The era of Point Tatum may be upon us.
In an appearance this week on “NBA Today,” Ramona Shelburne of ESPN revealed the Celtics’ interesting plan next season for star Jayson Tatum.
“Jayson Tatum is gonna spend a lot of time at point guard,” said Shelburne, per Sportskeeda. “That’s what he did quite [a lot] in the playoffs is initiate the offense, and I think he plays even more of that role going forward into the season.”
Simply put, the Celtics are at their best when Tatum has the ball in his hands. The four-time All-Star’s scoring prowess is well-documented, but he also has a potent first step and a very effective pump-fake that can collapse defenses and create shot opportunities for his teammates. While Tatum has only averaged 3.3 assists per game for his career, that number has ticked up to 4.5 assists per game over the last two seasons combined and is clearly an area that Tatum is making significant strides in.
This might also be something of a necessity-based decision for the Celtics. They traded away longtime guard Marcus Smart this offseason, and sixth man Malcolm Brogdon has reportedly grown unhappy with his situation. Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown, Tatum’s Celtics co-star, just has too clunky of a handle to be relied on for anything more than complementary playmaking.
For Tatum, who is still only 25 years old and has the height at 6-foot-8 to see over defenses, he reportedly tried to recruit a particular point guard earlier this offseason. But it turns out that Tatum himself could become the very point guard that he was looking for all along.
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