BOSTON — Brad Stevens said Jayson Tatum continues to hit thresholds in his recovery from Achilles surgery on Friday while addressing the Celtics’ trade deadline moves. Boston continues to leave open the door for a Tatum return this season with 31 games remaining, but cautioned that he’s still a ways away in his return. Tatum’s trajectory did not impact how the team navigated the trade deadline, diving below the luxury tax line with four trades and acquiring Nikola Vučević for Anfernee Simons.
“I would say it had very little impact on that singular decision, just because at the end of the day, if you look at who you have to go through, the paths you have to take, you just can’t get worn down physically. And we were gonna be much smaller and now we at least have big options. Obviously, any team with Jayson Tatum’s going to be better. So if that happens, that happens, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t, but we just thought that re-distributing our positional needs was probably the most important thing.”
Stevens did not acknowledge any change in approach or in Tatum’s mindset regarding the return even after his appearance on the Pivot Podcast, which Stevens caught clips of but did not watch. He referred to his own conversations with Tatum on the subject and acknowledged that anyone going through the progression of an extended injury recovery will have numerous thoughts along the way. Tatum wondered how he would fit into the Celtics mid-season on a successful team that’s formed an identity without him. Chris Haynes later reported that Tatum was now re-evaluating returning this season, something Tatum expressed himself in his podcast comments.
Teammates have also acknowledged the mental hurdle Tatum faces through the final stages of his recovery, roughly one week shy of the nine month anniversary of his procedure. Several players who suffered Achilles tears last season returned around this timeframe, albeit with the benefit of full training camps and preseasons to ramp-up. Stevens did not place a deadline on when Tatum would need to return this year before both sides would decide to wait for next year. Instead, they plan to play Tatum when he’s ready to return.
“(It’s) best for Jayson Tatum to come back when he’s 110% healthy, he’s fully clear by everybody that matters in that decision and he’s got great peace of mind and ready to do it. That’s it. That’s the objective and that’s what we’re gonna stick with,” Stevens said. “When we feel 100%, it’ll be his, it’ll be a group getting together and talking, but I think our medical people are really good, I think his doctors are really good, so we’re gonna listen to them, he’s listening to them. I think he and Nick have had an amazing work ethic through this recovery, and when it’s right, then we’ll all sit down and talk about it, but there’s still no force from us, there’s no pressure from us, but there’s also not going to be any of us saying, well, why don’t you take another week? When he’s ready, he’s ready.”
While the personnel moves the Celtics made at the deadline may not have considered Tatum’s availability, they did create a starting lineup hole that Tatum would assuredly fill when the time comes. Joe Mazzulla moved Payton Pritchard to the bench on Tuesday after Boston traded Anfernee Simons, a move Pritchard expected to continue when he spoke after the game. The Celtics did so to balance play-making between the starters and bench, and Baylor Scheierman started both games in his place, his fifth and sixth starts into the new year. Luka Garza also joined the starting unit next to Neemias Queta on Wednesday with multiple starters out, opening the door to the double-big option.
Tatum’s return would inevitably bolster the starting unit’s play-making, shooting and defense, and leave Pritchard to lead the second unit as he did one year ago. That leaves almost nightly questions about who will start unless Scheierman becomes a mainstay, and Tatum’s return will come with the question of how Jaylen Brown and Tatum re-establish their dynamic atop the offense after Brown’s MVP caliber first half to the season. Like other teammates before him, however, Brown embraced Tatum’s return with open arms when asked on
“I’ve been watching his progression and I know mentally, he’s been through ups-and-downs like any other person going through adversity in their career, etc.,” Brown said. “But I just let him know, do what’s best for you, because outside of it just being ysically a setback, mentally, spiritually, emotionally comes into play as well. So even if you’re physically feeling well, make sure your mind, mentally, emotionally and spiritually feel great too. So I trust, we trust his decision-making. Obviously, we’d love to have him back. Winning is the most important thing to me. So being to be able to add to winning and potentially have another deep playoff run is what I’m aiming for, so J.T.‘s a big part of that. Obviously, he has to make the right decision for him and his body … but when it’s time, if he does make that decision, we would love to have him back.”
