The Celtics have now played 20 games in the regular season. Joe Mazzulla has called on 10 guys to be starters over that time.
The 10th was Xavier Tillman, who spent nine of his last 10 games sitting on the bench. He had played 65 total minutes over eight games this season, but he got nearly 30 on Sunday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And aside from a couple of missed shots, Tillman gave the Celtics a huge boost in his sudden start.
“I'm a pro,” he said after the win in Cleveland. “This is my sixth year doing this. I know what it takes in order to be ready and be prepared in terms of the work, in terms of the focus on each and every game plan.”
To be honest, the “how are you ready to do your job” question we all like to ask in this situation is a bit odd if you think about it. Tillman is right to say he’s a pro. This is his job, and it pays him quite well. He has made more than $11 million over his career, which is a fifth of what Jaylen Brown makes in a season, but it’s about $10 million more than the average person will make in a lifetime.
“He’s definitely got his priorities straight,” Sam Hauser recently said of Tillman. “(He’s) a father of three at home, he's a husband, and that's his main thing. And he comes in every day and works, has gratitude for where he's at.”
His job is to play basketball for a living, and he’s one of the fortunate few to be able to say that. Tillman is grounded and aware of where he is in the NBA. He knows what is expected of him, and he delivers.
“He works. He's always ready,” Mazzulla said. “I think one of the biggest keys you could have as a player is have a trust with your staff, and anytime he's in, we trust that he'll execute.”
But there is a reason we ask the readiness question of guys in Tillman’s position. Athletes are competitive and proud, and not getting minutes can be a mental grind. It’s easy to doubt yourself and lose focus. It's easy to be a less-than-perfect teammate when your job description is "basketball player" and you don't get to do the "player" part when everyone is watching.
“Obviously, it's frustrating when you want to help the guys,” Tillman said. “But you got to find your ways to impact the game. So if you're out of the rotation, it's watching film, and then it's coaching those guys up during timeouts. Like, ‘hey, this guy likes to go left, this guy likes to shoot,’ and doing things like that to help your team win. So no matter what the situation is, you always got to find a way to be impactful to the game.”
It’s easy to forget Tillman isn’t even 27 years old yet. When he said this is his sixth year, my gut reaction was “are you sure it’s not your 16th?” He not only looks like a long-time vet, he acts like one.
Neemias Queta will probably be back against the Knicks on Tuesday, so who knows if Tillman will get the call again. The way this team is built, he could be the sixth man, or he could get six more DNPs. Luka Garza, one of the 10 different starters, sat and watched this one. So did Chris Boucher, who is racking up his fair share of DNPs this season. The Tuesday night story can easily be something similar about one of them. Or it can be about none of them. Or all of them.
For now, at least for one game, it was Tillman’s turn. Payton Pritchard scored 42 in an incredible performance that will get a ton of deserved attention. Brown’s triple-double was a do-it-all kind of night that stars deliver even when their shot is off.
And the team’s leader in steals? That was Tillman. His three offensive rebounds were second on the team. He gave the game what it needed on a night the team was shorthanded. Who knows when the Celtics will him to fill another gap, but they feel good about going to him whenever that is.
“I have a level of trust,” Mazzulla said. “You know that he's going to go out there and he's going to execute, he's going to do exactly what we want. And you know, that's really hard to do in this league, and you can't take a guy like that for granted.”
