Deep thoughts on Tatum
Long-range success no surprise to Celts
Jayson Tatum and the coach preparing him for the NBA, Drew Hanlen, set up for another audition, this time with Celtics coach Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and his staff watching, roughly a week before last June’s draft in the gym of St. Bernard Catholic High School in Playa Del Rey, Calif.
The school’s proximity to Los Angeles International Airport was perfect for flying in for a quick hit, and what the C’s contingent took away was much more.
The number that jumped off the court from Tatum’s shooting demonstration was the fact he shot 81for-100 from the corners. Three-point shooting was one of the big questions about Tatum, and here he was calmly draining them at a high volume.
“First of all, guys that can score, the ball finds the net. It just happens, right?” Stevens said after Tatum hit the Milwaukee Bucks with a 4-for-5 downtown performance in Monday night’s Celtics win at the Garden. “When he came in for his workout, he made a lot of shots. And it looked effortless, and that’s usually a pretty good sign. It didn’t look like it was just one of those days where he was hitting everything. He would miss two in a row and it wouldn’t dissuade him from hitting the next one. He had no thought about making the next five; he just kind of kept shooting it.
“For a guy with his frame, he shoots it effortless. I mean, he’s going to be able to shoot it deeper, right? And he’s going to be able to make it off running once he gets a little bit stronger, more used to it and everything else. He’s going to be a heck of a shooter.”
Based on what the NBA’s 3-point leader already has done, Stevens hasn’t exactly gone out on a limb with that prediction. But as unsustainable as 51.3 percent might be, the fact the rookie finds himself at the top of the list even 25 games into the season is a shot from the bleachers.
“None of us thought he’d be leading the NBA in 3-point shooting,” Ainge said yesterday. “I know a lot was made (of his Los Angeles) workout, but anyone who worked him out before the draft never thought shooting was going to be a problem for him. Though he was not a great shooter from deep in college, he al- ways had good mechanics.”
And besides, Ainge was pretty much sold on Ta- tum well before pre-draft workout season began. His Tatum epiphany appears to have occurred during the 2017 ACC tournament.
Though Duke teammate Luke Kennard, the sniper who took all of the deep shots Tatum didn’t in his one season with the Blue Devils, won tourney MVP, in the eyes of most, he wasn’t the best player on the floor.
“(Tatum) was the best player there,” said Ainge, who now has a concern not only about the No. 3 overall pick in the draft but his close friend, Jaylen Brown.
Both are playing major minutes for a contender, and success is coming fast.
“I worry sometimes that they could have too much success too soon, because they will be humbled — this league does that to you,” Ainge said. “What we’re seeing is pretty rare. We have two young guys like that in Jaylen and Jayson.”
There’s no telling how far that pure shooting can carry Tatum.
“It will be four, five, six years before we see his best,” Ainge said. “The question will be how badly he wants to keep working to get better.”
Environment will play an enormous role, with Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Gordon Hayward showing the way.
“He’s seeing the opportunities of us having high-level players,” Irving said of his fellow Blue Devil. “Not saying in college there aren’t high-level players, but it’s just a difference from college to professional. The ability to swing the basketball in the offense he’s in right now is predicated on movement and he’s getting open shots.
“He’s a decision-maker now. He’s got to shoot it, pass it, drive it, and when you get an amount of reps up and you don’t have to go to class every day and you don’t have to dedicate yourself to (other things), this becomes a job. And now you can get as many reps up as you want, and I think you’re just seeing that it’s translating into the game.”
‘For a guy with his frame, he shoots it effortless.’ — COACH BRAD STEVENS On C’s rookie Jayson Tatum