Jayson Tatum enjoyed his big coming-out party last season, notching career-highs in every significant offensive category. But he still feels disrespected.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Tatum's longtime trainer, Drew Hanlen, explains how the Celtics' rising star worked to improve his game this season. While Tatum's primary focus is winning, his absence from the All-NBA team served as motivation all summer long.
"His big focus is always No. 1, winning, but two, not being on the All-NBA team was motivating. He's out to prove that he belongs in that first-tier group of guys," Hanlen said. "As he gets better, you're gonna see more and more defenses and coverages that try to squeeze the ball out of his hand, which is going to naturally give him more opportunities to create for his teammates."
Already, Tatum is at an all-time great trajectory. He averaged over 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game in his age-22 season last year. The only other players to ever accomplish that at 22 or younger were LeBron James, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tracy McGrady and Luka Doncic. But all-time greats are never satisfied.
If Tatum wants to be considered in the upper-echelon of players, he must play more physically. That's one of the reasons he's bulked up this offseason, which at least one perennial All-Star is noticing.
The weak point in Tatum's offensive game remains his lack of trips to the free throw line. That's something he started to change at the end of last year. Jared Weiss of The Athletic notes Tatum averaged 7.6 free throws per night over the final 18 games of the season, which would've ranked him seventh in the league.
In order to keep that up for an entire season, Tatum is focusing on attacking defenders head-on, rather than trying to find space. "We call it trying to clip hips," Hanlen said. "Meaning when he's driving, he is trying to really attack and clip the defender's hips so that he's veering more toward the front of the rim. So if he gets the ball and he's wide, that's what he's trying to do. In years past, he's left space between himself and his defender, which naturally makes you want to step back and sidestep and all that kind of stuff."
The key for Tatum will be playing in the paint, which he did with much more regularity this preseason. New head coach Ime Udoka designed a lot of the preseason offense to center around Tatum in the post.
"He understands the attention he draws so he's been great in practice and games really picking the gym apart," Hanlen said.
The first step in Tatum's All-NBA maturation begins Wednesday, when the Celtics travel to New York to take on the Knick. We'll be counting his points, along with his trips to the line.
