5 Tatum-Based Takeaways

Tatum came back from a 298-day absence and looked like he'd never left

Is anyone else here a Buffy The Vampire Slayer fan?

I am.

I’ve watched every episode of that show at least three times. And now, it’s being brought back to life, with a new season, titled Buffy The Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale.

When asked about the upcoming show, due to air in 2027, Sarah Michelle Gellar stressed that it wasn’t a reboot.

"It's not a sequel, it's not a reboot," Gellar said. "It's a continuation.”

That’s exactly how things looked for Jayson Tatum in his first game back last night.

It wasn’t a comeback.

It wasn’t a ramp-up.

It was a continuation.

15 Points. 12 Rebounds. 7 Assists. 37.5% shooting across the board.

And… twenty-seven minutes played.

Yeah, those aren’t “comeback numbers.”

After 298 days of being sidelined with an Achilles injury, Tatum looked sharper than I expected, he moved better than I expected, he embraced contact more than I expected, and he produced at a higher level than I expected.

Expectations are there to be exceeded.

“It’s just a credit to his work ethic and the people around him, but also to the team,” Joe Mazzulla said during his postgame news conference. “I think it was a good opportunity for us to come together as a team.”

When I woke up this morning, my plan was to watch the game and write out five (or more) observations from the performance. I figured there would be one, maybe two, segments based on Tatum.

Plans change.

And with that, here are three observations that all focus on Jayson Tatum’s continuation game.

#1 Tatum’s Passing Is Going To Unlock Neemias Queta

We already know Tatum likes to play with above-the-rim bigs. He had a solid partnership with Robert Williams in the past, often telling him to “go get that shit” when throwing up lobs.

It would appear that he’s got a similar approach to Neemias Queta.

His first action ended with an assist, as shown in the clip above. However, the next two flashed the upside that Boston will reap as Tatum continues to develop his partnership with Neemy in the two-man game.

Neemy could also find himself getting some easy looks as the roller. Just look at how Tatum manipulates the defense. A slight up-fake before flowing into a step-back ensures the defender has to commit. Then, another shot-fake creates the close-out, allowing Tatum to feed Neemy on the pocket pass.

Neemy — and most of Boston’s younger tenured members of the roster — haven’t played with a passer of Tatum’s level before. If you watch when Neemy calls for the ball, it looks like he’s initially expecting it to come over the top, rather than being fed into the space behind the defender.

In fairness, Neemy would have flushed this play down if it wasn’t for PJ Washington doing a great job of reading the action and timing his shot contest to perfection, ending up with a clean block.

Last season, 149 of Tatum’s 431 regular-season assists went to Boston’s bigs. 62 assists found Kristaps Porzingis, 52 found Al Horford and another 35 found Luke Kornet. That’s over a third of his entire assist total for last season. 34.6% to be precise.

None of those bigs were a rim-running lob threat like Neemy is. There’s a good chance the duo develops a two-man game that could unlock Neemy’s scoring around the rim, making him even more impactful than he’s already been this season. And that’s before we see how Tatum and Nikola Vucevic fit together…

I’m excited.

#2 Tatum Hasn’t Lost A Step On The Glass

12 rebounds in his first game back following an Achilles injury is impressive work for Tatum.

Rebounding comes with a certain level of physicality. From boxing out to jumping with others, there’s some level of jostling that usually occurs.

I’ve chosen this clip because of the physicality involved and the confidence Tatum likely needed to come down with the board. The possession begins with Tatum guarding on the perimeter. He navigates a screen (contact) before going up strong for the board, and looking completely composed as he comes down, despite there being a Mavericks player in his landing vicinity.

We’re not privvy to the details of Tatum’s recovery process, but something tells me this wasn’t the first rebound he’s caught where an offensive player was within his landing space. He seemed far too chill with everything — and that’s encouraging.

Tatum had some easier boards, no doubt about it. Yet, his willingness and ability to put in some stellar effort on the glass shouldn’t go unnoticed. Nobody would have judged him if he’d taken things lightly in the rebounding department, especially in his first game back.

Instead, Tatum continued where he left off before his injury.

Boston was already a top-five team in rebounding this season. Jaylen Brown has shown legitimate growth on the boards, too. Adding Tatum back will ensure they continue to be one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA moving forward, especially on the defensive glass, where they currently rank eighth.

#3 Lateral Movement & Direction Changes

Directional changes, at game speed, along with lateral movement, were things I had on my mental checklist coming into the game. Seeing how Tatum navigated the court, both on defense and offense, was high on my list of priorities. After all, a ramp-up phase can include increasing mobility at game speed, with defense usually being an area where players take a few games to get back up to speed.

Not Tatum. Nu-Uh.

In the above clip, we can see him tag the cutter, dig into a driving lane, rotate and move laterally with his man as they look to initiate the dribble hand-off, and then change direction to pressure the shooter on a close-out.

Three different styles of movement. All at game speed. All within the flow of the game.

Come to think of it, we can add changes of pace to that checklist, too. We can see that on full display in the above clip. Coming off a Neemy screen (following a Derrick White cut), Tatum puts the rock on the floor, stutter steps while slowing his pace and then speeds back up as he finds his driving lane.

The bump to create separation is the icing on the cake and shows a level of confidence in his body that I expected to take a while to develop.

Tatum moved like he hadn’t missed a single day. He sped up, slowed down, changed direction and exploded when needed.

Who wouldn’t be happy to see him doing those things?

#4 Processing Speed

Processing speed has been one of Tatum’s superpowers for years. His ability to read the game at an elite level and make instantaneous reads often punishes the defense — even when they’re doing everything right.

Take this clip, for example.

The Celtics got to Tatum as a roll-man following a slip-screen action with White.

Tatum rolls downhill, having beaten his defender on the slip. His presence in the lane draws the strong-side low-man, leaving Sam Hauser wide open in the corner (bad move, Dallas. Bad move.)

Almost as soon as the ball touches Tatum’s hands, it’s heading out to a wide-open Hauser. There’s like half a step between the catch and the pass, which is just enough time to allow the rotating defender to be too committed to recover.

The pass turns into a catch-and-shoot three from one of the best sharpshooters in the NBA. So, of course, it turns into a bucket.

As Tatum’s touches go up and he begins to run more of the offense, we’re going to see that processing speed be put to good use. Teams will send doubles, and they will be punished for doing so.

He will notice small passing pockets.

He will find swing passes that unlock a defense.

He will force mismatches with ease.

And, he will control the tempo of the game. After all, processing speed is as much about perceiving the floor as it is about understanding what’s needed to maximize each possession.

Another aspect of processing speed is understanding how to manipulate a defense without the ball. For someone like Tatum, who commands a significant amount of gravity, that can be as simple as a shallow cut when the ball doesn’t find him.

You can see that form of processing speed in action in the above clip.

Tatum chin cuts off a drag screen from Neemy and positions himself to receive the rock on the weakside elbow. When the ball doesn’t come, he shallow cuts along the free-throw line extended before popping out on the opposite wing.

That movement briefly pulls two defenders with him, including the drop defender who can potentially interrupt skip passes. Tatum’s movement has created a large amount of space for White to attack on the cut, making it easy for Brown to hit him on target and on time (cliché, I know) for an easy layup.

298 days off, and his first day back, he’s already got defenses overreacting to his movement on the floor. Love to see it…

#5 A Seamless Fit

For all the concern (including my own) about a bumpy return to the rotation — primarily due to him slotting back into a rotation that was already humming, Tatum slotted in seamlessly.

He and Brown connected on multiple plays. We had the first shoots of a connection with Neemy. And overall, there didn’t seem to be any meandering when Tatum was getting open or operating with the ball.

Everything flowed well.

It was smooth like peanut butter. Well, the smooth kind of peanut butter…

Brown and Tatum had a balanced usage rate on offense. They both got theirs. Honestly, it shocks me that this was ever in doubt.

The team functioned as a unit, and with only eight turnovers throughout the roster, there didn’t appear to be any concerns about where the ball was supposed to go.

Of course, this was just one game. The first game. With a high amount of energy in the arena due to Tatum’s return. Tougher tests will await, but honestly, Tatum shouldn’t have too many issues slotting into whatever role is being asked of him.

Oh…and who expected him to have, what appeared to be, no minutes restriction? If he’s playing in the 25-30 minute mark each night, in what’s supposed to be a ramp-up phase, it’s hard to envision any bumps in the road as far as re-integrating into the rotation is concerned.