Jayson Tatum is ready to lead the Boston Celtics to a championship

Jayson Tatum has been on a mission this season with the Boston Celtics and it has earned him plenty of praise from around the NBA world.

Jayson Tatum has been on a mission this season with the Boston Celtics and it has earned him much praise from around the NBA world.

Just before the NBA season came to a hiatus, Tatum was having a career year and exploded through the month of February by averaging 30.7 points per game en route to showcasing that he is capable of leading the Celtics to success.

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In just three seasons, Tatum has already climbed up the corporate ladder to being one of the best players in Boston Celtics history. He currently ranks 10th all-time in 3-point field goals (388) and seventh all-time in 3-point field goal percentage (.399).

Furthermore, Tatum has reached at least 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 150 made 3-pointers faster than some of the best players the NBA has to offer in LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and the great Kobe Bryant. Tatum accomplished all of this in just 209 career games.

Needless to say, the future of the Celtics is only going to rise to the highest of heights as long as Tatum is donning the Kelley Green and white jerseys in Boston.

As the NBA restart is quickly approaching, former Chicago Bulls star and six-time NBA champion, Scottie Pippen, believes that Jayson Tatum is capable and ready to lead the Celtics on a long playoff run through the NBA’s bubbled season restart. Here is what Pippen said to Rachel Nichols on a recent episode of ESPN’s The Jump and transcribed by Tom Westerholm of Mass Live:

"“I think this has been a breakout season for Tatum. He started out this season sort of on a mission to separate himself from the other players who have grown and developed as well as showing some leadership in becoming an All-Star this season, but his scoring was really starting to peak, he again separated himself a little bit from the other players to show that he was going o be the go-to guy, the offensive leader for that team, and I think if this team is to make a run, it has to rely on Tatum’s ability to carry them offensively, and I feel like he’s totally ready.”"

It’s fair to say that Pippen knows a thing or two about winning championships and the build/makeup of a championship roster and the types of players it takes in order to win rings.

But Pippen isn’t the only person to give Tatum some praise recently. In a Tuesday interview at the Auerbach Center, Marcus Smart continued on with Pippen’s theory about his teammate, Tatum.

"“It’s tremendous to see his progression and even more of literally shooting for the stars and aiming — aiming for the stars shooting for the moon. Like literally, that’s him. The things he’s capable of on the offensive and I think what’s a little under-talked about is his defensive end. He’s 6′9” with a 7-foot wingspan and he’s actually sitting down and guarding guys, let alone coming down the offensive end and doing what he’s doing. I just think he’s on the right track to becoming if not the best player, one of the best players to ever do this in this game.”"

It’s fair to say that Smart has firsthand insight when it comes to Tatum, as he has watched him evolve each season since his rookie year.

For Tatum, it’s all business as usual as he enters the NBA bubble in Orlando.

"“If we’re going to go down there, we might as well try to win a championship. That’s our goal and our focus. Everybody is in the same boat, nobody has played around the league, so we’re starting from ground zero, and whoever can normalize it and not make any excuses, and just play basketball – that will be the most successful team.” – Jayson Tatum, via Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston"

It’s worth mentioning that the Boston Celtics are one of the most complete teams heading into the playoffs. Due to the hiatus, the Celtics are actually more complete now than they were before the shutdown in early March.

The Celtics have only had the luxury of using their top players – Tatum, Brown, Walker, Hayward – for only a handful of games this season prior to the shutdown. Now with everyone essentially close to 100 percent health, it’s going to be interesting to see how far the C’s can ride this wave throughout the playoffs.