Tatum has mostly corroborated Gordie’s acco Nt.
On Tuesday, Tatum mostly corroborated Hayward’s view.
“I mean, yeah, that [expletive] was terrible,” Tatum said. “You guys saw it. We’ve all talked about it. It didn’t work out how we wanted it to, and we were a very talented team but it just didn’t mesh the way we wanted it to. And that’s all right. Guys learned and everybody’s moved on from it. But what Gordon said was kind of right. Guys would come back from injury, guys were trying to prove themselves, like myself. I was trying to be better than I was last year, and it was just kind of a tough year.”
Tatum said there were no locker room issues. The players liked each other and got along. But he acknowledged that on-court chemistry was a problem.
“Everybody wanted to do more,” he said. “And we didn’t quite understand how we all could coexist with each other. And you just learn from that. No matter how talented a team is, it still has to work together and figure it out. And like Gordon said, we still made it to the second round. Like, it could have been worse.”
Hayward said on George’s podcast that he has been unsurprised by the ascensions of Tatum and Brown, who were both selected to All-NBA teams last year. He said that coach Brad Stevens, who has since taken over as president of basketball operations, told him during his free agent visit in 2017 that he envisioned Brown and Tatum taking the reins in three or four years.
So far this season, of course, the Celtics have developed an uncommon connection. Boston entered Tuesday night’s game against the Thunder with a 26-6 record, the best in the NBA. Tatum said some lessons learned in 2019 have helped along the way.
“I just understand what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said, “and learned how to coexist with other really good players.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/02/sports/that-expletive-was-terrible-jayson-tatum-corroborates-gordon-haywards-claim-winning-was-not-celtics-primary-focus-2019/
Just because you put a team of champions together is no guarantee they will become a champion team. What makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts is the willingness to buy into a common vision and to work together and sacrifice towards it.
Yup and all those guys sacrificed…Ray went from 26ppg to 18 ppg. Those are the types of individual sacrifices our team needs to undergo for the good of the team. So far they all seem willing.
I find the chemistry aspect of team building fascinating.
Does that 2008 team work with Garnett, Pierce, and Allen in their mid-20s instead of their early 30s? Would they be willing to sacrifice if they each hadn't faced individual failures on their own in their primes?
Does it work better or worse if Rondo/Perk (and to a lesser extent Powe/Big Baby) were in their mid-to-late 20s vs early 20s? If they were pending free agents, or constantly in a rumored blockbuster, does that impact things? (In 2008, Perk was in Year 1 of a 4 year deal, Rondo was in Year 2 of his 4 year rookie deal).
Eventually Ray Allen and Rondo started to butt heads, Ray was unhappy with his decreasing role, and there were trade rumors about both starting as early as the 2009 off season that continued until their eventual departures. James Posey left for more money. Tony Allen eventually left for more security (Memphis offered same money but more years). Later additions like Sheed (out of shape) and Jermaine O'Neal (butted heads with Doc) didn't seem to really buy into it.
A little more Ubuntu in 2010, maybe the C's don't drop from 62 wins to 50, and have home court against the Lakers in the Finals. Does the team win #18 then?
Ubuntu worked in '08, I think due partly to the right circumstances, but I also think it might have been shorter lived than we all realize (but maybe it was just injuries/age).