The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard the news about Jayson Tatum was, I suspect, the first thing that popped into the minds of many of you.
“Anticipation” by Carly Simon.
No? Well, bear with me anyway.
Anticipation for Tatum’s return has reached a fever pitch over the last month or so, and I’m here to break down Tatum’s return lyrically…
We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway
Half of what we do as sports fans in general is speculate about what’s coming.
We can revel in the past and enjoy the present moment, but part of the fun of being a fan is looking to the future. The next game, the next week, the next season. Right now, the next game is potentially Tatum’s first of the season, and it looks like he’s going to get a nice run-up to get back into game shape before the games start to really matter in May.
If he comes back tonight, he’s going to get a 20-game preseason before things get real.
But I, I rehearsed those words just late last night
When I was thinking about how right tonight might be
Yesterday, when I was cooking up the theme for this column, I couldn’t help but imagine what it will be like in Boston Garden tonight, if Tatum’s name is read out as the Celtics’ starting power forward. Again, these are moments you live for as a fan. Moments that are foundational, “I-was-there,” “I-remember-when…” moments. All of you, I’m sure, remember seeing Tatum hoist Deuce up to the rafters after the C’s clinched the title in 2024. The return will be a moment like that.
These are the good old days
This is the main thing that I want to talk about today…
Why are we so excited for Tatum to return?
Sure, a little bit of it is about Tatum, but most of it is because of everyone else.
Try to imagine what it would be like to welcome Tatum back to a 21-41 team instead of a 41-21 team.
I mean, there would be a vocal segment of the fanbase that would want Tatum to just shut it down for the whole year because, hey, lottery picks.
Instead, we’re excited because everyone else on the team refused to take a “gap year.” The C’s young guns refused to take the year off, and have all continued to work on their games. Joe Mazzulla didn’t change what his goals were for the season because of some little thing like the loss of a First Team All-NBA player, along with four other key contributors to past successes.
The story of this season has been one of ongoing improvement, especially on defense. Hugo Gonzalez was a cipher coming into the season, and he’s now a key contributor on the defensive side of the ball. Jordan Walsh and Baylor Scheierman have continued to improve as well.
On offense, Jaylen Brown’s points per game scoring average has jumped from 22.2 to 28.9, and everyone in the C’s rotation has stepped up a little bit. No one’s seen a drop in points per game, from last season to this. Collectively, the C’s have filled in the gaps, and that’s down to each individual player accepting the challenge and refusing to back down.
On the brink of Tatum’s return, it’s good to reflect on how different this team is than the Celtics team assembled to win Banner 17.
When Boston traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, we were getting two superstars who were, respectively, dang near 33 years old and 32 years old at the time the C’s won their title in 2008. Pierce was the youngster, being only 30 at the time. They had a limited window to work with, and due to a variety of factors, they didn’t have a lot of support by the end of their time with Boston.
We’re not living in those times. While Tatum and Brown are getting older (as we all are), they’ve got a young core surrounding them. They’re not being asked to carry as much of a load as the C’s Big Three had to carry. This year’s team has the reigning 6th Man of the Year. The Big Three Celtics had good bench support in 2008, but it just got thinner and thinner as the years went by. In the final real game of the Big Three era, Game 7 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics lost by 13 points and got a grand total of two points off their bench.
You have to go to the early 80s to find a Celtics team that was as solid from top to bottom as this one is.
In a league where ‘per 36’ stats have become de rigueur, reflecting the average minute load for starters, Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens have focused on winning all 48 minutes of the game, and that’s shown up this season as the Celtics have barely dropped off their 2025 pace, despite losing Holiday, Horford, Kornet, Porzingis and Tatum.
As we look to welcome back Jayson, let’s revel in the fact that he’s coming back to a complete team; a team that is perfectly capable of thriving without him, and a team that could be something truly special with him.
Savor these moments, because these are the good old days.
