Jayson Tatum returned to the Boston Celtics rotation on March 6, having missed almost 300 days of basketball due to an Achilles injury. He played his 10th game of the season in Boston’s 109-102 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, March 27.
From a box score standpoint, Tatum is playing at a fairly high level. He’s averaging 19.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per night, shooting 30.9% from deep and 39.1% from the field. Nevertheless, it’s clear that he’s still working through a significant amount of rust and is still in the early stages of getting back to the All-NBA talent we became accustomed to watching before his injury.
When speaking with the media following the Celtics' win over Atlanta, Tatum shared some aspects of his game that are frustrating him.
“I mean, it's all over the place,” Tatum said. “Sometimes I'll be dribbling the ball, and I just mishandle it. Sometimes I still have the ball, but it's just like, damn. It is frustrating. Obviously, some of the shots and layups at the rim, just kind of moving too fast a little bit. So, I mean, it's frustrating to me.”
At his best, Tatum is one of the premier talents in the NBA. He’s among the top players in the world. However, it’s going to take time for him to get back to that level. We’ve already seen flashes of Tatum’s former self, especially in terms of passing and shot creation. He’s just got to wait for his shooting touch and finishing around the rim to catch back up.
Even during his ramp-up phase, the Celtics are better with Tatum on the floor. Joe Mazzulla’s team is 8-2 in the 10 games Tatum has played in since coming back into the rotation. With the postseason right around the corner, Celtics fans will hope Tatum can continue improving his game and shake some of the rust off. Because if he can get to 70 or 80 percent of his usual self, Boston will have a chance of making a run to the NBA Finals.
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