While he’s only been with the Boston Celtics since summer, Phil Coles — Boston’s Executive Director of Performance likes what he sees from the development of Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum’s growth this season.
Then again, it’s kind of hard to miss just how much the third-year swingman has grown since his sophomore campaign, nearly doubling his 2018-19 scoring rate of 15.7 points per game in February of 2020 with 30.7 points per game for that month.
“It’s always great to see young players continue to improve,” offered Coles via Omnisport.
“Like all great players, they have that mix of talent, drive and work ethic,” he added. “He is a good example of that but there’s lots of examples. It’s a young squad in general and there’s lots of good young players who work really hard and are all progressing.”
Coles, who came to Boston after a stint with the San Antonio Spurs helping that team boost what they can get out of their athletes, is originally from Australia, and began his career working with soccer and rugby teams before making the jump to basketball.
“I’m new here, so I can’t say I’ve followed [Tatum’s] progression as closely as some of the other staff,” added the performance specialist. “But everyone in the club and in the city who supports the club are excited to see the development is there and see him really blossom into a superstar.”
With news that the league is ramping up towards restarting the coronavirus-interrupted season in a single site location — likely Disney in Orlando, Florida — we may get back to that blossoming soon enough.
And that means Coles’ job is kicking into high gear to help the players prepare for a return to action after a long hiatus.
Celtics among teams hoping to go directly to camp on season restart https://t.co/1kOcKwRrbx via @thecelticswire
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) May 23, 2020
“It will vary from individual to individual,” noted the Australian, “From our perspective, we will do the best we can with the timeframe we’re given.”
“[Our approach] would be very individual. Some players would be in great shape and ready to go and others will need some more time to build up. And depending on what their role is in the team and the structure for if and when we come back, it will be different.”
With a mid- to late-June return to camp and a mid-July return to play looking like the most likely timetable, Coles and company will have their hands full getting Boston ready for high-level play.
But with every team in the NBA facing varying degrees of the same problem, it will be a shared challenge around the league to properly prepare teams not only to improve their play, but also to prevent injury.
“Everyone is in the same boat,” explains Coles, “so I don’t know that there needs to be an ideal timeframe, it just needs to be something that everyone is agreed upon.”
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