Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from the 2020 All-Star selections

Jayson Tatum’s reserve spot is justified

The Boston Celtics will be sending two All-Stars to Chicago this year. Tuesday, Jayson Tatum was among the seven players from the East that were entered into the All-Star draft pool via his first ever nomination.

It was well-earned and well-deserved.

Tatum has been balling out this year, to the tune of a career-high 21 points while grabbing a shade under seven rebounds per game. While his efficiency could improve overall (43 percent from the field), his 3-point efficiency on almost seven attempts per game (37 percent from the 3-point line) is resulting in double digit points from the 3-point line alone.

A good number of those attempts come from isolation sets. Tatum owns the highest isolation percentage on the Boston Celtics, and is featured in such sets even more-so than Devin Booker. Those sets have seen the third-year man reach into his bag of tricks, with a killer step-back jumper that he has hit from the free throw line to far beyond the arc as well as a shammgod dribble that has lulled defenders in to facilitate his rim runs.

With the All-Star game honoring the late Kobe Bryant, it is only fitting to feature a player that Bryant himself recruited to train. As my co-editor Andrew Hughes wrote yesterday, there is some Kobe in Tatum’s game:

"Out of all the players on the Boston Celtics, none have the fluidity and alpha mentality that Bryant did quite like Tatum. When he backs defenders down and hits fade-away jumpers, it’s hard not to see the influence Bryant had on Tatum’s game."