Boston Celtics: 2017-18 player grades for Jayson Tatum
By Mason McFee
Jayson Tatum’s rookie season may be over, but his career is far from complete. We take a look back at his body of work for the Boston Celtics.
The Boston Celtics were at a bit of a crossroads as an organization last summer. Thanks to Danny Ainge‘s trade that robbed Brooklyn Nets fans of all hope gave the Celtics some serious draft capital, they landed the No. 1 overall selection in last year’s draft. With Isaiah Thomas coming off of a major hip injury, and some key bench contributors headed toward free agency, a team that was on the rise could’ve taken a precipitous fall.
Washington sensation Markelle Fultz seemed like the obvious choice, so when Danny Ainge traded the No. 1 overall selection to their division and storied rival, the Philadelphia 76ers, fans weren’t happy. Ainge had proven his doubters wrong in the past, but this time felt different. If Fultz wound up being a contributor for the Sixers (or worse, helped knock Boston out of the postseason), Ainge would never hear the end of it.
Spoiler alert: Things have worked out well for Boston so far.
No one in the front office could have predicted that this would be the season of mysterious injuries, and that Fultz would miss most of his rookie season. Some Boston fans took it way too far by rooting for Fultz to stay on the shelf, but it was certainly one of the stranger storylines from the NBA this season.
In the aforementioned trade, the Celtics dropped down to the No. 3 slot, and would end up taking Duke forward Jayson Tatum. His scoring ability was lauded during his time playing for the Blue Devils, but there were concerns about that offensive ability. This is from The Ringer‘s 2017 NBA Draft Guide:
"“Lives in midrange. Settles for pull-ups and floaters. If his 3-pointer doesn’t translate, is he a player modern teams can build around?”"
The plan after the offseason began to unfold for the Celtics was for to Tatum to learn under offseason acquisition Gordon Hayward, and maybe work his way into the starting lineup one day down the raod. Instead, Tatum was forced into action not even five minutes into the NBA season. Fortunately, he was up for the challenge. Here’s a look back on his rookie season.