Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum cool with firepower off the bench

Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics have to figure out certain roster alignments with the return of Gordon Hayward. Surprisingly, Jayson Tatum seems fine with coming off of the bench.

The Boston Celtics have a really good problem to deal with heading into the 2018-19 regular season.

Coach Brad Stevens must determine what his starting lineup will be before the first game against the Philadelphia 76ers on October 16. The five-year coach has a squad that can essentially go ten deep.

In doing this, Stevens needs to find a way to incorporate Gordon Hayward back into the rotation without disappointing any of his young upstarts from 2017-18. Notably, these players include Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

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The good news for Celtics fans; Tatum seems to be fine with coming off of the bench to start the season. In an interview with boston.com, Tatum said that he doesn’t mind either coming off of the bench or starting. All he cares about is winning.

Sure, he could just be saying that so there’s no animosity between him and Stevens, but he does seem pretty genuine.

Normally in the NBA, if a player has something to express, he expresses it. Remember when Carmelo Anthony was asked in the media whether or not he’d come off the bench, he just laughed it off?

Now, Anthony definitely has a bigger ego than Tatum does (at least as far as I know), so fans shouldn’t be surprised at Tatum’s desire to do whatever Stevens wants him to do.

Tatum has blown up around the world after his stellar performance in the 2017-18 playoffs, averaging 18.5 points-per-game on 47% shooting, according to NBA stats.

He especially played phenomenal against the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he lead the team to a Game 7 against LeBron James and even dunked on the king during that game. After those playoffs, he became not a rookie, but a star. He finished with 24 points and seven rebounds in 42 minutes of play, despite losing 87-79.

Regardless of the outcome, Tatum received some much-needed experience, as well as Brown. In Brown’s case, there has been no word about whether or not he cares about starting. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if he preferred starting considering he’s entering his third year, and he’s receiving more money.

Speaking of his contract, Brown is up for a new one in a couple of years, so I’m sure he would want to show off his skill set as much as possible before his next payday.

Brown’s athleticism was on full display throughout the 2017-18 season. His point totals went from 6.6 in 2016-17, to 14.5. His minutes-per-game also went up though, mainly because of the Hayward injury.

Nonetheless, he had some great games throughout the 2017-18 year (like when he had a 32 point 13 rebound stat-line in a game against Chicago). He also showed some shooting flaws however, like when he only scored 13 points on 5-18 shooting in that Game 7 loss.

I’d rather have Tatum start over Brown. He’s more consistent and agile. On top of that, Tatum had the luxury of working with Kobe Bryant over the summer, meaning he most likely learned a few tricks from the legend himself. He also worked out with Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz ironically. Surely, there was good competition between the three, and Tatum is probably already season-ready. The guy got better as the year went on, and you’d be hard-pressed to believe that he won’t improve even more in 2018.

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All in all, Tatum still has room to grow, which is scary. It’s nice to see him put winning first, but at the same time, I don’t think the Boston Celtics can win without the rookie of the year candidate in the starting lineup.

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