The first step is acknowledging that there is a problem. Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum is at least doing exactly that.
Let’s quickly review the facts: Tatum is a superstar. He won his first NBA title, signed the most lucrative contract in league history, then won a gold medal representing his country in the Paris Olympics.
But it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Tatum, who became the center of a major dialogue after a controversial decision by USA men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr to not play the Celtics forward much during the tournament.
While he was doing all of the little things right, the decision from Kerr didn’t come from nowhere, though. It originated largely because Tatum was in the middle of a shooting slump on the court, dating back to the postseason. That includes shooting an absolutely putrid 19.4 percent on his pull-up jumpers in the NBA Finals.
Tatum shot 56-for-188 (29.8 percent) on the whole in the postseason, per Synergy, despite helping Boston win the NBA championship. He was 0-for-10 on jumpers during the exhibition games for Team USA, and then went 0-for-6 once the Olympics began.
There is good news, though. During a recent profile, Ramona Shelburne wrote about what Tatum has done to address this issue (via ESPN):
“Indeed Tatum had, even though he’d just returned the night before from a weeklong trip to China with Jordan Brand. “It was easy to get up early,” Tatum told ESPN, noting the jetlag would kick in later in the day. And he said it would also allow him to pick up his son, Deuce, from school.
But Tatum wasn’t just there at 6 that first week. He had been doing two-a-days with his longtime skills coach Drew Hanlen and physical therapist Nick Sang to address a mechanical issue in his jumper that had come up early last season and reared its head again during the playoffs and Olympics.”
Then during his recent media day availability, Tatum acknowledged that he was playing well but it was not the right time to fix the issues with jump shot.
However, with some time before the regular season begins, Tatum now has the time to fix the “mechanical issue” with his jumper that led to his shooting slump.
This could get him back on track to dominate for the Celtics and it is good news for his fans that he is at least aware of the problem and actively trying to fix it.
