Expectations have been set fairly high for Boston Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum.
Widely regarded as the most NBA-ready player in this year’s draft class, the C’s grabbed the former Duke star with the No. 3 overall pick. In fact, president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said the team still would have selected Tatum had it held on to the No. 1 overall selection.
Tatum’s NBA sample size, obviously, is minimal at present, as he’s only played in a handful of games in the NBA Summer League. However, his play was strong enough to generate considerable hype, including a comparison to one of the best players in Celtics history: Paul Pierce.
Pierce himself is a fan of Tatum, and believes he possesses many of the tools needed to succeed at the highest level. However, the 10-time NBA All-Star believes the intangibles often are forgotten when comparing up-and-comers to the stars of yesteryear.
“I like the kid Tatum,” Pierce said on ESPN’s “The Six.” “I see a lot of offensive potential. A lot of these guys coming in, they get compared to past greats: the Kobe Bryants, the Shaqs (Shaquille O’Neal) and whoever. The difference that separates the guys from the past is the mentality they brought to the game.
“You can say, ‘Oh he plays like Kobe,’ or, ‘Oh he plays like Paul with the jumper.’ But what people don’t understand is the mentality we carry, the toughness, the grit and that killer instinct. Those are the traits you can’t just install into a player.”
The comparisons of a 19-year-old rookie to “The Truth” surely are premature, but even being mentioned in the same sentence as a surefire Hall of Famer certainly is an honor for Tatum.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
