BOSTON — Jayson Tatum looks tired, and maybe a bit preoccupied with something bigger. With days to go before the start of the regular season, the Boston Celtics’ sophomore star had a hard day of practice as the team prepared for the long road that they hope culminates in a championship. Tatum then rushed from practice to a high school in Roxbury (Ma.) to shoot a Gatorade commercial. And then, unfortunately, he had to sit down and talk to me.
Perched in a director’s chair with a Celtics jersey and a pair of Kyrie 4s, Tatum was sworn to secrecy on exactly what he was shooting for Gatorade at a Boston high school on a Tuesday night. But amid the photographers and directors politely asking him to pose with water bottles and dribble and shoot baskets, a process that was occasionally interrupted by a person with a spray bottle applying fake sweat to his forearms, Tatum stressed again and again that he loves these opportunities.
“I enjoy doing these things, especially with Gatorade,” Tatum says. “It’s a pretty big deal, so I’m excited to be here.”
Being Jayson Tatum these days, even the long ones, doesn’t seem so bad. He got to play pickup basketball with his idol, Kobe Bryant, this summer. Tatum has a real relationship with him now, and the player he modeled his game after helps him find a game all his own. Companies like Gatorade and Nike want to work with him. He’s even gotten to do photo shoots with GQ. This photo shoot is a bit different than that, but it’s still nice.
“I’ve always thought I was a handsome guy, so I was excited when I got the opportunity to do the GQ thing,” Tatum says. “Hopefully more opportunities will continue to come.”
Tatum embraces his newfound celebrity, even as he’s pulled in a lot of directions, which is something that will happen when he’s on the floor for the Celtics this season as well. It’s a Boston team that’s loaded with talent and players that have to play. Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are back, but Tatum thrived in his expanded role out during his first year out of Duke for a Celtics team that was a game away from the NBA Finals without a pair of All-Stars.
In fact, Tatum’s first season in the NBA arguably could not have gone better. The numbers heading into this year have reflected that — for example, he jumped from a full 10 points in his NBA 2K rating, from a 77 as a rookie to an 87 in the game’s newest edition. Tatum had a dream season when compared to high school friend Markelle Fultz, who struggled with injuries and shooting woes in his rookie year after being taken first overall. Tatum, meanwhile, went to the Celtics third and has looked like a steal for a Boston team already loaded with talent.
“It was just unfortunate what he had to go through,” Tatum says when asked about the comparisons between he and Fultz. “I feel like a lot of it was out of his control. But he’s healthy now, and I’m excited for him. We’re not enemies, we’re friends.”
In a year where multiple first-year players made their mark on the league, Tatum was an afterthought in Rookie of the Year discussions behind Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell. But the role he grew into for Boston as the injuries mounted, and the potential in his 6’8 frame amid a team loaded with talent, has Celtics fans buzzing.
Tatum spoke a lot about being more efficient in his second season. “Efficient” is the word New York Times writer Marc Stein used to describe Tatum’s game on a night where the Celtics beat one of their biggest threats in the Eastern Conference fairly easily. Tatum had 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists on 9-for-17 shooting in a 105-87 win over the Sixers. For Tatum, it’s a good building block.
“Really I’m just trying to build off of last year,” Tatum said back at the gym in Roxbury. “Not backtracking. Just looking to be better than I was last year. More efficient, more effective.”
Efficiency can be measured, sure, but it’s also a buzz word that’s supposed to represent a kind of growth for a second-year player that’s often more visual than numerical. Tatum was good in his first year, perhaps even unexpectedly so, but he’s also supposed to keep getting better despite playing fewer minutes than he saw last postseason. He’s supposed to keep looking better, too, even if the lack of minutes suppresses the numbers a bit.
Shepherding Tatum through that growth is part of the job for Brad Stevens, a coach who has achieved the ultimate compliment of simultaneously being described as both under and overrated. Tatum has raved about Stevens’ preparation and his ability to set expectations for a team. Tatum admitted that he doesn’t have any other NBA coaching experience to compare Stevens to, but he’s confident that Stevens has what’s best for him in mind.
“He’s brilliant at that, at managing the game, drawing plays out of timeouts,” Tatum said. “He just sees the game differently and he’s great at what he does.”
Managing minutes, egos, and expectations for a Celtics team trying to win now and win in the future isn’t easy. But even if Irving re-signs in Boston this upcoming summer and Hayward comes back to form to play out the remainder of the four-year deal he signed in 2017, Tatum is clearly a huge part of the franchise’s future. He has to play a role now that, much like last season, will only get bigger as his career goes on.
“We don’t want to set limits on people,” Stevens said at Celtics media day last month. “We don’t want to set ceilings on people. Everybody has ownership of this and the young guys getting better, growing, showing new things is a good thing. It’s a responsibility of all of us to keep everybody moving in the right direction.”
Tatum seems sure to be a part of whatever the future of the Boston Celtics looks like. It’s all exciting, but winning now is the goal for the Celtics, and they haven’t apologized for publicly setting their sights on Golden State this season.
“Every team wants to win a championship, at least all the good teams, so we’re not going to shy away from saying ‘Yeah, we want to be the last team standing,’” Tatum said. “But we know it won’t be a cake walk. It’s going to be tough, but we’re up for the challenge.”
