Though the regular season is currently descending towards its bitter end, the Boston Celtics continue to find themselves ascending with every passing day.
As a result, the once sub-.500 C’s are now stationed in the fourth seed out in the Eastern Conference standings, and perhaps no player has been more integral to the team’s midseason turnaround than franchise cornerstone, Jayson Tatum.
Through this 34-game stretch, the team boasts a 25-9 record (fourth-best mark in the association), while their All-Star wing finds himself putting up mesmerizing averages of 27.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists on 46 percent shooting from the floor and 35 percent shooting from deep.
Because of his production and impact throughout these past few months, we at HH have been starting to feel like the soon-to-be second-time All-NBA selection should be receiving more MVP consideration amongst both fans and media pundits alike.
Fortunately, it appears such a fad is beginning to take place, for our very own sister site, Hoops Habit, recently came out with their own updated leaderboard for the illustrious award and, within it, they have the Boston Celtics stud ranked fourth in the running.
Citing the forward’s ridiculous level of play all year, but especially as of late, writer, Michael Shearer, believes that, in time, it’ll wind up being a foregone conclusion that the budding superstar will be found in the running for the league’s most prestigious individual award:
"Tatum has been so good for so long it’s hard to imagine he just turned 24 years old. He’s reaching the age where his maturity is catching up to his physical talents, and he’s starting to see the floor better than ever before.Over the last ten games, Tatum has been averaging 4.6 assists, which ranks second on the team, and 8.7 potential assists. A solid rebounder, defender, and scorer, playmaking is the last area that Tatum has yet to master. If he can average over five assists per game next season and continues to hone his decision-making and shot selection, he could be at the forefront of the MVP debate as soon as next year."
Now, while Shearer would later go on to say that due to how stellar each of the three players in front of Tatum have been playing this season (Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, respectively) the wing’s claim to the award for this season seems to be close to none, we at the Houdini still believe that if he were to continue this level of play during these final 12 outings for the Boston Celtics, it would be hard not to think of him as a real threat to take home the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.
Just recently we claimed Jayson Tatum to be a true dark horse candidate to take home the MVP award come year’s end and, during this final stretch of the year, should he go on to play the way he has as of late, we’ll continue to proudly preach this sentiment.