Celtics’ Jayson Tatum Reveals What He’ll Focus On In 2019-20 Season

Plenty of eyes will be on Kemba Walker this year when the Celtics begin their season, but Boston also has a budding superstar who is looking to make this year even better than the previous two.

Jayson Tatum had a breakout rookie season in 2017 in the absence of Gordon Hayward and made a name for himself in the NBA playoffs after Kyrie Irving went down with a knee injury.

While the 2018 year was tumultuous for the C’s for a slew of reasons, they’re looking to start fresh with new faces like Walker and Enes Kanter, while continuing to build with Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.

Tatum averaged 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists in his first two seasons combined in Green while making 84 percent of his free throws. But he knows exactly what he wants to focus on in order to bring his best self to the court in 2019-20.

“Focus on getting to the basket much more,” Tatum said Tuesday, per MassLive’s John Karalis. “Shoot more 3’s. 3’s and layups. And free throws. If you want to be a great scorer in this league, you have to get to the line. Free throws is super important. Getting to the basket and that opens up the rest of the game. 3’s are worth more than 2’s.”

He shot 37.3 percent from beyond the arc last year and 45 percent from the field. And if he improves on an already-dominant free-throw shot, while upping his 3-point shot numbers, he certainly will prove to be an offensive threat to Boston’s opponents.