WALTHAM — Jayson Tatum’s early NBA success may have impressed Grayson Allen more than most, since they shared the ball and a locker room at Duke for one year.
But Allen, a four-year college guard who took part in a group workout for the Celtics yesterday, was hardly surprised. From the day Tatum first showed up at Duke, Allen has come to expect the improbable out of the young player.
“He’s incredible, man. When he first came into Duke in the summer, when we were playing small games — one-on-one, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 — he would kill people,” said Allen. “Like, if he gets in space, and that jump shot starts going down, he’s taking shots you want him to take, but it’s going in.
“And I knew once he got to the league, and the space, the floor opened up for him. He got more space,” he said. “He got to do all that stuff he has to his game, be in his bag a little bit. I knew he was gonna perform really well — maybe not this soon, but I knew he was gonna do really well. It was amazing to see. He’s always had that clutch, that want-to-be-in-the-moment in him, and that’s why he thrived in the playoffs here.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise for the NBA, beyond Tatum’s ability to generally thrive once he reached the playoffs, was the development of his 3-pointer. That part of his arsenal wasn’t considered a strength at the time of the 2017 draft.
“It was developing while he was at Duke. You know, his thing, he’s such a great scorer,” said Allen. “He came into Duke as such a great scorer that he wanted to get to all that stuff that he has. And I think at Duke, he kind of learned to slow down a little bit, make quicker decisions. You know, catch and shoot.
“We know you can cross guys over and shoot fadeaways and knock it down most of the time, but catch-and-shoot is easy, too,” he said. “And I think he learned that at Duke, and then when he got to the league, he was just able to put it all together.”
As it turns out, there may have been one Blue Devil — team captain Amile Jefferson — who held his own in those early battles against Tatum.
Asked if he had any interesting Tatum stories, Allen said, “Other than him beating us in one-on-one every day since the summer when he got there, although there is a little asterisk to that. You might have to ask Jayson about this, but I don’t know if he ever beat Amile one-on-one. But I think that’s from Amile’s side of the story.”
Send out for wings
The Celtics worked out wing players, including Allen, Louisville’s Deng Adel, TCU’s Kenrich Williams, Arizona’s Allonzo Trier, Oklahoma State’s Jeffrey Carroll, and Billy Preston, a 6-foot-10 swing forward who committed to Kansas, never actually played there because of eligibility issues, and instead finished his winter in the Adriatic League.
Allen and Williams appear to have the best chance out of this group to go as high as No. 27, where the Celtics pick, though the team is looking at a broad positional range of players there.
According to Austin Ainge, the team’s director of player personnel, the team has whittled down its pool of possibilities to “10 players” for the 27th pick.
Ainge said it’s possible the team, with so little chance of a low-drafted rookie cracking the rotation next season, could look for another overseas stash pick, last utilized when Guerschon Yabusele spent a season in China.
“Yeah that’s always a look,” said Ainge. “That could be beneficial to any team, guys that develop off not using a roster spot and not on your salary cap. So that’s something we always look at strongly.”
That’s not to say the team is more in the market for a project this season, even if this next first-round pick is most likely the next Maine Red Claw.
“No, you always have to be careful with projects to make sure you hope they’re worth it at the end of projecting,” said Ainge. “You hope after you build them up that they’re good enough so that’s always the kind of consideration, but that’s no matter if we’re good or bad or in between.”
Best wishes
Ainge had nice words for Bryan Colangelo, the now-former Philadelphia general manager who resigned in the wake of a bizarre social media scandal.
“Jerry and Bryan Colangelo — my dad worked for them in Phoenix and they’ve both personally treated me very well,” said Ainge. “And I hope everything works out well. I wish nothing but well wishes for both Jerry and Bryan.”
