While he was riding the pine during his lengthy Achilles tendon injury rehab, star Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum did not let the time go to waste. The St. Louis native spent his recovery using the downtime to learn more about the game from the perspective of the team’s coaching staff, who he spent even more time than usual sitting alongside.
“Spending some 60-odd games on the bench and sitting over there with the coaches, I would say … one thing I really learned, seeing it from their perspective on both ends of the floor, things that they pay attention to and notice and look out for, for our team and our opponent,” said Tatum in a recent interview with NBC Sports Boston.
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“So that’s something I’ve tried to help translate through my play since I’ve been back,” continued the Duke alum, noting that crashing the glass in particular is an area he has turned his focus, resulting in career-high rebounds for Tatum this season.
But for the Boston star, his gratitude for having another chance to compete for a title in a season most thought he’d be on the sidelines is another thing he picked up from the experience of all that time on the bench. “I think just taking advantage of opportunities, my ninth year in the league, you don’t get that opportunity every year to have a real chance to compete for a championship,” he said.
“And I’ve been fortunate that, majority of the teams that I’ve been on have been like that. But my second year we lost in the second round. My fourth year we were a play-in team, so it’s never a guarantee. So I think, obviously, being injured, you don’t want to take things for granted.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Crash boards; be grateful: what Jayson Tatum learned in rehab
