NEWPORT, R.I. — At age 31, Al Horford is the oldest member of the revamped Celtics. He also has one of the calmest demeanors on the roster. He doesn't get too high or too low about himself or his teammates and calls it likes he sees it.
One player that Horford is already a big fan of in the early stages of training camp is No. 3 overall pick Jayson Tatum. The 10-year veteran has seen a lot of rookies in the NBA over the past decade, but he's put the Duke product as one of the best he's seen among them from a readiness standpoint.
"Just looking at him from summer league and I’d say he’s probably got to be up there, in my book, to be able to be ready and contribute," Horford explained. "He comes into a unique situation being such a high pick and coming to a team like us where, if he was going to a bottom team, I think we would all agree that he’d be playing a lot of minutes.
"So he has a different situation, a different challenge but I feel like he’s taking it well and, for him, it’s got to be a day-by-day thing of making sure that he gets better. He is as ready as I’ve seen any rookie."
What exactly separates the 19-year-old forward from the pack? It's a combination of skill and overall basketball feel, according to Horford.
"He can score the ball, he rebounds pretty well," Horford said. "He’s shown us here in the first couple of days that he has a good sense on the court. He has a good feel of playing and sometimes that’s harder for rookies, it takes them time to find their place. It’s early but I have seen those things from him and I like that."
Tatum's on-court IQ has also stuck out to Brad Stevens already, both during summer league and through the first few practices of training camp.
"He’s going to be a really good NBA player for a long time," Stevens declared. "I think any other prediction would probably be too early to tell. But I think he’s going to be a really good NBA player for a long time. He brings a lot to the table, and he’s really smart. He has a savvy that I think you can tell when he’s out on the court."
There is no question the door is wide open for Tatum to push for major minutes right out of the gate following the departure of Jae Crowder via trade. The Celtics probably felt a bit more comfortable pulling the trigger on that deal after seeing Tatum's two-way play in summer league. The 6-foot-8 forward has shown a versatility to guard both forward positions already, and his length, shot creation and defensive rebounding will be needed wherever he lines up on the floor.
For now, Tatum is trying to take the heightened expectations in stride. He's doing his best to absorb his surroundings and soak up knowledge from the added time he gets to spend with his experienced teammates while away from home.
"I mean, you learn just as much when you're on the bus and during team meals (as) you do in practice," Tatum said. "We just sit and talk about a lot of different things. These guys know so much since they've been around the game for such a long time. We talk about everyday things: how the road schedule is, how that is tough, how recovery is key and how their rookie season went and how they learned things along the way."
In a fun twist, Tatum and the Celtics will face off against Markelle Fultz and the Sixers in the team's first preseason matchup of the season in what should be an intriguing early measuring stick for the rookie.
Other notes from Day 2 of training camp
- No injuries through the first three sessions of camp. Rookie forward Guerschon Yabusele is taking part in camp despite offseason surgery on his foot
- Terry Rozier took part in a spirited game of 1-on-1 before practice and believes his new backcourt mate Kyrie Irving is making a seamless transition to Boston thus far. "He made it seem like he’s been on the team for a couple of years," Rozier said. "He made himself comfortable, everybody around him comfortable. He talks to everyone, whether it’s on the bus, whether it’s in practice. He’s great to be around. You can tell it’s a guy that’s been far with this basketball stuff in the NBA, and it shows."
- Brad Stevens was pleased with the team's defense after reviewing film from the first few sessions of training camp. The offense and particularly the turnovers could use some more work: “Well, the ball didn’t go outside those blue lines quite as much in 5-on-0. I mean, we turned it over like you couldn’t believe in a shooting drill yesterday. So we’ve got a lot of work to do to again kind of figure each other out and figure out where each other’s supposed to be. I thought that when I went back and watched yesterday’s practice again, defensively we were probably a little bit better than I thought we were. And offensively we’re just going to have to learn each other and spacing and everything else. So this morning was helpful in that. We focused on that most of the morning.”
- The Celtics have one final training camp session at Salve Regina tomorrow morning before heading back to Waltham for additional sessions on Friday and Saturday.