The San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics collided Wednesday night for the second time this season. Prior to tip-off, however, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was effusive in his praise of Celtics third-year forward Jayson Tatum.
“There aren't that many two-way players in the league. Genuine [two-way players]. Some think they are, but you can count them on one hand, and he's got the possibility to be one of those,” Pop said of Tatum, per Brian Robb of Boston Sports Journal:
Tatum entered Wednesday averaging 21.1 points per game for the Celtics, nearly a five and a half-point improvement from his average last season. The other major component of being considered a “genuine” two-way star is the ability to defend, for which there are vastly fewer definable metrics.
By traditional defensive statistics, Tatum is on pace for new career highs in rebounds (6.9), steals (1.3) and blocks (0.9) on a nightly basis.
At still just 21 years old, Tatum's projectability as a two-way star seems like fair praise. While Popovich did not reveal his “one hand” list of players that he considered two-way stars, one can presume that he was thinking of players such as former Spurs star and current Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi is a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year who has averaged better than 25 points per game in two of the past three seasons.
For all of his praise, Gregg Popovich hopes that Jayson Tatum waits until after the two teams collide for him to find his rhythm. Barring a matchup in the 2020 NBA Finals, the Spurs' head coach will be rid of the Celtics' youngest rising star come the end of the evening.
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