Jayson Tatum Admits He's Surprised By His Own Progress: 'My Perspective Has Changed'

The Boston Celtics spent 62 games proving to everyone that they were better than the outside world thought they’d be. But even so, there was always a question of how good they could be in the playoffs. 

Jayson Tatum spent 16 games proving those questions were premature.

Unless I invent new ones, all the words to describe Tatum’s return have been written and spoken by now. He’s 48 weeks and three days removed from his surgery and somehow the conversation isn’t about if he’ll contribute in the postseason, it’s how much. It hasn’t even been a year, and he’s already prepared to play 40-plus minutes in a playoff game. 

I don’t care who you are or how much faith and confidence you had in him, this level of progress has to be surprising. Even Tatum has to be at least a little surprised by how well this has gone, doesn’t he?

“The short answer would be yes,” Tatum admitted at the team’s Friday practice. “But with that, there's a quick turnover of obviously you want more. And when you're not 100-percent yourself yet, obviously it's only been ... I played 16 games. It can be frustrating at times, but you’ve got to just take a step back and be proud of the fact of what you were able to accomplish of just coming back and then everything on top of that has been icing on the cake.”

Not just icing on the cake, thick layers of premium Swiss chocolate, with Aunt Leah’s fudge topping the best slice of death by chocolate you’ve ever had. 

Tatum has changed the entire discussion of the Celtics, months after they changed it themselves. They took the term “gap year” and turned it into a basketball slur, carving out a new identity. They became a scrappy group of try-hards led by an ever-evolving superstar who tweaked his game to fit the will of a coach whose current identity of “maniacal genius” is, itself, a third or fourth revision. Tatum pushed the narrative forward, past “playing with house money” to “championship or bust.” Tatum has come along like R2D2 fixing the hyperdrive in Empire Strikes Back and supercharged the Celtics hopes. 

“I think he’s given us exactly what we needed and then some, especially offensive end, reading the game and rebounding, just the mentality,” Joe Mazzulla said. “It’s been a credit to him working to get back. All he cares about is getting better and winning and that’s been big for us. … Quite honestly I think it’s impressive he’s gotten back to the level that he is as fast as he’s done it”

Shhh. If you listen quietly, you can hear the radio talking heads moving the goal posts. 

But that's okay. As Mazzulla might say, that's the ultimate compliment. Jaylen Brown’s quest to prove to everyone that he could lead a contender has come to pass. Tatum’s mission to make the world’s greatest return from an Achilles injury has been accomplished. That all deserves a ton of praise, but in New England, the praise comes with a side of sneer. 

You get a “wow,” a “great job,” and then a “don’t screw it up.” 

The reality of the situation is a little more nuanced than that, but radio hosts need something to talk about other than TMZ drama or complaining about another team’s owners. 

The Celtics will be talked about in the same way past 50-plus win teams have been talked about, even though this year’s team is incredibly different. Tatum isn’t fully himself, but he’s enough to make people throw out the nuance of how they got and focus solely on the new expectations of the moment. 

That's what sports is. That's what they signed up for. All anyone cares about now is that the Celtics are better than most teams, and a team that's that good should keep playing into May and maybe even June. 

But life is different, and right now Tatum has one foot in each world. And it’s okay for him to be pleasantly surprised by what’s happening. 

“My perspective has changed these last 48 weeks,” Tatum said. “I remember when I got injured there was a lot of uncertainty. The playoffs wasn’t a sure thing, and now that I get that opportunity, I couldn’t be more happy.”