Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla believes Jayson Tatum is taken for granted around the NBA

On By Littum

The Boston Celtics have had to deal with a lot of different media narratives about Jayson Tatum over the past few years, many of which have been negative. This is despite Tatum being an All-NBA first-teamer a year ago when the Celtics won their 18th NBA championship.

There was a lot of talk about whether or not Jaylen Brown was actually the best player on the team. Meanwhile, Brown was not selected to play for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics, while Tatum was, despite not consistently playing big minutes. Both of them have tried to play down that the outside noise is getting to them in any meaningful way.

Tatum just continues to play great basketball. Most recently, he put up a 43-point triple-double against the Chicago Bulls. His coach, Joe Mazzulla, believes Tatum doesn’t get enough credit from the rest of the league for being as good as he is on both ends of the court.

This is what Mazzulla had to say about Tatum, according to Noa Dalzell of SB Nation. “Because he’s done great things for so long, I still think he gets taken for granted… because he’s been doing it for a long time and because it comes relatively easy to him and we’re in Boston, so it’s expectation.”

It’s pretty clear Mazzulla is fed up with those around the league not giving Tatum the credit he deserves. He’s clearly a top-five player in the league in Mazzulla’s eyes, and he wants his player to get the right hype for that. For some reason, Tatum isn’t discussed as one of the best players in the league.

Soon, Tatum will inevitably thrust himself into the MVP discussion if he continues to play at the level he is. While he’s not the favorite to win the award right now, he’s certainly good enough to warrant another first-team All-NBA selection when the season is over.

The Celtics are one of the best teams in the entire NBA. They are only concerned with doing what is necessary to win an NBA title for the second straight season. It seems like the only thing that can derail this team from succeeding in that goal is getting hit with a bunch of injuries.

Staying healthy will be the top priority for the rest of the season.

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