Joe Mazzulla was right.
Just two months ago, Jayson Tatum was basking in the immediate afterglow of finally breaking through. He was sitting at the podium, fumbling with his championship hat, trying to control his breathing as the emotions swirled inside him as he talked about joining an exclusive club.
“(Elevating) yourself in a space that, you know, all your favorite players are in, everybody that they consider greats or legends have won a championship, and all of the guys I looked up to won a championship, multiple championships,” he said. “Now I can, like, walk in those rooms and be a part of that. It's a hell of a feeling. This is more -- I dreamed about what it would be like, but this is 10 times better.”
He got to prove that theory when he walked into Team USA’s training camp. He showed up late due to personal reasons, but he was there with other champions, ready to soak up the same adulation as the others always seem to get.
And then he sat. Nobody cared.
Well, he got some congratulations from his teammates, and he played a few minutes here and there early on, but when it came time to win a medal, Tatum was mostly on the outside looking in.
It didn’t matter that he had just won a championship. It didn't matter that he was there with two championship teammates. His accomplishments meant nothing.
“I can’t lie. It was challenging,” Tatum told reporters in Paris. “Especially after the experience of the highest of the highest winning a championship, and then put in a new situation where you’ve never been in that spot before.”
The “nobody cares” thing became a funny side story to the season. Mazzulla, in his very Joe Mazzulla way, dropped it when he could in the middle of what seemed like a high point for his team. He said it privately to Derrick White after being congratulated for winning Coach of the Month. White wore it on his shirt for the parade.
But Mazzulla was right. Tatum and Jaylen Brown both felt that sting pretty quickly thanks to USA Basketball, and it serves as a pretty important reminder of the fast-moving nature of their business.
Congrats on the championship, but that means nothing for this next thing. Steve Kerr made his decision and it worked out just fine. Tatum sat out twice, barely played the rest of the way and was a bit player in the gold medal game. He could have sat the whole tournament right next to Tyrese Haliburton and the Americans still would have won.
“It’s something I can learn from,” Tatum said. “I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but everything happens for a reason, and I’m certain there’s something I can take away from this.”
There is.
Nothing is promised in sports. Some guys, like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry, have earned their spots with not just a long body of work, but the continued ability to produce. They took over games in this tournament, saving Kerr from himself and willing the Americans to gold. James likes to celebrate by mimicking a crown going onto his head but he’s earned the right to do that. He was the tourney MVP.
Nothing is promised. Nothing is given. When the Celtics tip off their season in late October, they will get their rings, they will raise a banner, and a team on the other side is going to do everything it can to ruin that night for them. That will start another 82-game run where the whole thing has to be earned all over again.
They spent this past season talking about not skipping steps. That will especially be true next season. They have to have the same attention to detail, the same determination, and the same motivation to win.
They are the champs, but the time to celebrate that is winding down. The page has to turn, and for Tatum especially, it turns with a tough lesson learned.
Your accomplishments are nice, but you don’t see five resumes on the floor when the games start up again. There are five players who have to earn it all over again.
Mazzulla was right. We laughed every time he said it, but he always said it with a straight face and he was never wrong when he did. Put it on a plaque heading into the locker room. Make it the shooting shirt slogan. Stitch it into the bottom of the 2024 banner. Take what Mazzulla said back in April, after the Celtics clinched he best record in the league, and run it on a loop in the film room.
“We should enjoy it tonight, wake up tomorrow and nobody cares. Time to get back to work.”