Jayson Tatum captured the attention of Boston Celtics fans everywhere at Monday’s shootaround when he went through one of his workouts in front of the media. Clips of the star forward throwing dunks during his one-on-one drills went viral, as the hype train left the station.
Before any of that even happened, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps shared some optimistic insight about Tatum’s recovery from his torn Achilles tendon during Monday’s episode of The Hoop Collective podcast.
“The Celtics are playing great,” Bontempts said. “Jayson Tatum is getting closer to coming back, and he was [in Atlanta] too.”
Bontemps statement, though perpetually true as JT continues to work every day to try and get back onto the court, feels intentional. That’s not a tidbit he’d try to shoehorn into a conversation about a potential Giannis Antetokoumpo trade and Jaylen Brown’s impressive performance against the Hawks if he didn’t feel like it had some value.
What do the clips of Tatum's workout mean for Celtics fans?
If you really want to try to connect some dots, the timing of the mention was pretty incredible, too. The podcast episode was released before Tatum’s surprise appearance on Monday. This means that Bontemps had some inclination that things were going well for him, even without being treated to the show at shootaround.
The workout itself also felt like a calculated play by Tatum, who hasn’t been afraid to share glimpses into his rehab process on social media along the way. Prior to his appearance at shootaround, it had been some time since JT had shared any updates about his progress.
Sure, there could’ve been some scheduling issue that resulted in his workout lining up to when reporters were invited to shootaround. It would be unfair to completely rule that out. But Tatum could have very well wanted to let everyone know in an indirect way that he’s getting closer to his eventual goal.
There’s also the piece of this where he was caught on camera during Thursday’s Celtics broadcast, seemingly saying, “I’m ready.” Or, at least, that’s what many on social media guessed he’d said. When watching the clip more closely, he may have just said, “I’m waiting.”
Ready, or just waiting, it’s been over eight months since Tatum underwent surgery to repair his torn Achilles tendon. The immediate procedure initially gave him and his family hope that he could be back in action within the next month or so. Quite a bit of time has passed since then, so who knows what the current timetable is.
What we do know is that Celtics' president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, told the media that Tatum still had several different steps to meet before he was ready to resume basketball workouts with small groups.
Monday’s video, though exciting, only included individual work. Tatum wasn’t playing three-on-three or anything. Maybe he’s done that behind closed doors, but we can’t be certain yet. The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach, however, did share that his workouts have “ramped up” in intensity over the past few weeks.