This might be the best season of Jayson Tatum's career with the Boston Celtics, if you ask former Boston player and assistant coach Evan Turner. With the St. Louis native's costar on the wing Jaylen Brown having been dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this offseason, the conditions are ripe for Tatum to explode with Most Valuable Player-type production in the eyes of Turner, as he shared on a recent episodeof the Sports Illustrated "Open Floor" podcast.
"I think he's going to average about 30 a game, like 1,000%. I think he's been waiting for these types of moments," said Turner. "Not to get rid of (Brown), but I think for eight or nine years. Years of just always having to over here being like he's got a loaded team, he can't be MVP this
year he can't do (that) this year. I think sitting back, watching the game, getting smarter but also seeing what JB was able to do with that team and being like 'You know what bro, when I come back, these guys are going to be prime. I'm going to be able to do a lot more', you've got to think."
"This is a group of guys that were able to add a season of experience, and be able to win 50-plus games," said the former Celtics assistant. "To be able to come back one of the top players in the world who's trying to define who he really is."
"Sometimes we look at Jayson, we think about him as a scorer, but we forget the all-around game he's been putting up, even since he's come back, but even a year before," continued Turner. "A lot of his games are 28 (points) 12, 13 (rebounds), and 8 assists."
"I think when you have that type of aura, that type of skill set on the floor, you have the right type of players around you, you're adding Mike Conley. I know everybody gives Paul George a lot of thought, but if he's a third or fourth option and he's just hitting that corner 3, I'm taking 15 points a night from him. And then when you look at (Boston coach) Joe Mazzulla, we talk about all this and we go down and we look at culture."
"Sometimes you're like, 'Well, JB did was unbelievable,' but it's also been a Celtics culture that has been built over the past four or five years," he explained. "You look at some of these guys they've just got the 'it' factor; they don't lose."
Listen to "Havlicek Stole the Pod" on:
Blue Wire: https://tiny.ee/CdKp
iTunes: https://tiny.ee/RK47
YouTube: https://tiny.ee/cOW3
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Evan Turner thinks Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics have the 'it' factor this season
