Celtics
“It comes out of his hands a lot faster. He doesn’t have that dip he had before.”
Jayson Tatum Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
So far, so good for Jayson Tatum and his reworked jumpshot.
The star forward has the Celtics off to a 2-0 start, averaging 31 points on 60.5 percent shooting through the first two games. He was 4 of 7 from 3-point range in Thursday night’s win over the Wizards and scored 25 points.
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Tatum’s jump shot looks smoother than in last year’s playoffs, when he shot a career-low 28.3 percent from 3-point range.
NBC Sports Boston’s Eddie House, who was a 39% 3-point shooter during his playing days, explained some of the changes Tatum has made to his jumper and why he’s better this season.
“Just Jayson Tatum doing Jayson Tatum things, knocking down threes,” House said. “The shot looks a lot better. It escapes him much more quickly. He doesn’t have that dip that he had before and that’s the only thing like — I was like I don’t know what’s wrong with his shot, because he was making shots.
“But now that I start watching him and seeing him take more and more shots, he doesn’t have that dip anymore and he doesn’t bend over so much,” House added. “It’s quick, boom, and it goes from there.” It’s a lot easier for him to get out of this quicker and, I mean, good luck to everyone else.
According to The Boston GlobeIn Gary Washburn’s case, Tatum’s playoff slump inspired him to change his release point and work on his shooting mechanics. He said he focused on keeping his shoulders forward to get more power behind the shot.
“I’m still young,” Tatum said. “I’m only 26 years old. I’ve played a lot of basketball so far, so I still have a long way to go, I still have a lot of basketball left. There’s a lot of things I can get into improve, I can change them and be more effective and efficient in things, make an impact and find different ways to dominate the game. I feel like that’s my challenge night in and night out.
At Celtics media day, Tatum told the reporter that he worked on shooting with coach Drew Hanlen on pickup points, hand placement, staying lower and keeping his shoulder forward .
Small adjustments led to big successes, Tatum said.
“I think by having the same mindset, we approach every day the same way. We’re just trying to get a little better. We respect every opponent. We stuck to every day of training and I think it paid off in the end. It was obviously going to be more difficult this year. Maybe human nature plays a role in what we did last year and we have to fight that, but I think we’re on the right track.
Tatum is always looking for the best version of himself. He still has his sights set on becoming league MVP.
“I think as a kid you set a lot of goals for yourself,” Tatum said. “I had a chance to check a lot of boxes of things I wanted to accomplish, things that my favorite players accomplished.
“Saying MVP is important to me doesn’t take away from the success of our team,” Tatum continued. “Every guy who won MVP was on a championship-contending team. If you’re an MVP, you dominate, you push, you play the right way, and you impact winning.
“So you can do both,” Tatum added. “The championship is the most important, but being the best version of yourself along the way is also important.”
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