Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker believes Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum's struggles from last season will be “motivation for them” moving forward.
The Celtics as a team underwhelmed in 2018-19. Before the season started, everyone thought Boston was going to win the Eastern Conference with ease and Tatum and Brown would play like All-Stars.
Neither happened, as the Celtics lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the playoffs in five games, while Tatum and Brown had their struggles even though their numbers weren't that bad.
Walker, who is the new point guard of the Celtics, says having struggles can sometimes be a good thing for an NBA player:
“Happens. That’s what life is about. Not even just basketball. You’re going to have ups and downs. It’s probably good for those guys to have that down. You can’t always be at a high,” Walker said, via Michael Lee of The Athletic. “I think for them, last season, their struggles and things like that, I think that’s motivation for them, coming into this season.
“I think they’re ready to work, which is what they’ve been doing. Just ready to take their game to another level, especially because of last season. That’s how it was for me. Things weren’t so great my early years in the league but it motivated me to get better, and hopefully they got that same feeling.”
All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Al Horford are gone, which means the Celtics are going to be asking a lot from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown next season.
The two youngsters are using this Team USA experience to polish their skills and become more complete basketball players. It also helps Brown and Tatum are joined by Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart in Las Vegas. The four Celtics are developing early chemistry.
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