Getty Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics underwent a monumental change in organizational structure during the off-season, which saw Brad Stevens take on the role of President of Basketball Operations, and Ime Udfoka appointed as head coach.
Those front office moves were quickly followed by a series of trades and free-agency pick-ups, as Stevens began to alter a roster that only made the playoff’s courtesy of the play-in tournament a few weeks prior.
In came Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder, and a host of valuable role players such as Enes Kanter Freedom and Bruno Fernando. At the same time, the Celtics waived goodbye to Kemba Walker, as he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While most of these changes were taking place, the Celtics star player was thousands of miles away, playing for an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Tokyo. However, even three months later, Tatum still finds himself adjusting to the changes he sees while walking around the Celtics facilities.
“It was a shock to me. I had no idea the coaching change was going to be what it was, especially the day after the season ended for us. It’s still a little weird seeing Brad around, and he’s not the coach anymore,” Tatum told Sage Steele during a recent interview for ESPN.
Tatum & Udoka Bonded in Tokyo
Despite the immense amount of change the Celtics underwent during the summer, one of the lesser appreciated facts is how much time the team’s new head coach got to spend with his new star player.
Udoka was an assistant coach with Team USA throughout the Olympics, allowing the player/coach to form a bond before the Celtics regrouped for training camp. This additional time allowed Udoka to explain his ideas on how he envisioned Tatum playing this year and what was expected from a style standpoint.
“We talked about playing big boy ball down there, and he got to the basket quite a few times, nice dunks and things of that nature. But we want him to be able to score from everywhere,” Udoka said of Tatum’s aggressive play following the team’s first pre-season game.
Such an opportunity is seldom afforded to new head coaches and their star player during the off-season, and it would seem that both parties took full advantage of the opportunity.
Tatum is Proud to Be an Olympic Gold Medalist
An NBA championship may continue to elude the young All-Star, but Tatum won Olympic gold with Team USA during the summer of 2021. When speaking to the Knuckleheads podcast of his success, he spoke fondly about his medal’s sentimental meaning for him.
“To make it to the national level, and be on the Olympic team, and finally get it, is really heavy. It’s really heavy (the medal). It’s way heavier than I thought. I remember taking it home to my mom, and she got teary-eyed, like, ‘my son is a gold medalist.’
Her saying that, and me not realizing how much of a big deal it was until we won, I was like ‘hold on, I went to the Olympics, I’m only 23, and I won a gold medal’,” Tatum detailed when recalling his thought process after winning gold.
Tatum has recently snapped out of the poor shooting slump that left question marks over his conditioning at the start of the season and will be looking for another big scoring night on Friday, December 17, when the Celtics face off against the Golden State Warriors.