For as long as Jayson Tatum has been in the NBA, numbers have been a significant part of his narrative.
He came into the league as a 19-year-old.
Four years later, fans still jokingly refer to him as a teenager.
But the number that has meant the most to him for most of his basketball career has been 10, the number worn by his favorite player, Kobe Bryant, during Bryant’s time with Team USA.
And now that Tatum finds himself on Team USA, it's no surprise that he is now wearing jersey No. 10.
"With this being the first Olympics since we lost him, it holds that much more value," Tatum said. "It's not something I take lightly."
Tatum is playing with more accomplished players on Team USA, as well as others with more experience, but in listening to his Team USA teammates and coaches talk about him, you get the sense that there is the expectation that this will be the beginning of the Tatum takeover of the Olympic team - similar to what we saw for years with his idol, Kobe Bryant.
"I've known JT since I was 12. He deserves everything he's getting and he's going to keep deserving more because he's such a great player,” said Team USA center and current Miami Heat player, Bam Adebayo. “I'm happy for him. That's his idol, and he gets to represent that number. I know he's going to have that Mamba Mentality when he puts that 10 on."
And for Celtics fans who get just a wee bit queasy at the thought of the Celtics’ franchise player idolizing a Los Angeles Laker … let it go.
The emotional attachment Tatum has to Bryant isn’t all that different from what we saw with Paul Pierce, an Inglewood, California native who grew up a Lakers fan while living minutes away from their arena.
Pierce would go on to have one of the best careers ever for a Celtics player which included having his jersey number 34 retired in addition to winning an NBA title in 2008 by knocking off his once favorite team - the Los Angeles Lakers.
PLAYER, COACH BONDING
One of the many positives about this Olympic experience for Tatum is that he’ll get to spend some quality time with his new head coach Ime Udoka.
“We’re excited to have Ime,” Tatum said on the Kicks Beyond the Press Podcast. “A couple of us spent some time with him at USA Basketball in 2019, so there’s some familiarity there with him. And it’s kind of a fresh start.”
With Udoka with Team USA, that means one of his assistant coaches will lead the Celtics’ summer league entry. Typically a first-time NBA head coach would choose to coach their new team’s summer league entry, Udoka’s decision to instead stick with Team USA makes a lot of sense.
In order for the Celtics to be among the better teams this season or at a minimum be “the best version of themselves” (Brad Stevens throwback line right there), it’s important for Udoka and Tatum to be on the same page.
And with Tatum the lone member of the Celtics roster on Team USA, it provides Udoka a perfect opportunity to get to know Tatum beyond the talent.
The value in having a head coach and the best player having a rapport beyond the lines of the floor, is one of those intangibles that players and coaches agree has tremendous value.
Look at the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the upstart Phoenix Suns. A big part of their success has been the relationship between Chris Paul and head coach Monty Williams, a relationship that was fostered years ago when the two were together in New Orleans.
No one expected Udoka and Tatum to develop a bond that tight in a matter of weeks, but the time spent getting to know each other can do nothing but help their relationship and along those lines, the Celtics.
STANDING OUT IN THE CROWD(ER)
Game 1 of the NBA Finals between Milwaukee and Phoenix spoke volumes about what former Celtic Jae Crowder means to the Suns.
Every single shot Crowder took from the field - he took eight of them - in that game was off the mark. And yet when the final horn sounded and the Suns came away with the win, there was Crowder with a team-best plus/minus of +19.
While there are a number of bigger-name players in the Finals, Crowder is the only one who has been here before, having done so last season with the Miami Heat.
But a deeper dive shows that Crowder’s impact this season is just par for the course.
“You understand he’s been there before. Our whole team understands he was just (at the Finals) last year,” Devin Booker said following the Suns’ 118-105 Game 1 win over Milwaukee. “We bank on him for that toughness. He’s always communicating with our team and being honest with them. When somebody’s slacking, Jae’s letting them know. Even if it’s aggressive, if you’re slipping up, he’s going to get on you.”
During his time in Boston, Crowder’s tenacity and leadership were on display often. And while the Celtics appreciated his talents, trading him made a lot of sense at the time. Boston was on the cusp of landing Gordon Hayward, a talented wing who played collegiately under then-Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. And when they included Crowder along with Isaiah Thomas, a first-round pick and Ante Zizic) in a deal with Cleveland for Kyrie Irving, the return was seen at the time as worth the cost.
Crowder has not played a starring role for the Suns all season. But as we saw in Game 1, having him on the floor doing “Crowder-like” things may very well be enough to win at the highest levels.
YAM MADAR ON THE WAY?
The Boston Celtics may not have a first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft, but there’s plenty to be excited about for Celtics fans when they hit the summer league circuit next month.
Yam Madar, Boston’s 2020 second-round pick, is in Boston working out with the team with the expectation being he’ll be on the Celtics’ summer league roster.
Madar’s play has a potential domino effect for a number of Celtics players.
If the 6-foot-3 guard shows promise of being an early contributor, that may impact the approach the Celtics take when it comes to potentially re-signing Evan Fournier or whether they will begin to solicit teams and gauge what interest they might have in acquiring Marcus Smart.
This past season, playing with Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Super League, Madar averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 assists, three rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. One of the bigger concerns about Madar’s game was his perimeter shooting.
With Hapoel Tel Aviv, he shot 46.9 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range. Before Celtics fans run out looking for a Madar jersey, it remains to be seen if the Celtics will sign him to a contract for this season.
And if they do, that by no means will guarantee or even make it likely that he will come in and make an immediate impact. He will still have to compete with Payton Pritchard and Marcus Smart for minutes in the backcourt.