Boston Celtics: Paul Pierce offers recipe for Jayson Tatum stardom

Boston Celtics great Paul Pierce knows a thing or two about rising to NBA stardom and offers to work with second-year forward Jayson Tatum.

Following a successful rookie season in the NBA, Boston Celtics young, promising forward Jayson Tatum is finding out in his sophomore season that stardom is not guaranteed at the professional level. Paul Pierce certainly knows a thing or two about that.

In a recent interview with the Boston Herald, the Celtics great offered his opinion on what Tatum still needs to do to reach the height of his game and much of that recipe involves more aggression offensively.

Like much of his team, Tatum has allowed all the hype of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals run get to their heads.

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That doesn’t mean the Duke product hasn’t still produced or shown signs of NBA stardom, but he has allowed frustration in his own lack of consistency on the court halt his rising star.

Piece believes taking advantage of his size by driving to the hoop instead of settling for jumpers will make him a more dangerous offensive force.

"“Oh, he’d be an All-Star,” Pierce said, via the Boston Herald. “Just those little things right there, getting to the hoop and getting to the line. For a guy with his athleticism, his skill set and his ball-handling, his height, he should be a guy that gets to the line at least six times a night and makes five out of six.”"

Pierce certainly knows a thing about that. In averaging 6.4 free throw attempts per game over his 19 seasons in the NBA, the former Celtics star earned his nickname “The Truth” by expanding his offensive game and becoming a more aggressive player around the rim. That is what will make him a 20-point-a-game All-Star caliber scorer in the NBA.

For Jayson Tatum to become the truth he needs to do the same as he is a bit more physically gifted than Paul Pierce was. While he has worked with Kobe Bryant in the offseason, Pierce says he will talk to Danny Ainge about working with Tatum on his game.

Though he knows he needs to work on earning more free throws, Tatum could learn a lot from a player he has been compared to and also a player who knows what it takes to succeed as a star in Boston.

Less talent means a better Tatum

Paul Pierce also believes Jayson Tatum won’t find stardom until there is less talent on the team.

Sounds crazy, but with Kyrie Irving demanding his shots along with Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier looking for their offense, Tatum is the one suffering the most.

As obviously the team’s second most talented scorer, he really should be looking for his game more. In comparing Jayson Tatum to James Harden’s situation when he was in Oklahoma City playing alongside Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, Paul Pierce believes Tatum, like Harden, won’t reach his full potential until there is either less talent or [cough] he is traded to another team.

"“We’re not going to see Tatum’s whole sill set, I believe, until he either goes to another team or there’s less talent on the team,” he said. “I mean, look at James Harden. We didn’t know James Harden was going to be this until he went to Houston. He was the sixth man on OKC. Now he’s a perennial MVP and arguably the best player in the league.”"

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Boston Celtics fans are certainly hopeful he becomes a perennial MVP in a Celtics uniform. Expanding his game over the next few weeks and showing that promise in the playoffs will help secure that.

Otherwise, he may be the main chip that lands Anthony Davis in the offseason.

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