Why Mazzulla thinks Tatum’s Olympic benching was ‘a gift’ initially appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Jayson Tatum simply won his first NBA championship in a season the place he was voted first team All-NBA for the third consecutive 12 months. And but, he ought to nonetheless have loads of motivation and starvation getting into the 2024-25 season.
The good gamers at all times have that chip on their shoulder, even after successful.
For Tatum, he nonetheless has lots left to realize. He did not win Finals MVP final season. Jaylen Brown was the deserving winner after a implausible efficiency in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks. In order that’s one award Tatum can try for. And getting benched in two games at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Workforce USA additionally ought to function a supply of motivation for Tatum.
Tatum said Tuesday at Celtics Media Day that head coach Joe Mazzulla was “most likely the happiest individual” after the famous person ahead did not win Finals MVP and went by means of adversity throughout the Olympics. He additionally added, “If Joe, it is smart.”
Mazzulla desires the perfect for his gamers, and he is aware of that these robust experiences will solely assist Tatum as he continues his profession.
He went into additional element after Wednesday’s observe.
“I feel that comes off as love,” Mazzulla instructed reporters when requested about Tatum’s remark, as seen within the video above. “That is simply the best way that I really like him is the connection that we’ve got, and I admire that he accepts my perspective and the best way that we go about speaking about it. However on the finish of the day, he is 26, and I simply stated, pay attention, you’ve got completed a lot on this league and, simply take a step again and admire that after which be grateful that you’ve got, God keen, 10, 12, 14 years left on this league — who is aware of what you are gonna see.
“And I do not assume we have seen the perfect of him but due to how a lot he works and the way he is keen to develop. So I believed it was nice that he is bought one thing he is gonna work in direction of. And typically whenever you get success, you do not have that subsequent starvation proper in entrance of you.
“Typically you gotta anticipate it. Typically it is a loss, typically it is a dropping streak, and he was capable of get that proper in entrance of him. So I simply thought it was a present. It doesn’t suggest that he should not be pissed off about it. I didn’t wish to take away from how which will have an effect on him in actual time as a result of I wasn’t there. However as his coach and as any person that actually cares about him, I believed it was nice as a result of it provides him one thing to work in direction of.”
“Typically whenever you get success, you do not have that subsequent starvation proper in entrance of you… I simply thought it was a present”
Mazzulla explains why he was “the happiest individual” when Jayson Tatum did not win Finals MVP & was benched throughout the Olympics pic.twitter.com/M56nExX4gq
— Celtics on NBC Sports activities Boston (@NBCSCeltics) September 25, 2024
Mazzulla has a particular relationship together with his gamers, and that is one other instance. He is aware of what buttons to push to maximise their on-court manufacturing and preserve them locked in on the workforce targets.
Complacency has been a difficulty for a lot of defending champions in NBA historical past, however after listening to Mazzulla and Celtics gamers talk at Media Day earlier this week, it does not sound like this workforce might be stricken by that drawback.
