Coming in to this season, no one really took the Celtics seriously as a contender.
And, in hindsight, they were probably correct not to. They were coming off of a summer where they lost both of their best players in Kyrie Irving and Al Horford to free agency. Kemba Walker was a fine replacement, but even as an All-Star caliber player, he wasn’t enough to soften that blow.
Suddenly, the Celtics seemed to be without someone you could call “the guy” after having two of those players in their last three-season run.
And that’s apparently the moment when the camera pans toward Jayson Tatum, who is apparently the answer to all of the Celtics’ problems.
Tatum has officially made what folks would call “the leap.” He’s very clearly been the team’s best player — even when playing alongside an All-Star starter in Kemba Walker.
He’s morphed into a two-way superstar. His evidence is the Player of the Month award the NBA announced he won for February. Tatum averaged 30.7 points per game, 7.9 rebounds and 3.2 assists while leading the Celtics to a 9-3 record in the month.
Tatum very clearly had the tools to be a star coming into the league and he got off to a great start as a secondary option behind Irving and Horford in his first year.
It was easy to lose faith in Tatum after year two. He regressed in almost every way possible. His shot selection was absolutely atrocious and he couldn’t find his way amid turmoil within the team. But now, he’s baking Kawhi Leonard on both ends and going toe to toe with LeBron James in close games.
The Celtics definitely aren’t guaranteed a spot in the Finals. The rest of the East is still tough and it’ll be tough to run through. Especially if the standings hold with them as the 3 seed and the Sixers as the 6 seed — they’re 1-3 against their division rivals this season.
But they’ve definitely taken a step forward from where they were when this season began and it’s largely because of the step forward Tatum has made in his career.
He’s not just an All-Star — he’s at an All-NBA level now. And that has the potential to take the Celtics a long way. Both this season and beyond.
He’s just got to make sure he keeps that beard game tight.
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