Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum ready to take the torch from LeBron James
Thankfully, the 2020-21 NBA season is over for the Boston Celtics.
Following a Game 5 loss to the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday night, the team must reflect and look forward to one of the most, if not the most important offseason for the organization.
Whatever Celtics president of basketball operations does, the focus must be building around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
As both players have taken a major leap in their young careers, the general manager has to get some viable parts around them to help them compete at the highest level in 2022 and beyond because these two thoroughbreds will only continue to get better, particularly Tatum who showed the entire NBA this season that he is absolutely ready to be one of the top players in the entire league.
Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum grew big time in his fourth NBA season
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He proved as much on the court during the 2020-21 regular season and into the playoffs. In his fourth season, he averaged over 26 points per game, made his second NBA All-Star team, added a 60-point game to his resume as well as 4 50-point outputs, one of which coming in the playoffs.
But those feats didn’t come without some growing pains for Tatum, who not only had to deal with COVID-19, but also had his will to win challenged.
Through all of that, the Celtics young star is obviously focused on getting better and excel as the star of the team. With that comes leadership and getting mad when the team loses like Wednesday night.
"“Am I mad that we lost? Yeah, I’m mad,” Tatum said in a postgame video conference, via NESN. “First time being eliminated in the first round, it’s not good, it’s not the way that we envisioned this season going, but I guess it’s a learning experience that myself and other guys can take with them for the rest of their careers. We can learn a lot from this.”"
At 23 years old, the season the Boston Celtics just experienced should actually fuel a player like Tatum as his hunger to win should only be that much more intense.
Boston Celtics has an MVP in Jayson Tatum
The Boston Celtics fans certainly value Jayson Tatum as an MVP-caliber player and so does his teammates.
As the next challenge for Tatum is to play to a level that makes his teammates around him better, veteran big man Tristan Thompson sees a young player very capable to taking the torch from one of the greatest basketball players on Earth.
Tristan Thompson said that for Jayson Tatum, this could be like when LeBron James lost in the finals to the Mavericks. Said Tatum has potential to be MVP. Said LeBron would think Tatum’s a good type of player to pass the torch to.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) June 2, 2021
In playing with James in Cleveland, Thompson certainly knows what he is talking about, but is it too much pressure to put on a 23-year-old who has only been in the league for four seasons.
Well, in those four seasons, he has gone to two Eastern Conference Finals and has grown as a scorer in each of those four seasons. In going up against a trio of superstars in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Tatum showcased he can propel his team to victory against a super squad. It took a 50-point effort to do it, but it wasn’t just that he scored, its how he made those players look in defending him.
Boston Celtics: The 50 Greatest Players of All Time. dark. Next
So, to say he’s ready to take the torch from a LeBron James is more than fair. If he gets the right pieces around him and gets a little meaner on the court, the Boston Celtics will be set for a very long time, especially if Jaylen Brown is content on being his Robin.