Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images
An unnamed NBA assistant coach took a
shot at Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum for his perceived lack of a
team-first approach.
“Jayson Tatum is about Jayson
Tatum,” the Eastern Conference coach told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I don’t think he cares about winning now, and if he
does, it is on his terms. He doesn’t want to score 15 and win. He
wants to score 39 and win.”
Tatum’s scoring average (25.7 points
per game) is down only slightly from last season (26.4), but his
offensive efficiency has taken a major hit during the early stages of
the 2021-22 campaign.
The fifth-year pro out of Duke is shooting career-worst percentages from
the field (41.2) and on three-pointers (33.3), and he’s averaging
nearly an assist less per game (3.5) than last season (4.3).
His mediocre shooting combined
with taking a career-high number of field-goal attempts (22.4) has
created a situation when the Boston offense often gets caught in a
rut when he’s struggling.
Teammate Marcus Smart has raised that
concern about Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who’s averaging 18.3 shots per
game, and suggested they need to distribute the ball more often.
“Every team knows we’re trying to
go to Jayson and Jaylen,” Smart told reporters after a Nov. 1
loss to the Chicago Bulls. “Every team is programmed and studied
to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody’s scouting report is to
make those guys pass the ball. They don’t want to pass the ball.”
Tatum, 23, addressed those remarks a week
later, saying they held a meeting to discuss everyone’s concerns.
“Personally, I mean, we talked about
it—individually and had a team meeting, I guess. But I know how to
play basketball. I’ve been doing it a long time, and I’m pretty
successful at it,” he said.
Tatum, in the first season of a
five-year, $163 million contract, added he knows there’s “a lot to
improve on.”
It’s not like the sky is falling on the
Celtics. They’ve improved their record to 10-8 with a modest
three-game winning streak and have won eight of their past 11
games since Smart’s comments.
Tatum’s shot has also started to fall as he’s shot 50 percent from the field (46 of
92) over the C’s last four games while converting 38.0 percent of his threes (16 of 42).
As long as those trends continue, any
criticism of the two-time All-Star will fade into the
background.
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