You may be familiar with the phrase ‘defense never rusts’.
So the Jayson Tatum fan club will use his long absence as an excuse for a rim-chipping stepback, a crowd-pleasing sight delivered into the stands, and a dribble off his swollen ankle within seconds of his return to the court, and there will be nothing but the stark truth about his defense.
Tatum is the most hyped player in NBA history. Don’t you trust me? There are statistics to prove it.
Last year, three NBA All-Stars suffered Achilles tendon ruptures. Everyone is planning to return.
Since his injury, Tyrese Haliburton has posted – by my unofficial count – 96 updates on social media.
After making himself known to the media public at the All-Star Game and shockingly winning a three-point outing, Damian Lillard warranted 126 updates.
Tatum had 158 just yesterday. His total (changed by minutes): 7,966.
And that doesn’t even include the five-part documentary that tells the incredible story of an athlete’s miraculous recovery from an Achilles injury. Obviously it has never been done before.
The closer we get to Tatum’s return to game action, the more ridiculous this story becomes.
You have to know that the NBA, which has been driving the Tatum hype machine since day one, wants its golden boy back next Tuesday against the Spurs. why? That’s because it’s a nationally televised game on NBC, the league’s cash cow.
But Tatum went to Duke. Do you remember? He’s not stupid enough to choose that path.
He’d rather get a win in a game where he has a better chance of winning, like Friday night’s game against the hapless Mavericks. It’s his kind of stat padding counterpart.
Plus, it makes sense for the groove and comes at the perfect time. Two days after the Celtics lost to the Hornets – despite a stellar record – the club showed they desperately need him back.
It will be a perfect theater. Perhaps it will come with a green carpet.
First dribble between the legs. wow. I waited 10 months for this. It’s worth every moment.
11th dribble between the legs in the same possession. unbelievable. He still has it.
Help for Jaylen Brown. Classic team member. Forget for a moment that Payton Pritchard has already done this 70 times this season.
And that 3-pointer. He’s back! It was his fifth 24-foot daring attempt of the night, but broadcasters had already warned him seven times that he was rusty.
We will give it to him. But whenever he returns, a well-rested Tatum should be on top of his game defensively. He made this perfectly clear in the twice-a-day video he directed.
And this is a potential problem.
You see, Tatum put up impressive numbers in points, rebounds, and assists to fool people into thinking he was more than just the 12th player on the Olympic team, but he can do that by shooting a lot, standing by the basket, playing defense, and committing a lot of turnovers.
But I can’t defend his defense.
It’s surprising how often Tatum is cited as a standout defender. Heck, over the course of his career he’s gotten almost as many defensive votes as Brown.
It tells the myth of Jayson Tatum more than anything else.
Watch Brown play defense. Use full locking mechanisms in multiple positions. Look what he did to Luka Doncic in the 2024 final.
The Celtics won that title on the defensive side of the court. Fortunately, 7 out of 11 Finals MVP voters saw this and chose Brown.
Tatum received the remaining four votes. It’s not just that he shot 26 percent on 3-pointers, as he almost single-handedly kept the Mavericks in the series.
As broadcasters have reminded us several times, it was his all-out defense of Mavericks big men Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively II that won the series for the Celtics, failing to mention the fact that the two stiffs with a combined shooting range of 18 inches shot 28-for-39 in five games.
Want to learn a little about Tatum that wasn’t covered in the documentary? Focus on defense before returning.
First, take a look at who he’s guarding. While he is routinely assigned to other teams’ weakest forwards or centers, Brown actually guards the man with a pulse.
Is that what you do to an elite defender?
Because his man isn’t a threat, he gets a chance to stick around the hoop while Brown and his hard-working teammates force one bad shot after another. Tatum has 4,293 career rebounds. His cumulative jump on that board totaled 4,292 inches.
And watch your opponent attack the rim. ‘Ole’. After all, he can’t afford to get into foul trouble.
Master Plan: This allows him to catch the ball at the net, inbound the ball to someone and immediately pass it back, allowing Tatum to initiate a dribble move.
At that point, you can stop watching. He will eventually get rusty offensively.
However, there will be no rust at all in defense. Just – as usual – exposed.
