For the second straight season, Jayson Tatum is coming back in January after a positive COVID test. This time, though, he hopes his return will go a bit differently.
“It kind of felt like the first go-round when I had it last year, how tough that was and everything like that,” Tatum said after participating in the team’s Tuesday practice. “But I feel a lot better with everything. My quarantine was shorter, my body feels a lot better, comparing my first couple of days back practicing than last year when I first came back. So that’s a positive sign.”
Tatum has described last year’s return as a difficult one that significantly impacted his breathing and ability to actually play basketball. He turned to an inhaler to get through much of his post-return playing days, but it might not be quite as bad this time.
“I don't know if he had the same severity of symptoms as his last time,” Ime Udoka said. “It doesn't sound like it. So hopefully, that won't bother him to the same extent. … I think we can settle him back into the rotation, not only coming out of COVID, but also with the bodies that we have back and the full complement of players. We don't have to have him play as long as stretches or as many minutes in general.”
Tatum was cleared from the league’s Health and Safety Protocols over the weekend, but the team held him from the game against the Orlando Magic in order to ramp him up a bit more.
“He's had a few practice sessions,” Udoka said. “He's had two or three extra sessions and he's looking good out here with what he is doing so far and he's the type of guy that wants to come back and get right back into his role and not be limited. Something he's stressed that he doesn't love is a minutes restriction and anything like that. As long as his conditioning and wind is fine, he can get right back to playing at the level that he was.”
Tatum is one of a growing list of players to have gone through multiple Health and Safety stints. Considering how it’s sweeping through the league, Tatum says he’s not surprised by it.
“All of the positive cases we’ve had in the league and with the guys on the team, obviously just try to stay as safe as possible,” he said. “Also realize there’s risk. I don’t think I was puzzled. It’s just realizing what we’re dealing with right now.”
Tatum is expected to return to his starting spot when the Celtics face the San Antonio Spurs tomorrow night in Boston.
ROBERT WILLIAMS ALSO RETURNS
Williams missed the win over Orlando due to a sprained right big toe. He returned to practice today.
“He did everything in practice today,” Udoka said, which means the Celtics appear (at least for the moment because you never know with these guys) to have their full starting lineup ready to go tomorrow for the first time since December 13.
“Due to lack of minutes, we've been through the situation all year, but the numbers and the eye test, you kind of see what we can be,” Udoka said. “We've been pretty good with the starting group, although it's been low minutes overall. And so just to get the full complement of players back, it kind of sets everybody else in rotations and sets some of the roles.”
The Celtics' preferred starting lineup of Williams, Tatum, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Al Horford has played only 87 minutes together this season. By comparison, the relatively unscathed Utah Jazz have five different lineups that have played more than that.
“You're asking guys to do more at times and shoulder the load as far as minutes and being out in certain situations,” Udoka said. “So it just gives us a full complement of guys, multiple areas where we're able to help us improve, defensively, for sure. I think we've been really good with our starting lineup. And then we can settle down into roles and minutes a little bit better.”
The last time we saw Williams, he was putting up a triple-double against the Phoenix Suns in a game that saw more cutting than usual, and those cutters being rewarded by passes from Williams and Horford.
“We kind of know what we get out of those guys with isolations and pick-and-rolls and some of those sets that we have, but we want to utilize our bigs and their passing ability in the low post or the high post,” Udoka said. “I think they can really initiate the offense well. We saw that against Phoenix and want to add that to our repertoire and have a piece of our offense, not just, you know, isolation, pick-and-roll, some of the other things they do. I think that's an added benefit and will make us much more difficult to defend.”
ONLY AARON NESMITH REMAINS IN HEALTH AND SAFETY
Nesmith cleared Health and Safety protocols over the weekend and then went right back in. It’s unclear why that happened, but as of right now, he remains the only Celtics in the protocols.
“Still waiting on negatives,” Udoka said of Nesmith’s situation.
Enes K. Freedom was cleared and returned to practice today.
RETURN TO FULL STRENGTH MEANS GOODBYE HARDSHIP SIGNINGS
The NBA’s hardship 10-day contracts were meant to help teams get through tough COVID stretches without postponements. Now that Boston is at nearly full strength, they no longer have the need for those players. So Al Faruq-Aminu, Norvel Pelle, CJ Miles, Justin Jackson, and Joe Johnson are all gone.
Johnson’s brief return was a rare fun moment for the Celtics, but it did make an impact with the team.
“We all enjoyed the time he was here,” Tatum said. “Obviously, he was great for myself and other guys, the ultimate professional, somebody that a lot of us looked up to. We would have loved to keep him around but I'm certain that is less about him and more about business and some technical things. Everybody here loved having Joe around and we still keep in contact with him and he still watches our games. It was great having him around.”
Johnson only got that one stint on the floor against the Cleveland Cavaliers, enough to hit what might be one last NBA basket. But Udoka believes Johnson might have a couple more in him if a team needs him.
“From a physical and ability to play standpoint, yes (he belongs in the NBA),” Udoka said. “He was somebody that if we had more positives pop up, we would have been confident throwing him in for more minutes … From a physical standpoint, he’s as good as the end of bench players across the league, so there’s no doubt about that. It’s just opportunity. He got that due to the circumstances, and maybe it will open something else up for him.”
At the very least, the Celtics managed to make the most of their 10 days with Johnson.
“His experience stood out immediately, his voice stood out immediately in the locker room, and from a respect level from all of the players that’s something that was very notable,” Udoka said. “Other than the coaches, he spoke up more than some of the guys who had been here. He shared his experience with those guys. We talked about how much they looked up to him when he signed here (regarding) Jayson and the other guys. Whether it was JB or someone else’s ear, he was always there lending support and advice on things he’s been through.”