story before, but like, You know, Tatum works closely with Drew Hanlon.

Drew Hanlon had Zach Levine years ago.

Still has Zach Levine, but years ago he was working with Zach Levine when Zach Levine came back from an ACL tear back in 2017, and Zach felt when he came back, he just didn't have it.

Like he wasn't the same guy, and he came back too soon .

They wound up shutting him down before the end of the season.

So Tatum's saying, I wanna make sure I can be Jayson Tatum.

I understand.

Um, what, what caught me when he was on the pivot podcast more recently was him saying like, I want to make sure I can fit in to what this team is doing.

Like they're a different team, obviously than the one that he left, different personnel.

Similar style of play, but Jalen Brown has taken on a much more enhanced role with Tatum on the lineup.

What, what did you make of that, of Tatum saying like, hey, you know, I wanna make sure I fit into what this group is doing.

And I remember we had a conversation about that and I just shut it down and said, bro, you don't fit in, you stand out .

Like when you come back, everybody sees the ship, you guide the ship, this, this is your shit.

So cut that goofy ass shit out your head, period.

You're the big dog.

The one step you can take is take, uh, you know, gratitude for how your team has developed when you've been out.

Like it's a better situation to come back and being like, hey, man, the paws have grown on my puppies, quote unquote.

As opposed to having to come back on a bad Achilles and I'm like, hey, big dog, you got to carry us to the promised land.

Like right now, when it, when it comes to it, it's, it's a team atmosphere.

I would, I would be more nervous if it was a one on one event like what your wife does or a sprinting event, but it's like, hey, you got a good, you know what I mean, you got a good coach to rely on, you have one right now, a top 5, top 10 player in the league to rely on, on top of a solid, a solid 7 or 88 players, you know what I'm saying?

So you don't have to be Jayson Tatum right now, the superstar, because there's, there's nothing normal like that, that's going to come back, but you're pretty good.

It's still great.

And when it comes down to these situations of pick and choose, even, even Jordan struggled when he came back, you understand?

But it's all about not having to do too much and fitting in, in the right situation by guiding.

He's getting older to the point where The little cutesy 40-point games are super cool, but now he's crossing over into a leader.

And sometimes even those, those nights might go from looking like LeBron and taking stages like D Wade for this point in time because the number one thing you really care about is winning.

And the number one thing that really matters as you get older is adding to your legacy and you can do that in so many ways and you go from Correct me if I'm wrong, Chris, to try to make uh, an impact largely from 82 games and being like, hey, I'm gonna make an impact just in general in a dominant fashion cause this is, uh, uh, Jason has reached a point of, he's, he's reaching his golden era, like you know what I'm saying?

So, I think he's gonna be perfectly fine.

I think He's a savant of the game and when he really removes himself and puts his mind into it, that's, that's just gonna be like riding a bike, man.

He's one of those ones.

Like we can't, we can't overthink this and I don't want him to overthink it cause it's like, hey, if, if you start looking at yourself, you might, You might wonder how cool this suit is.

I might, I might not think you're Iron Man and you are, you can do whatever.

So I, I, I think he's gonna come back elite.

I think right now he's got the right team and let him come back and, and get his legs under him until it's time to be JT and no matter what, you have to get these games and you have to get that feeling, you, you got to get back on that bike and it's not going to be smooth or easy, or look pretty.

Yeah, I mean, I think 25 to 30 minutes of Jayson Tatum is better than 25 to 30 minutes of 80% of the league and better than 100% of who the Celtics have on the roster.

Like, even if he's not the MVP candidate, if he's a lesser, and you can't expect a guy to come back.

Nobody comes back looking exactly like the player they once were.

There's a ramp up that takes months, sometimes years to get all the way back, but he's still, An elite scorer.

And you're right, Joe Missoula is a smart coach, the front runner right now for Coach of the Year.

He's not gonna put Tatum in bad positions coming back.

There's, there's, I don't think there's any danger of that happening.

And, and as long as, look, as long as he's Mentally comfortable with doing all the things you've got to do because, and you know this, it's, it's one thing to do it against an assistant coach with a, you know, a pad or just doing a one on one workout, like, 5 on 5 NBA game, intense atmosphere, playoff push.

These are different things.

These are, they're different dynamics at play.

I'm gonna say this, it's gonna uh A limping Jayson Tatum is As good as a prime Chris Middleton.

So, so, uh , uh, in my personal, uh, take that for what you want and when you add that in, like, you know what I mean?

Like, uh, and that's no diss to Chris Middleton.

Jason's just that, like this dude had 350-point games in a, in a month.

Like this dude is.

One time I was joking, like, yo, you should just try to go get a triple-double.

One more assist, you would have got a triple-double.

The next game, he got the triple-double.

It's like, all right, shut the fuck up.

Like, you know, like that's how good he is.

Like, do you understand what I'm saying ?

Like, he's like, all right, bro, you, you got that triple-double.

Now just shut the fuck up.

Like, you know I can do it.

I'm going to go get 30.

Uh, this is one of those.

So I, I don't want to overthink this.

I hope Jason hears it.

Bro, it's, it's already written, man.

Finish your breakfast.

You, you.

Your dogs kept, kept the ship, you know what I mean, afloat.

Everybody got better and they got, they got shit jumping until the king comes back.

That's it.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

So, if he comes back in early March, gives himself 6 weeks of regular season play, 20 some odd games of regular season play.

Are the Celtics, in your mind, the favorite to win the Eastern Conference?

Cause the Eastern Conference, while it is wide open, I think Detroit's really good, Detroit's really physical.

Detroit, maybe not a complete team because they lack some shooting, we'll get into that later, but.

The Pistons are there.

The Knicks, who beat the Celtics in the playoffs last year, the Cavs, we're gonna talk about them in a minute with James Harden.

But with Jayson Tatum returned for 20 some odd games going into the playoffs.

Where do you position the Celtics?

Do you think they're the team to beat?

Do you think they're among a group of team to beat?

Like, what kind of impact can Tatum make, um, coming off this type of injury?

I think among a group of teams to be, and, and like you just said, the aforementioned Knicks, I really, I, I really see the Celtics matching up well with the Knicks regardless.

I like that matchup.

It's, it's wild because they're still young and it's the unknown, but Detroit does scare me.

And like we spoke earlier, besides their physicality, how just unrattled they are in general, like Kate Cunningham, they're, they're is very, very good and, you know, just some, some playoffs is where these guys make their marks and And I, and I Until Jason gets his footing right or however that game goes, I, I, I've always been wary of like the game goes the way of the point guard, and we have a big point guard like Cade Cunningham, like, I think sometimes you might have a rough time of controlling that series if you don't get the things you want to early, but I like the Celtics making it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

I think, uh, you know, obviously, they're gonna have to see how, what full strength they are to really battle with a team like Detroit because once you come in there, they're gonna try to beat you up and that is going to be a physicality thing.

And most importantly, I think they have the, the wing size to be able to sometimes guard or wear down, uh, you know.

The wings that are trying to get their legs back under them, you know.