Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is having a good sophomore campaign. He is averaging 16.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists over 31.1 minutes per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor, 36.8 percent from 3-point range and 87.0 percent from the free-throw line.
Those are very solid numbers that any second-year player would love to have, but many expected more from Tatum this season.
Perhaps the expectations for the 21-year-old were a bit unfair, but after his spectacular playoff run last year that was punctuated by a poster slam on LeBron James, many felt Tatum would be an All-Star-caliber player for the 2018-19 campaign.
That hasn't happened, and while Tatum has certainly improved from his rookie year, he hasn't really broken out.
A lot of that is due to his lack of consistent aggression.
Tatum has all of the tools to be a dominant scorer in this league. He has a smooth jumper, a good first step, impressive footwork, a polished post game and the ability to finish around the basket.
But for some reason, we are not seeing Tatum pull out his arsenal much at all.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that he is deferring to Kyrie Irving, and maybe it also is because Gordon Hayward is now back in the lineup. Regardless, Tatum has not been that assertive this season, and that is something that needs to change going forward.
One notable stat for Tatum is that he is averaging just 0.62 points per isolation play this year, which is at the bottom of the NBA. For a guy who has all of the skills to be a lethal iso scorer, that is inexcusable.
Now, to be fair, modern NBA offenses are not built around isos, and as a matter of fact, they reject them. But it's still nice to be able to create your own shot regularly, much like Irving.
Part of the reason for the Celtics' inconsistencies this season have been because of a lack of cohesion offensively, and a lot of that can be blamed on the team not getting to the free-throw line enough.
If anyone should be getting to the charity stripe on a daily basis, it's Tatum, but the wiry forward is averaging just 3.1 free-throw attempts per game this season (3.6 per 36 minutes).
It's not that Tatum is not capable of doing it. He is long. He is athletic. He has decent handles. It's that, for whatever reason, he is not putting his best foot forward and making it a point to get to the basket.
What's even more frustrating is that Tatum has shown flashes of his ability to get to the charity stripe. He took 12 free throws back on Feb. 5. He took 10 on Feb. 9. He took six in the Celtics' win over the Sacramento Kings this past week.
Again, in Tatum's defense, Boston's offense as a whole has been a mystery this season, and Tatum is merely a microcosm of that. It has looked unstoppable at times, and on other nights, it looks completely lost.
It's clear that Irving is the No. 1 guy, as he should be, but after that, it changes on a nightly basis. Sometimes, Tatum takes that role. Other times, it's Hayward. Even Al Horford assumes that role on occasion.
It's entirely possible that Tatum's lack of aggression falls on the shoulders of Brad Stevens, who may not have made Tatum's role clear this season. While Stevens is a phenomenal X's and O's coach, he clearly has some difficulty managing personalities, and maybe not clearly defining roles has something to do with that.
People love to point to the fact that Tatum spent some time working out with Kobe Bryant this past summer, leading to Tatum's penchant to shoot mid-range jumpers, but that does not explain the youngster not asserting himself more often.
If anything, spending time with Bryant—arguably the most aggressive scorer to ever play the game—would have made him seek his own shot even more, so let's cease with that ridiculous assertion.
Remember: Tatum is not the only Celtics player who has had difficulty adjusting this season. Jaylen Brown had a heck of a time settling into his role earlier in the year. Terry Rozier is still trying to figure out what to do.
It seems pretty obvious that the addition of Hayward and the re-addition of Irving have thrown a wrench into things for Boston this season, but because the team is so talented, it has been able to get by and remains an Eastern Conference favorite.
But in order for the C's to live up to their potential and make that playoff run? They need the best version of Tatum, and that version of is an aggressive version.
Tatum took it upon himself to try to will the Celtics to a Game 7 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last postseason. Ultimately, the Celtics came up short because no one other than Tatum was able to put the ball in the net.
Now Irving is healthy. Hayward is back. Tatum will have enough support. It's just a matter of him putting his head down and making things happen.
Irving may be Boston's best scorer. Horford may be its best all-around player. Hayward may be the X-factor.
We know all of that.
But an aggressive Tatum can truly take these Celtics to the next level.
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