Celtics Insider: We’re watching something ‘potentially unprecedented’ with Tatum’s recovery 👀

Celtics Insider: We’re watching something ‘potentially unprecedented’ with Tatum’s recovery 👀

Well, it was Celtics media day today and the man everyone wanted to hear from was of course Jason Tatum. That’s because the Celtics superstar posted this video of himself going through an onc court basketball workout on his YouTube channel over the weekend. Tatum, who is just 5 months removed from surgery for Horn Achilles, was asked if we was asked if he’s where he would like to be in the recovery process. Uh, yeah, I’m in a I’m in a really good spot. Um, it’ll be five months tomorrow. So, how has it been is is is um it’s been long. It’s been a long journey. It’s tough to answer that question in 45 seconds, but uh I think for me is there’s been bright spots and getting back on the court and um being able to participate in a basketball workout uh was definitely one of the more bright spots of of this journey. Um you know, it just really it just felt really good to be on the court and um you know, dribbling the basketball, going through a workout. Um, you know, just feeling like a basketball player again. All right, that’s where we start the daily thread. We got Cayla Burton, our Celtics insider, Chris Forsber, and from the Boston Globe, Dan Shaughnessy. Where was the guy that I saw on the Today Show in ESPN who was so excited and had all this energy? I mean, I was I think I like everybody else, Kayla, was surprised to see him on the court yesterday. Yeah. But then again, everything he’s been doing suggests that he has been progressing more quickly than all of us expected. I was shocked when I saw that video. I think a lot of us were like, is this I seeing him do the backup like the the dribble step back, the all of the the running full court. I mean, just for him to be at this point right now is impressive. Beyond impressive. He’s what, five months removed from four and a half to be exact. Thank you, Chris. And to see him go the whole length of the court right now, it’s it’s almost unheard of. Uh I am a little nervous that he’s Is that weird to feel like I’m like, “Oh, don’t like like don’t go too fast.” You know, I’m almost like a want to parent the situation and be like, “Okay, let’s he needs a parent.” But but I feel like Brad Stevens is that parent. I mean, just talking to him, Brad, today at media day, of course, we tried to get anything and everything Jason Tatum questionwise, and he said it is the utmost importance, Chris, to not go uh full speed and to just make sure that he is fully fully recovered before actually getting out there. But it’s cool to see him that he’s making this progress. So, I asked every player, I was like, you know, we only get these small glimpses. We only we have to wait till you upload something to like know like where he’s at, right? And I said, you guys see him every day. Is is this a is this a surprise to you? And most of them were like, “Yeah, like even to us, it’s still a surprise that this dude is out here running up and down the court and doing crazy basketball drills this soon after the surgery that normally sidelines guys for 12 months.” Look, I think we’re watching something potentially unprecedented in terms of like how quickly he can get back to a high level. And that’s still a lot of hurdles to go. There’s still a long time. I don’t think they’re going to rush this at all. But you can’t watch that video and then say like, “Oh, a 200 day season and he’s not going to be back out there.” So, are you changing your prediction? You said last week, March. I am. I’m going to move it up. Like I’m I’m into February now and maybe I’ll be in January at some point, but like I can’t watch that tape and not think to myself, he’s going to be back on a basketball court sooner than later as long as everyone is confident he cannot reagravate this injury and he is at a point where the strength is enough to support a basketball. Dan, are you as confident as Chris and Caleb? This is a bad idea. I can’t believe he sent out that video. I can’t believe he was even there today. Good for him. I’m sure he’s dying to get back. Who wouldn’t be? We all want to see him get back. This creates an expectation. This creates an urgency, a rush. When’s he going to be ready? This creates the exact opposite of what you wanted, which is to say, you know what? We’re not going to have him this year. And then if he surprises you and comes on, that’s great. Now it’s going to be when’s he going to be ready and you you’ve created this this monster in my view that you don’t want. It’s a huge distraction. Not a fan of this at all. I can’t distraction. When are we going like because guys like you going to be saying February or March? How about how about next year like everybody else? But it clearly does they clearly listen to some of the noise because they they are putting this out there. So they want people like to me I’m with Dan if you want to come back and you can come back early but to set the expectation. I also looked I think he said something to Chris Manx about how Kevin Durant was sort of like the like looking at it. So there’s only a three-year age difference between the two. Kevin Durant was in full speed for 18 months. It took him 552 days. That’s a long time. Like you’re you’re telling me that he’s gonna cut that process into a third. Like that to me again, that’s why when Kayla said, “I kind of want to parent him.” I’m like, “Yeah, I would like you to have a little bit of a parent.” I promise you they will not put him out there a minute before he is medically cleared to do it. But what I think what you have to understand like they got him into surgery at an unprecedented rate. Like no one has ever torn their Achilles and then been into surgery less than 12 hours before. Nobody who has done this injury in the NBA has gotten the speedbridge procedure in that situation and then been back to rehabbing and on this like aggressive timeline. This might set a new precedence for how we view this injury. And I know that’s like daunting because you you never want to be the first one. You’d rather be the second one or when there’s proof of of how this might work. But every indication is he is progressing at a rate where we at least have to think about these conversations. And here’s the, you know, the reason why he why I think he put that video out there because tomorrow after practice he’s going to be out there shooting and we all would have been like what is happening here? Like he un at some point the cameras weren’t going to catch him doing this. And so we just have to like we we can celebrate the milestones. We can understand he’s still a long ways away from being ready to play basketball. But I don’t I don’t think it changes like expectations. I think it’s a chance to celebrate the milestones that he’s hitting along the way. I do understand Dan’s point here because maybe inevitably it does create that conversation and expectation to say, “Oh my gosh, he’s already back out there. Hey guys, guess what? I’m I’m put my money on January or before then.” So maybe inevitably that’s what is made of this when he posts that. But I also think he’s been posting really since the injury. He had a little bit of a gap of a break because obviously he was in a dark place as Joe Misoula mentioned. Um but he’s maybe just documenting this process and I think that’s what this is. But he has to understand too he is Jason Tatum. He he is that hero of Boston. So two things can be true. He could want to just show the documentation of this process and also create this maybe unexpected expectation that the crowd may say, “Oh, we thought you were posting this video. You should be back by this time.” See, Tan, we’re old. We don’t have to document everybody. It’s not a contest to show you can come back and everybody else again. Athletes are competitive. They all want to do that. Don’t make it a contest. Can he beat the Durant timetable? Can he beat the this time table? No. Come back when you’re ready. That’s I said this exact same thing last week. You don’t win anything for being the fastest to come back on the court. All right. Well, with Tatum on the mend, Joe Missoula was asked about all the lowered expectations for this season. Celtics, take a listen to his answer. If I ever get to the point where I start um you know, basing my motivation on the expectation of others and people that I’ve never met before, I’ll retire and quit. So, um, to me it’s like you wake up every day and you have a standard and an expectation for your family, for your household, and then when you come in for the building, and you know, regardless of who’s on the team, that’ll never change. So, uh, it doesn’t guarantee you anything, but I think uh, you know, you got to be able to push yourself. You got to be able to hold yourself to a standard and, you know, that’s not only at home, that’s that’s when you come to work every day. Well, Joe Missoula in mid-season form Forsber, how are the vibes? You got a chance to, I think, mingle with just about everybody. So, like the vibes were good, but they were good in all 29 other cities, too, because everyone’s zero and zero and you feel good about yourself. But I will say like, you know, I I I I did worry going in that there would be a little bit of, oh, you know, things change. You don’t have all that front court depth. You know, you lost hate him until he he’s healthy enough to be back out there. And so, but like everybody seemed energized and no one more than Missoula, who I think the whole narrative has been like, oh, well, he can coach a good team, but like how will he do with this under this potentially underdog team? and I think he’s really kind of embraced it and he’s taking on this challenge and he wants to show that much like Brad Stevens before him, he can coach up that sort of team. So, I love the sort of fire and energy he brought out there today. Will that translate? I don’t know. The margins are slimmer. You know, you don’t have that depth. There’s a lot of question marks to fill, but I think they’re going to approach this the right way. And I I’ll just continue to say it like I keep thinking people forget that they’ve got Jaylen, they’ve got Derek, they’ve got Payton. Like, there’s still a lot of talent here and the East kind of stinks. So there is still a chance for you to be competitive and until like I see it out there or I see someone you know that the the depth get exposed. I’m pretty bullish on them. All you know they don’t have they do not have Al Horford anymore. This was made official over the weekend. Al Horford leaving Boston after agreeing to a multi-year deal with the Warriors. Horford spent eight of his 18 NBA seasons with the Celtics including the 2023 24 championship team. Here’s what Brad Stevens had to say earlier today about Horford’s departure. you know, we we gave Al an offer and um but you know, there wasn’t any expectation that he wouldn’t take a bigger offer elsewhere and go play because that’s his right and that’s what you know and he’s been great for us and we very much valued our time together. John, Dan, this wasn’t shocking to anybody. We knew he wasn’t coming back. Um it was just more of a formality at the end of the day, but is it a big loss? Does it does it affect them in a big way? Well, they never expected to have them. So, you can’t really lose. They’ve been planning on going without him the whole time. We all have. So, that it’s not a shocking thing. You wish Al well picked a good team. Warriors, good organization to go out with, you know, 19 years in the league coming up now. That’s pretty impressive. But yeah, that I I never thought of him in the mix this year. Anyway, what will the Celtics miss most without without uh front court presence? Yeah, because it kind of feels like Well, I mean, also I sort of just feel like how are they going to fill his shoes? because it feels like that’s an area they haven’t addressed. Al Horford is was the father figure of this group, the father figure presence of this team. So to answer your question, they’re going to miss that presence. Like you you can’t replace an Al Horford, you know, like his character, Jason Tatum has talked about it numerous times, you would even see going to games JT walk right up to Al even just for advice because he was that calming presence where he didn’t have to have the ball in his hands. He didn’t have to start, but he would just dictate the the temperature of the team. And so, you’re you’re going to miss a veteran leader in that sense. And yes, other guys like Jaylen Brown of even Xavier Tilman, who we talked today, who’s maybe not going to be on the court as much. We’ll see with this open competition. By the way, Xavier lost 12 pounds and he thinks that he is in much better shape because of it. So, we’ll see how that front court position evolves. But just that veteran leadership presence, Al, there’s something to be said about him. Of course, Chris, what do they do at the front court? You got to ride with the guys you got and hopefully Kada, hopefully Tilman already, like Luca Garza. We’ll see. Like they you forget the years that they had Tyler Zeller and Jordan Mickey and like like they found a way. Now, it helped you had Al Horford along the way, but they’ll they’ll figure that out. They’ve always prioritized the other spots on the floor and and you try to do it. My question to you, 42 to the rafters. I don’t know. I feel like they overretire numbers here. But but that okay, you got to divorce that anytime you have this conversation that because that is absolutely true. But would you would you think about it? They put Garnett up there with with only one title. But but yeah, but Garnett was but Garnett I feel like was the reason that I think Garnett put them over the top. I think with the Celtics will put them more over the top. It was a combination like if you do Al Hford I think you also have to do Drew Holiday. Like I don’t think you win a title without both of those guys. And then I don’t know. I just again I feel like at some some point you have to have some numbers. Actually it was really funny cuz a lot of these new younger guys like we were talking about the different numbers that they were getting. We go they go it was just so hard to choose cuz all of them are in the rafters. Like I don’t have as many options. It’s brutal. You see 99 and that’s a big no. We love Al Horford. No. Dan will call it what it is. Yeah. Control yourself. Leave it to Dan. I kind I I feel the same way. I just He’s such a nice guy. Chris and I are more sentimental. All right, Jayen. Jaylen Brown also undergoing offseason surgery. He had surgery on his right knee in June after playing three partially torn meniscus last season. Brown was asked how he’s feeling today by our crew itself. It’s media day. I feel great. I think I’m getting close to 100%. You know, uh we’ve been just trusting the medical staff, ramping up, but I feel great. I feel my athleticism is back. Um I’m running, you know, I’m a little lighter, I would say. Um, but I I feel I feel awesome. I feel ready. Dan, are you at all uh worried that he’s not 100%. And what do you expect from Jaylen Brown this year? I can’t wait to see this. It’s his team now. He’s so athletic. I think there’ll be more going to the basket. I think it’s going to be exciting. Brandon Ball, a little less rellying on the three-pointer standing around the perimeter. So, I want to see this new game and I want to see him with when it’s his team. I’m exc I think they’re going to be better than people think. Yeah. I think one of the talking points today was playing faster, playing, you know, more like harder, just cutting more. And I just think they’ll they’ll be less stagnant getting into it and and maybe get away from the not so much get away from the threes, but only when they come through the right form of offense. I saw Jaylen Brown talk about that today, wanting to play faster than he’s been on Joe Mulo. What was holding them back from playing faster before? I mean, Tatum does go is a little slower up the court. It’s like no one no one denying it. It’s like it’s it’s his right because he’s good at it. Like, you know, so you cater to your best players when they’re out there. But I just think with Jaylen, they’re going to want to go quicker. you’re going to want to move the ball faster. Tommy Heinson will love this year’s team like based on the way that they would play because they can run run and play hard and that would be the way that Tommy would have wanted to to see this group go. And then to follow up with his teammates, I asked Pton Pritchard, I go, “Do you love that speed?” And we all knew the answer. Pton loves to play fast. So having the supporting cast around him play at that uptempo speed can be just a, you know, a really beneficial thing for everybody if Jaylen Brown is going to be number one. Anybody worried that he’s not 100% yet or is that just expected because of that worried? Yeah, it sounds honestly like you hear all these injuries going around the league with with guys not like not being able to get ready for camp and it sounds like these guys are as as healthy as it is outside of Tatum.

Chris Forsberg, Kayla Burton and Dan Shaughnessy join Trenni Casey on Arbella Early Edition to react to Jayson Tatum continuing recovery from Achilles surgery last May. Tatum, who’s rehab has progressed at an astonishing rate, posted video over the weekend of his return to the court playing basketball at the Celtics facility. The group debate whether or not it’s smart for the team to be setting expectations for a quicker-than-expected return this high, plus all the other major storylines from Celtics Medias Day!

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