It’s been a wonky sophomore season for Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, to say the least. His numbers have been all over the map, shooting just 37.2 percent from three-point territory (down from 43.4 last year), while averaging around 15.8 points a match.
His game has been improving of late, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t room for the promising young forward to grow.
Enter Paul Pierce.
The former Celtic has kept a watchful eye on Tatum since he entered the league in 2017, and has been impressed with what he’s seen so far. That’s why Pierce recently offered to step in and share his knowledge of the game with the up-and-coming star.
“I haven’t talked to (president of basketball operations) Danny (Ainge) about it yet,” he told the Boston Herald. “Me and Kevin (Garnett) talked about it when he went down there, but that’s something I would love to do.”
One thing Pierce thinks Tatum needs to do more of is drive to the net. If he can, the ex-Celtic believes the 21-year-old would be an All-Star.
“For a guy with his athleticism, his skill set and his ballhandling, his height, he should be a guy that gets to the line at least six times a night and makes five out of six,” he said. “That’ll take him from a 16-point scorer to a 20-point scorer, and he’ll be in the conversation for All-Star every year on a winning team.”
But as Pierce pointed out, it’s still early in Tatum’s budding professional career.
“There’s a lot of things he needs to learn, but the good thing about it is he’s still young,” he said. “You know, we forget that he’s only in his second year because the expectations that got put upon him after such great rookie year and a great playoff run. So he has a lot of time.”
In the meantime, Pierce is eager to work with Tatum soon.
