Boston rookie Tatum: winning and having fun
SELECTED third overall in this year’s National Basketball Association ( NBA) rookie draft, Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum has lived up to the billing and has made a strong case for himself as a possible rookie of the year awardee.
Midway into his first season in The Association, Mr. Tatum, chosen after Markelle Fultz of Philadelphia 76ers and Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers, has been averaging 13.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 31 minutes on the floor. He is one of the more efficient players from beyond the arc, norming a 46.2% shooting clip from three- point land.
Thrust to a bigger role after AllStar forward Gordon Hayward went down with a season- ending knee injury on opening night, the 19-yearold Tatum, who played collegiate basketball at Duke University, has shown steadiness in his play despite his young age and has been one of the reasons why the Celtics are doing well in the ongoing NBA season with an Eastern Conference-leading record of 33-10.
“I think my rookie year has been going pretty well. Obviously, we’re winning. That’s what really matters, and I’m having fun doing it,” said Mr. Tatum in a recent global media conference, the transcript of which was shared to local media.
“[I just have to] continue to get better each and every day and just soak up as much information and just learn as much as I can each and every day to try to get better, help the team out,” he went on, highlighting that as much as he is having a solid rookie campaign to date the work continues for him.
That he has become an efficient shooter in the NBA especially from beyond the arc comes as a surprise to him, Mr. Tatum said, but shared that he has been working on it and is satisfied with the results.
“No, I didn’t [expect to be an efficient three-point shooter]. I’ve been working on it a lot, but I didn’t think I would shoot it this well,” he said.
He went on to share that playing a lot more games in the pros than that in college is one of the things he is learning to get used to.
With his fine play in the green and white, Mr. Tatum has been shortlisted as one of the top candidates for the rookie of the year award at this point, along with the likes of Donovan Mitchell of Utah, Ben Simmons of Philadelphia, Lauri Markkanen of Chicago and Dennis Smith, Jr. of Dallas.
It is something that Mr. Tatum is very excited about and said he is working hard at accomplishing.
“Yeah, that’s (rookie of the year) always been one of my goals, to win that award. But I think just focusing on team goals first, and if we keep winning, the rest will take care of itself,” he said.
Looking ahead, Mr. Tatum said they hope to build on the strong start they have had to the season and just keep up the go-getting and steppingup mind-set that has done a lot for the team.
“Obviously, when Gordon got hurt, people got more playing time and got more opportunities, and guys just had to step up. From that being the first game of the season, we had to catch on quick [and took from there],” Mr. Tatum said.
Mr. Tatum and the Celtics play the Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow in London. It will be shown live over NBA Premium at 4 a.m.