Jayson Tatum turned out to be one of the best players in the NBA at a young age. Right away in his first season in the association with the Boston Celtics, he advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, which is an exceptional feat for someone at 19 years of age. The trajectory has been on an upward trend for the budding superstar, but one must look back at how he turned out to be one of the most inspiring young men in the NBA.
Tatum started off his basketball career in high school at Chaminade College Prep in St. Louis, wherein he won two championships in his third and fourth year. He averaged nearly 30 PPG during this stretch, which opened up a plethora of college offers and fantastic opportunities for the talented forward. Tatum chose to study at Duke University and player under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Tatum was a five-star recruit out of high school and third in high school class behind Harry Giles and Josh Jackson. Before the beginning of the 2016-17 campaign, Tatum missed the first eight games of the season because of a foot injury, but this season turned out to be one to remember for the young man from St. Louis.
ACC Tournament Championship
Despite being the early juncture of the season, Tatum was spectacular from the jump. On December 12, 2016, he received the recognition of being the ACC Freshman of the week despite only playing a couple of contests. His talent was overpowering, and it was evident in their road to the championship in the ACC.
The Blue Devils needed to win four consecutive outings to clinch the ACC crown, and Tatum was critical in capturing each victory. He scored 24 markers in the semifinals against North Carolina and contributed 19 points and eight boards versus Notre Dame in the final night. Tatum was amazing in the finals as he had a myriad of vital plays in the final two minutes, punctuated by the and-one dunk with 25 seconds left.
All-ACC Tournament first team
In the ACC games, Tatum averaged 22.0 points, 7.5 boards, and 1.5 steals a night for Duke. Despite Luke Kennard winning the MVP in the ACC tournament, it was Tatum heroics that sealed the deal for the Blue Devils. It was evident that Tatum was part of one of the best recruiting classes of Krzyzewski by capturing the impressive ring against the Fighting Irish.
Tatum ranked second among freshmen in points and rebounding, so it was magnified that the talent was a notch above the rest. Some other notable numbers from that particular ACC tournament was his free throw percentage which ranked fifth at .849 and tenth in rebounds at 7.3. To cap it off, Tatum was awarded as one of the finalists for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award.
2 NCAA Tournament Games
After clinching the elusive championship in the ACC, the expectation was for Duke to advance to the Elite Eight or Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. As the second seed in the East Regional behind Villanova, the Blue Devils being knocked out in the second round by South Carolina was a tough pill to swallow.
Tatum still put up superb numbers of 16.5 PPG and 7.5 caroms in two contests, but it was unfortunate that they did not have a deep run in 2017. Despite the disappointing ending to his collegiate tenure, Tatum elevated himself as arguably the most talented athlete of his batch, which landed him with the Celtics as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
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