Jayson Tatum will never win a title with the Boston Celtics
We’ve seen this all play out before. Outside of Steph, Clay, and Draymond name me the homegrown talent that stays with their team through ups and downs to win a championship. I can give your Dirk with the Mavs. That took 20 years. I can give you Pierce with the Celtics. That took a handshake deal from a buddy and a superstar in Pierce who played ball. You might say why is Tatum different than Pierce? Same Celtics organization. The franchise is storied and proud and full of past success. It could happen right? All true, but this is a different NBA. Player’s brands and life achievements are more important than ‘chips. Ask Russell Westbrook.
Watching the demeanor of young Mr. Tatum over the past 2 years as he has risen to All-Star status has me very worried. Strike that. Not worried. It has me out. In the most recent game against the Mavs two examples jump out at me. The first was a thunderous dunk from Tatum putting the Celtics down 14 at the end of the 3rd. He splits the defense and slams it home. The Celtics are on a bit of a run and you can feel the energy in the building. Tatum’s body language after the dunk is not that of a guy beating his chest firing up his team. It’s as if it’s another lay up line dunk before an AAU game. He doesn’t charge back up the court on defense or point to the bench as if to say “get on my back, I got you”. He shows the ref his wing span and bitches about a no call. (No one touched him).
The 2nd example, with .20 seconds left, down 4 Tatum gets the steal and misses the layup, but Smart finishes with an offensive rebound. Celtics are now 2 point away from completing the 23 point comeback. Mavs call timeout. Jayson Tatum immediately side eyes the ref. It wasn’t bitching per say, but he certainly didn’t show any emotion towards his teammate for cleaning up the miss and giving his team a chance to win. There was no fist pump. No visible energy towards his team now one possession down.
First time stamp 6:00 Second time stamp 8:43
And I liked Tatum’s approach in the 2nd half here. He got to the hoop. He was a aggressive, good defense, was a big part of the comeback. There is no denying the talent here. This has been a challenging season for a number of reasons. He is young, yada, yada, yada. We’ve heard it all before. We are seeing a young star frustrated with his current team and their inability to win. I believe Tatum wants to win and compete and be great. I do. He is extremely frustrating to watch this season because of the way he carries himself on the court at times, but it all just has me thinking he is falling in line with the trends in the NBA.
By the time Tatum and his game mature to the point of championship caliber, history tells us he would have already asked to move on to another organization. This is just how it’s done in the NBA now. I thought the Celtics had a chance to buck that trend with the talent Danny put together of the last 4 years, but that shit didn’t work and it goes with out saying the talent on this roster past the Jays is less than desirable.
So, the Celtics sit in a position slightly better than trusting the process for 10 years because Danny hit on Jaylen and Jayson and the Celtics organization is good enough to prop teams up, but they are still reliant on the Jays coming into their own and getting themselves over the hump. Not to mention you are dealing with the fact that Boston is way down on the list of cities NBA stars want to play in. If history tells us anything it’s that there will be no humping from at least one of these “budding” superstars in Boston. My prediction is Tatum is out.