Celtics

“It’s coming off of his hands a lot quicker. He doesn’t have that dip that he used to have”

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 over the first two games. He was 4-for-7 from 3-point range in Thursday night’s win against the Wizards and scored 25 points.

Tatum’s jump shot is looking more fluid than it did during 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 percent 3-point shooter during his playing days, explained some of the changes Tatum has made to his jumper and why it looks better this season.

“Just Jayson Tatum doing Jayson Tatum things, knocking down threes,” House said. “Shot looks a whole lot better. It’s coming off of his hands a lot quicker. He doesn’t have that dip that he used to have and that’s the one thing like — I was like I don’t know what was wrong with his shot, because he was making shots.

“But, now that I’m starting to look at it and see him take more and more shots, he doesn’t have that dip and he doesn’t bend so much,” House added. “It’s quick, boom, and it’s out of there. It’s a lot easier for him to get it off quicker and, I mean, good luck for everybody else.”

According to The Boston Globe‘s Gary Washburn, Tatum’s postseason slump inspired him to change his release point and work on his shot mechanics. He said he placed an emphasis on keeping his shoulders forward to get more power behind the shot.

“I’m still young,” Tatum said. “I’m only 26. I played a lot of basketball so far, so I’ve still got a long way to go, a lot of basketball left. A lot of things I can get better at, I can tweak and be more effective and efficient in things and impactful and finding different ways to dominate the game. I feel like that’s my challenge night to night.”

At Celtics media day, Tatum told reporter he had been working on the shot with his trainer Drew Hanlen on pickup points, hand placement, along with staying lower and keeping his shoulder forward.

Little tweaks have led to big success, Tatum said.

“I think having the same mindset of we approach every day the same. We just try to get a little bit better. We respect every opponent. We respected every practice day and I think it paid off in the end. It was going to be tougher this year obviously. Human nature might play a part of what we did last year and having to fight that but I think we’re on the right track.”

Tatum is still chasing the best version of himself. He still has a goal of winning league MVP.

“I think just as a kid you set a lot of goals for yourself,” Tatum said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to check off a lot of boxes of things that I wanted to accomplish, things that my favorite players accomplished.

“Saying that MVP is important to me is not in a way taking away from the success of our team,” Tatum continued. “Every guy that has won MVP has been on a championship contending team. If you’re an MVP, you’re dominating, you’re pushing, you’re playing the right way and you’re impacting winning.”

“So, you can do both,” Tatum added. “Championship is the most important but, being the best version of yourself along the way is important as well.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

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Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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