Jayson Tatum's Return Hits Some Turbulence, and Joe Mazzulla is Ready To Embrace It

Jayson Tatum has played eight games for the Boston Celtics since returning from a 10-month recovery from a torn right Achilles tendon. 

In a perfect world, everyone would read that sentence and understand that there's no way those eight games indicate much more than how much more work needs to be done before Tatum is himself. The stats will tell a story, but they shouldn’t lead to final declarations of any sort. 

But the perfect world does not exist, mostly because this world includes social media and dozens upon dozens of outlets for talking heads to make louder, more outrageous comments in an effort to cut through the noise and be noticed. It’s like the fog in the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V that turns people inside out. It just gets everywhere and makes a big mess of everything. 

No one is immune. It’s just a matter of how you handle it. 

“There's no such thing as ignoring the noise,” Joe Mazzulla said after the team’s Tuesday practice. “I don't look at the world as if, like, ignore this, pay more attention to that. I don't think that's how the brain works. I don't think that's how the world is. I think it's just, you have to have a balance and understanding of what impacts winning, what doesn't impact winning, and focus on the things that impact winning.”

It’s easier said than done, though. It’s hard to tell a 20-something to stay off social media in 2026, and it’s difficult to hear certain things over and over and not let some of it have some sort of mental impact. The good thing for the Celtics is that the players are pretty accustomed to the surrounding media landscape. Understanding it is the best way to insulate themselves from it. 

“Everybody's got a story to write, and think that's just a fun story of trying to create something,” Derrick White said. “But we know what our goal is, and we know what we need to do to win games. And so we’re not really focused on what everybody’s got to say and how they're going to try to make a story out of something.”

Right now, the story is about Tatum’s return impacting the Celtics. After Boston’s loss to the Timberwolves, Tracy McGrady raised questions about frustration in the locker room because Tatum is throwing off the flow of how they used to play. That's leading to bigger discussions about how teammates are being impacted by Tatum’s return. White says it’s not really an issue. 

“JT knows how to play, and he's pretty versatile too,” White said. “Like, when we got [Nikola Vucevic]. The first couple games, it looks good, and then some games where it looked crazy. So I think you just kind of have to have that process of learning what works, what doesn't work, how we can make each other better. And I think we're all committed to that.”

Paul Pierce, who was at the game against Minnesota, is no stranger to dealing with outside noise. He’s seen the best and worst of it. On the No Fouls Given show, he offered the Celtics some advice. 

“[Don’t] let the media put a wedge in between what’s going on,” he said. “The media has the power to have them talking about each other, and saying things, and things of this nature, ‘how’s the fit? And sacrifice. And do you do all of this.’ I would encourage [Jaylen] Brown to just keep playing the way you’re playing. Tatum is so good of a player, he’ll figure it out.”

This has already been a special season for the Celtics, but they have a chance to do a lot more if they can avoid the pitfalls of this moment. For Mazzulla, it’s about understanding the big picture and being to distill everything down to the on-court product. Distractions can come from anywhere. 

“Anything and everything can be a distraction, whether it's good or bad, and that's how you have to do it,” Mazzulla said. “There's no such thing as noise. It's all noise. It's a matter of where you balance your focus and your attention at certain times. For our team and our locker room, ‘how do we impact winning?’ is the most important thing. I think our guys are really good at that with their competitive character, and that’s really what it comes down to.”