Jayson Tatum wants to be like top players who ‘affect the game if they are not scoring’

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2018/12/boston-celtics-jayson-tatum-wants-to-be-like-top-players-who-affect-the-game-if-they-are-not-scoring.html



Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum wants to be like top players who ‘affect the game if they are not scoring’



Updated Dec 26, 10:40 AM; Posted Dec 26, 10:38 AM



By Tom Westerholm | twesterh@masslive.com twesterh@masslive.com



BOSTON -- Nobody asked Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens about Jayson Tatum or Terry Rozier in the aftermath of Boston’s 121-114 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day, but Stevens went out of his way to praise both.

The first was Tatum, when Stevens was asked about Horford’s hustle down the stretch.

“It wasn’t just Al chasing down those balls, but he did chase down a few,” Stevens said. “But we had to gang rebound all over the place in the fourth quarter and overtime, and I thought Tatum especially, it felt like he was getting his hands on a lot of balls for us.”

Then, a little later, Stevens was asked about the team’s struggles in the third quarter. He briefly discussed the sloppy play, then dropped a little nugget about his back-up point guard.

“The guy I don’t know if we talked much about -- I certainly haven’t been asked about yet -- but had one of the biggest lifts to our team in the game was Terry Rozier,” Stevens said. “I thought he was great, and it was hard to take him out right there with three minutes to go in the game. He played that long, long stretch, made some huge threes, but also was great defensively and kind of lifted our energy.”

Stevens will often take these little detours to make sure players who have been under-praised get their due, at least from him. Rozier, who has been asked to sacrifice perhaps more than anyone else on the team, often gets little shoutouts -- at various times, Stevens has called Rozier “tremendous” and “terrific,” even as Rozier’s stats have remained relatively stagnant.


The Tatum note was interesting, in part because Stevens doesn’t often praise Tatum without prompting. Of course, Stevens is prompted plenty -- whenever Tatum submits one of the performances that make the date on his birth certificate feel fake, reporters are quick to request Stevens’ thoughts, and he almost always obliges.

But Stevens knows how good Tatum could be, and he is relatively clear when he wants his young star to be better (reading between the lines, Tatum’s continued reliance on inefficient long twos has not been Stevens' suggestion).

On Wednesday however, Stevens liked Tatum’s hustle. After the game, Tatum was asked about keeping his composure while he missed 3-pointers through the first three quarters, and Tatum looked visibly annoyed with himself that he missed six of his seven triples.

Still, there are other ways to contribute. Tatum worked his way to the line nine times and pulled down 10 rebounds. According to the NBA’s stats site, Tatum contested by far the most shots of any Celtic with 14 (six of which were threes, which require a tighter closeout), and he was credited with two deflections.

“I didn’t shoot it as well as I would have liked to,” Tatum said. “For me, I think my next step as a player -- I admire all the top players in the league and how they affect the game if they are not scoring. They just try to help their team win. That’s what I am trying to be, just trying to affect the game any way possible, rebounding, getting a block or trying to get a stop even when your shot isn’t falling, because, at the end of the day, all that matters is whether you win or lose.”


Answers like that will sound pretty good to Stevens.


bob
MY NOTE:  That's the way Bird was too.  If his shot wasn't falling he rebounded, defended and passed.  You always knew Larry Legend was on the floor even when other players were putting the ball in the cylinder.  Same with Pierce, always doing something to change the flow of the game towards the positive.  Danny and Brad:  drafting for character as well as skill.  It has worked out pretty well for us so far too.  Danny has, in general, made some good draft picks, but also some not so good ones, but I think his picks have been stellar since Brad's NBA learning curve flattened out and his opinions carried a lot of weight in the war room on draft day.


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