Scattered Celtics thoughts

Sometimes I get a bunch of scattered thoughts stuck in my head that don’t exactly fit into an article. Sometimes I just don’t have time to develop those thoughts into articles. Sometimes I’m just lazy, so shoot me. Times like these it generally helps me in the creative process to jot down a bunch of these thoughts and see where I want to go next. So feel free to pick on any of these points and request that I expand them in future columns.

• As impressive as all the stats are (and they are REALLY impressive) there’s just something you can feel about Jayson Tatum’s leap. There’s a swagger and an aura around him at the moment. It is really fun to watch.
• Meanwhile Jaylen Brown is having the quietest 20 ppg season I can remember. He added 7 points per game since last year and while everyone is really happy about that, he’s getting completely overshadowed. And he seems pretty cool with that because winning solves everything.
• It does feel like they often take turns, sort of a one-two punch approach. If you start sending extra attention at Tatum, Brown is going to eat you alive. If you single cover Tatum, he’s going to hunt mismatches and make people look stupid. They free each other up with their gravity (even if it is in completely different ways).
• Dare I compare them to Durant and Westbrook? No, if I do that the comments section will light itself on fire. I hate comparisons and love them at the same time. Let’s just say that two guys with very different styles can coexist with great success and I’ll leave it at that. (puts on flame resistant clothing and plods forward)
• Speaking of comparisons (here I go again) Romeo Langford’s rookie season is giving me flashbacks to Avery Bradley’s first year. Both were highly ranked high school players that had a reputation for scoring. Then they sat most of their first year and finally earned playing time (on good teams) with their defense. Now the analogy breaks down at some point because I think Bradley is the better on-ball defender and Romeo has more scoring upside, but the point remains. The Celtics can be very patient with guys that they have faith in and that’s a good thing.
• For all the hand-wringing we did over the Celtics big man rotation, Brad Stevens has really maximized that group’s strengths. Theis has been a revelation but situationally Kanter and Williams have been more than adequate for what they are asked to do. In fact, adding another high-usage big man would only disrupt the offensive balance.
• That’s not to say that we couldn’t use more scorers. The bench really just doesn’t produce points. They do a lot of other stuff and contribute to winning, but the starting five is carrying the load a lot. I’m hoping that once the team gets Kemba back and (knocks furiously on wood) gets back to full strength, we’ll see Smart pick up that group some more.
• Related: I miss seeing Kemba Walker out there. I want him to get fully healthy and rested, but he’s just so much fun to watch.
• I can’t wait to see Robert Williams back in action as well. There’s going to be some adjustment time and he’s still going to have lapses, but he’s just a different dimension that the Celtics can throw at teams.
• Marcus Smart. I love him and I trust him.
• Have I mentioned that Jayson Tatum is really, really good?
• Yup, he’s really good.