Celtics news: Brad Stevens thinks Jayson Tatum will ‘benefit greatly’ from Team USA experience

Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens believes that Jayson Tatum's experience with Team USA will help him improve as a player.

Per Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports, Stevens shared his thoughts after seeing one of Tatum's practices for Team USA:

“I think he’ll benefit greatly from [the Team USA experience] and I saw it today,” said Stevens. “I thought today was one of his better practices that I’ve watched.”

Tatum, the third overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, is slowly developing into a great player. His first sign of potential greatness was his performance in the 2018 NBA Playoffs when he was still a rookie.

Their roster, sans stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, managed to make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. They eventually lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games.

But Tatum — who put up 18.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his first playoff campaign — turned heads during their run and raised hopes that he would become a franchise-altering player.

Tatum, 21, is highly-favored to be part of the final 12-man roster of Team USA. And in the whole process, Stevens and Celtics fans expect him to come out of his experience as a much better basketball player.