Jayson Tatum Showcasing Full Offensive Arsenal

Jayson Tatum is putting a full offensive arsenal on display for the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are having a close to worst case scenario to start the season. They secured their first victory, but they are yet look to impressive in any of their games, and they are unlikely to get arguably their best player, Gordon Hayward, back this season.

It is nothing like people were expecting when this team was assembled, but there still have been some positives. Some people were surprised when it was announced that 19 year old rookie Jayson Tatum was going to start. Not only is he starting now, but he is averaging over 35 minutes per game.

Tatum has shocked some people by the kind of role he has been given, and a lot of that has to do with his ability to hold his own on defense, and do a phenomenal job on the boards.

Those other things are what allow Brad Stevens to trust him with such a large role, and those minutes are giving him the opportunity to showcase his real ability on the offensive end.

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Tatum has reached double digit scoring in two of the three games, and there does not appear to be any limit on his offensive arsenal. The actual numbers are impossible to gauge so early on in the season, but we have already seen how many different ways Tatum can attack.

Immediately out of college, we knew that Tatum was going to have solid isolation ability, with a killer mid range shot. Any time the Celtics can get him that space, he is not hesitating, and defenses already have to respect that.

We can also see that he is going to be one of the most reliable outside shooters on the team. He will get a lot of open looks with the space created by Kyrie Irving and Al Horford, and his shooting stroke looks as smooth and polished as anyone else on the court.

Those two things, however, are what we were expecting coming out of college. The defense and rebounding have been a pleasant surprise, but Tatum was supposed to be NBA ready on the offensive end, and we have seen that in all three games so far.

Against the 76ers, however, Tatum showed yet another aspect of his offensive game that was not quite as expected. Being such a young rookie playing with a lot of great talent, Tatum was not expected to create a lot of offense to start things out.

Tatum has not been a play maker for others, but he is already adapting some aggressiveness and is using that to generate offense now that they are not functioning too well.

Tatum did a remarkable job, getting to the line nine times against the 76ers, and hitting all of them. Defenses already have to respect Tatum as a shooter, because he will punish you if he is left open.

Now he is starting to establish a way for him to attack, without needing a teammate to create for him. Tatum has remarkable balance, and really knows how to use his length. Teams still do not know how to handle him when he is driving to the rim, and he will punish any opponent that continually puts him on the line.

So far, Tatum has excelled in every way on the offensive end, and is having a bigger impact that even the most optimistic fans were anticipating. We knew we were going to get an NBA ready offensive threat, but we are seeing one of the most complete offensive arsenals in the lineup, and the options for how to use him keep on expanding and expanding.

The Celtics know they do not have an individual that can replace Hayward’s ability on the offensive end, but Tatum being this complete is going to be the biggest difference maker. Stevens will continue to use Tatum is different ways, and if he keeps this up then Stevens will be using him more and more.

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Time will tell if Tatum can play at this level on a consistent basis, and that could be the biggest step in getting this team back to where they need to be.