Jayson Tatum has impressed as a rebounder in Summer League, but will it translate to the NBA?
Jasyon Tatum has been superb in the summer league. He has been everything as advertised on the offensive end, and he looks both comfortable and in control when he is instigating. Offense is what everything should have expected from Tatum, but he has been even more in the summer league.
On top of the prolific scoring, Tatum is also averaging double digit rebounds. Of course, it is summer league and it is an impossibly small sample size. That being said, no one expected Tatum to be a top rebounder on the team, and watching his activity on the boards suggests it may not just be fluke.
Tatum will not get the minutes to bring in double digit rebounds in the regular season, but if he is out doing most of his second unit mates in the summer league, he could be the most important piece in fixing the second unit rebounding.
First of all, it is looking a lot like the Celtics saw a different level of athleticism that others did not. Tatum is rebounding over players bigger than him, has done a solid job of boxing out, and is fighting on the boards the way everyone expected Ante Zizic to.
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The Celtics have embraced versatility like no other team, and the one downfall has been rebounding. The Celtics are looking for shorter players that can play the traditionally big positions. Tatum is undersized in a traditional sense, but if he can bring solid rebounding that he will be the exact stretch four that this team is looking for.
The Celtics have spent a lot of time looking for a big that they can run offense through, but they have never seen any decent offensive option be anything other than a disaster on the boards.
Again, it is summer league, and the level of athleticism cannot compare to the NBA. Tatum will not be a dominant prolific rebounder, but at this point the Celtics just need to start with positive rebounders.
The big concern may be that no one really expected this on the boards. It is easy to see Tatum’s offense translating to the NBA, because everyone could easily see his polished arsenal.
When it comes to rebounding, however, he was not averaging double digits even in College. 7.3 rebounds per game in his freshman season was respectable, but that is not an indication of a player that can help fix the rebounding issues of the Celtics.
That being said, when Tatum’s rebounds jump up to 12.6 per 100 possessions, it is possible that he was underrated coming out of the draft.
The Celtics have already seen the way he crashes the boards and his great length allows him to go over players that may have size on him.
Rebounding is never going to be Tatum’s strength, but that is the kind of thing that could transform his playing time. As long as some offense can be taken for granted, Stevens will embrace any small ball four that can help rebound.
Tatum will obviously be dealing with more rebounding competition from his opponents, but it may not be too crazy for him to become a top second unit rebounder. Zizic really should be blowing him away, but Tatum is playing with most of his second unit rebounding competition right now.
Stevens is clearly able to see that Tatum can be a top rebounder with these players around him. Given how unlikely it is that he is a starter, Tatum has an outside chance to be the first effective rebounding big the Celtics have had on the second unit in years.
Tatum has shown off great versatility on top of his great offensive play in the summer league, and if he is bringing great rebounding, then scoring will not be the only way he gets playing time. Smart always continued to get minutes despite spoor shooting because of everything else he did, and Tatum is showing signs of a similar approach.
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If Tatum’s summer league rebounding translates in any capacity to the NBA, then that is the exact kind of thing that will keep him on the court if he starts to struggle on offense, and will get him to that 20 minute mark if he is bringing both.