Celtics' Jayson Tatum Offers Surprising Pick for Greatest Boston Legend

Very few franchises in the NBA have the kind of history that the Boston Celtics have. In fact, you could argue that only the Los Angeles Lakers can stand on the same pedestal as the Celtics.

Boston has been one of the most dominant franchises in the NBA over the course of the league's history. They have had numerous legends over the years who have helped win championships for this proud franchise.

Jayson Tatum is hoping to be the next Celtics legend that people think of. He already has a championship after helping the team win last season over the Mavericks.

Tatum understands the history of the Celtics and what it means to be great. He is a student of basketball history and knows who the greatest players in NBA history are.

He has an interesting take on who he thinks is the greatest Celtic of all time. It's not the one with the most championships.

“Wearing a Celtics uniform comes with a lot of pride,” Tatum said. “The best Celtic ever is Larry Bird, and even if I never reach that — maybe I do, maybe I don’t — you aspire to chase that guy. It comes with a level of focus and motivation every single day to be the best you can be, and wherever the chips fall, just knowing that you gave it your all, you can be OK with that.”

Tatum thinks that Larry Bird is the best player to ever play for Boston, not Bill Russell. Russell has more championship rings than he does fingers, winning 11 titles with the Celtics.

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Bird was certainly a great player, but he does not have the accomplishments that Russell was able to have. Bird is definitely a better offensive player than Russell was, but Russell contributed to winning more championships than Bird did.

Whoever the greatest Celtic is in history, that's who Tatum is chasing. He wants to go down as the greatest player to ever wear the uniform.

So far this season, Tatum is averaging 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game.

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