On Wednesday, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens talked about 19-year-old rookie forward Jayson Tatum's standout first season in the NBA when he was a guest on CBS Boston's 98.5 “The Sports Hub’s Zolak & Bertrand.”
“He’s doing a great job for us of just making the right basketball play, and that’s really all we want to ask of him right now,” Stevens said of Tatum. “Obviously, there’s gonna be times where we’ll go to him late, where he’s gonna have to make a play in isolation, where he’s gonna have to make a one-on-one play, and he’s certainly capable of doing that.”
Heading into Wednesday night's contest with the Dallas Mavericks, the third overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft is averaging 13.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 25 starts.
Stevens is also very impressed with how well Tatum has been able to adjust to the NBA as a rookie.
“He’s spacing well when Kyrie has it. He’s moving well when Al [Horford] has it in the post. He does a good job of being able to both play with the ball in isolation and make a play, but also know when to space appropriately and be able to play off others,” Stevens said of Tatum.
Tatum, who had a double-double effort on Wednesday night during the Celtics' 97-90 victory over the Mavericks, helped his team rally from a 10-point halftime deficit. He finished the game with 17 points (5-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe) and 10 rebounds as Boston picked up their league-leading 22nd victory of the season.