Tatum finds NBA life can be tiring
And on the seventh day, his first day without a game or practice, Jayson Tatum slept.
No watching football, no doing anything but plugging in for a re-charge.
One number, in particular, shows why the Celtics 19-year-old rookie forward needed to shut out the world Sunday. Injuries to Gordon Hayward, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris have put a heavy workload on Tatum. He’s averaged 35 minutes over the first three games, second on the team to Kyrie Irving’s 38.
In that time, Tatum’s has averaged 12.3 points and a team-high 9.0 rebounds. But NBA travel may be the biggest revelation to Tatum. The Celtics started the season with three games in four days, including two road trips.
“I think the travel schedule — we played Cleveland and got back at 4 in the morning, played the Bucks (at home),” he said. “I thought we had the day off and I woke up and we had to fly to Philly. Oh my God, I just wanted the day off. How many games we play is ridiculous. It was a tough challenge for us. We lost to two good teams, games we could have won, then we won on the road. It’s just the small things we have to focus on.
“Now guys have to play more minutes and take more shots to fill that big void (with injuries). I didn’t think I would play that much a game, but things happen and you have to be ready. Practices aren’t as tough as training camp, but there’s definitely an adjustment with everything that has happened.”
Smart day-to-day
Though he didn’t practice yesterday, Smart is listed as day-to-day as he attempts to recover from a pair of ankle sprains.
The guard missed Friday’s win in Philadelphia because of the injuries suffered last Wednesday against the Bucks. The Celts play the Knicks at home tonight, though Smart’s status is uncertain.
“(Yesterday) he told me that he’s getting better,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “We’ll put him through a series of tests (today) and we’ll see. He’s dayto-day. He’s had some (tests) and he’s passed them up to this point, but it’s just progressing him back.”
Morris close
It looks like Morris has finally honed in on a date for his Celtics debut, with the Oct. 30 game against the San Antonio Spurs the target.
The power forward, an anticipated starter once Stevens irons out his rotation, had a lengthy discussion with the training staff after a post-practice workout yesterday, which included some one-on-one work against Tatum.
Morris said that the soreness in his left knee has improved considerably.
“It felt pretty good beating a rook (expletive) oneon-one,” Morris said with a blank expression. “I’m feeling pretty good. I’m looking at probably San Antonio. I’m trying to push on it a little more. I’m in great condition. I’m going to (have some) soreness in my knee. It’s gotten a lot better over the past 10 days, so I feel like I can play now.
“But we’re gonna be cautious because it’s a long season. It’s just a little aggravation. I got an MRI, everything was clean, no structural damage, so I think it was just the fact that I missed camp. My honest opinion is that I didn’t put as much on it as everyone else did and try to jump into it, and I think it just aggravated it a little bit.
“But these past couple days it’s been feeling really good. I tested it out one-onone (yesterday) and continue to gradually go about it.”
Hayward rehab
Hayward can resume working on his ball skills while recovering from a fractured tibia and dislocated left ankle.
“When we were in Philadelphia, we asked him obviously if there’s anything we could do,” said Stevens. “The first thing he asked for was he asked (my wife) Tracy for a ball. So he might have started that chair-shooting already.”
Orlando coach Frank Vogel told Stevens that when his former Pacers star, Paul George, began rehabbing from a broken leg, he started shooting out of a chair.
“He’s doing better. But he’s obviously just beginning the rehab process,” said Stevens. “He did do a little bit of what he was supposed to do outside (Sunday), which was good. Get out in the sun. He hasn’t come over to the facility yet, he’s at home (yesterday), but we’ve sent people to him. He’ll start coming in a little bit more over the next few days to get worked on here, to get re-checked here, and everything else.”