At just 19 years old, Boston Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum already looks like he is playing as if he's a seasoned veteran. Tatum has put in a lot of hard work to get to where he is in the NBA right now, once even spending an entire week emulating Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant's famous jab step.
According to a recent article written by Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald, Tatum once practiced a whole week of footwork based on Bryant's jab step as a high schooler.
Drew Hanlen, the founder of Pure Sweat Basketball and Tatum's NBA skills coach, said he spent a full week with the then-future Duke University prospect in perfecting the lethal jab step.
“As a sophomore in high school, we spent one full week working on Kobe Bryant’s jab step, including five days of not shooting a jump shot,” Hanlen said. “For a sophomore to buy into that and not worry about it, he was going to be fine.”
When it came to putting in the extra work to improve his skillset, Tatum was always ready to go the extra mile to improve the little things in his game. All those hard work shows now that he is in the NBA, and he doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon.
“We laid him out a plan of improvement that would get him NBA ready,” Hanlen said. “All of the guys who come to me are super-talented, and my job is to teach them how to work, and how to work smart and consistently. They have to be willing to put in the extra work, and we focus on micro skills. That’s my staple. My strength is breaking those things down.”
Tatum, who will turn 20 early next month, is currently averaging an impressive 13.5 points on 47.5 percent shooting from the field, to go along with 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 31.0 minutes of action per contest.
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