The Boston Celtics are about to get a whole lot better.
Jayson Tatum is back! The five-time All-NBA wing is officially questionable and appears set to return to the Celtics lineup Friday night against Dallas, 10 months after tearing his Achilles in a playoff game against the Knicks.
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Whatever rough patches may come in adjusting to bringing back one of the 10 best players in the world when healthy, it’s worth it to have his dynamic offense and presence on the floor. As Zach Lowe said, there is always a place in the league for tall guys who can shoot, and at his core, Tatum is just that (a career 37% from 3-point range). Plus, this is a man with an NBA title and a gold medal — you want him around in big playoff games.
Tatum will be on a minutes limit — and not just a few games, likely for the remainder of the regular season. Boston has to think big picture. The top priority is keeping Tatum healthy, working on his conditioning and ramping him up so he is physically ready for the playoffs (and ready for an offseason of work so he can come back hitting the ground running next season).
Does Tatum’s return make Boston the title favorites in a wide-open East? We’re going to find that out in the coming days and weeks, but the answer just may be yes.
The question now is what will Tatum’s return look like?
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Tatum, Jaylen Brown and starters
With Tatum out the first three quarters of the season, Jaylen Brown has taken the larger role on his shoulders, carrying the Celtics to a top-three seed in the East, and putting himself in the MVP conversation. Brown is averaging 28.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and five assists a game, and, more impressively, has maintained his efficiency while taking a massive leap in usage.
There will be a “don’t take shots away from Brown” crowd, but Tatum should take some shots away. Brown’s 35.6 usage rate is second in the league (only Luka Doncic’s is higher). If Brown — and Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard, and Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez — all lose a few minutes and take a couple fewer shots a game so that Tatum can get his looks, that will be good news for an offense that is already second in the league. It’s also baked into Joe Mazzulla’s culture in Boston, there is not going to be any “but I need to get mine” backlash.
There will be some rough patches as Brown and Tatum strike a new balance, one in which the MVP candidate Brown often has a larger role than the returning-from-injury Tatum. Brown has earned it. That said, Tatum and Brown have been playing together for their entire careers, they have won a championship together, and they will figure that balance out. The narrative that persists with some, that Brown and Tatum can’t play together, should have died years ago. Maybe after they won a ring together. It’s certainly not going to stand in their way now.
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When Tatum is with the bench units
This is the more interesting dynamic to watch.
When Brown has gone to the bench this season, Boston actually gets better, outscoring its opponents by 13.7 points per 100 possessions (9.6 more than when Brown is on the court). A bench unit that at points has featured Sam Hauser, Jordan Walsh, Scheierman, Gonzalez, and lately Payton Pritchard (returning to his Sixth Man of the Year role) has thrived in a high-energy system. They fly around, coming off a series of picks, the ball moves and there are shooters everywhere. It works.
What Mazzulla can’t allow to happen is the second unit just deferring to Tatum every time down.
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There will be some of that, and there are matchups and times to let Tatum cook. As his confidence in his surgically repaired leg grows, there will be more opportunities for him to attack.
But Boston can’t abandon what has worked.
What Mazzulla and Boston have built is a culture and system that involves sacrifice and trust — it’s why they are top three in the East, even in a season when not only was Tatum out but they also traded away Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornett. Everyone sacrifices a little to make it work; everyone has to play their role, and Tatum will do his share, but so will Brown and everyone else.
If Boston finds that balance, it should be the favorites to reach the NBA Finals.
We find out starting Friday night.
