It seems like a long time ago for former Duke star Jay Williams, but it was only the summer of 2016. Jabari Parker, who had been the No. 2 pick in the draft for the Bucks, was coming off what would be his healthiest NBA season, in which he averaged 14.1 points on 49.3% shooting. In scrimmages around the Duke campus, it was expected that Parker would dominate.
Except there was a skinny 18-year-old incoming freshman recruit from the St. Louis area who was showing up Parker (then 21 years old) and drawing the attention in the gym like a magnet. That was Jayson Tatum, the Celtics‘ star who had 21 points and 9 rebounds in Sunday’s Game 1 blowout of the Raptors to start the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Speaking on the Heavy on NBA Show with Scoop B this week, Williams said he immediately took notice:
I am going to bring you back, four years ago—and I can’t believe I am saying four years now—when he was a freshman and he was coming into Duke. I’ve got a home there in North Carolina and I am down there watching guys hoops. Jabari Parker was doing his thing in the league around that time in Milwaukee. Jabari was playing. And I watched JT give him the business for an hour straight. An hour. I am not talking about college move. I am talking about the same moves he is doing right now he was doing as a 17-year-old. I remember walking away like, yo, this dude is special. He’s different.
Williams Compares Tatum to Grant Hill
Tatum went on to have a solid Duke career, averaging 16.8 points and 7.3 rebounds, shooting 45.2% from the field and 34.2% from the 3-point line. That year’s Blue Devils were only so-so, finishing 28-9 and losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to South Carolina, a game in which they were favored as the No. 2 seed (the Gamecocks were No. 7).
But given what we have seen from Tatum three years into his career, including his ascension into an All-Star this season, Williams has big expectations—bigger perhaps than any past star in Duke history, including the likes of Elton Brand, Kyrie Irving, Grant Hill and even the No. 1 pick from 2019, Zion Williamson.
“The way he was playing before the pandemic, the way he is playing right now, he is going to be in the MVP conversation in years to come, there’s no doubt about it,” Williams told Scoop B. “He may be one of the best players we ever have that has donned a Duke uniform. His game reminds me, it’s not as athletic, but the skillset reminds me of Grant Hill. If Grant Hill had never got hurt, imagine what Grant Hill would have been.”
He has also earned some love from the local fans–or, perhaps better said, his son, Deuce, has earned some love. He has become nearly as big a celebrity as Tatum and a clip of Deuce seeing his dad on television went viral.
Jayson Tatum loves his biggest fan ❤️
(via @jaytatum0)
Tatum Led Celtics Over Raptors in Game 1
WIlliams has high praise for Tatum, of course, but Tatum has already earned accolades for his steady improvement.
His scoring average went from 13.9 points as a rookie to 15.7 in Year 2. But the third-year leap has been most impressive: 23.4 points, 45.0% shooting, 40.3% 3-point shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists. He currently ranks 12th in the NBA in playoff scoring, at 25.8 points per game.
In just three seasons, he has already appeared in 33 postseason games, with at least four more—and a lot more if the Celtics continue to control their series against the Raptors—ahead. Tatum said after the Game 1 win that he is still developing as a playoff player, which was evident as he struggled early on Sunday but adjusted to the Raptors’ double-teams.
“Things I continue to learn about myself playing in these games and in these situations,” he told reporters in the postgame interview, “just kind of realizing the attention that I get when I put the ball on the floor. They’re a great defensive team, they are not going to make it easy. It’s my job to find the open man if they double, if I’ve got a lot of attention, a lot of eyes on me. That’s something I am constantly trying to improve, trying to get better at.”
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Jay Williams: Celtics’ Jayson Tatum ‘One of the Best’ in Duke NBA History