Boston Celtics: 3 things Cs fans need to see tonight against Raptors

What we need to see from Boston Celtics No. 2) More point-Tatum

Throughout the offseason, we heard the rumblings that Ime Udoka wanted to put more of an emphasis on distribution for this coming season, suggesting that where they finished in assists per game last year (25th) is simply unacceptable.

To try and improve this area of their game, Udoka stated that he wanted to have guys like Jayson Tatum become more willing passers and to be more comfortable with initiating the offense.

Since these remarks came out, it was apparent that the fan base was overwhelmingly in favor of this concept, for expanding Tatum’s game to have him become more of a point-forward type of player could only help his chances of being legitimately in the running for league MVP and, more importantly, better the team’s overall production.

During the team’s first preseason game, however, we didn’t really get to see a real uptick in distribution from Tatum and, instead, just saw the same old type of sets we’ve been used to seeing him in throughout his tenure with the Boston Celtics.

Now don’t get us wrong, watching the All-Star work his regular magic is always a fun sight to see but, at least to us, it was a bit of a let-down after hearing all about how this coaching staff wanted him to be more of a facilitator this year.

Yes, we’re obviously aware that this was only Boston’s first game back since their postseason ouster against the Brooklyn Nets last June and, in turn, still have plenty of time to incorporate such a style of play into their arsenal.

However, in preseason game No. 2, we hope to see a few more pick-and-roll/ drive-and-kick sets with Jayson Tatum as the ball handler being drawn up.