Jayson Tatum may be like a lot of young and talented players where it's clear he has the ability--even if he does not put it all together 100 percent of the time. The potential is certainly there and the numbers right now are actually quite good, but you know based on some of the games he has that he is destined for more; he could be destined for greatness, in fact.
Even Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors agrees with this logic. On a recent podcast with The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Durant acknowledged that Tatum is a talented player.
Durant told Simmons, who is a Celtics fan and from our neck of the woods, that he had scrimmaged Tatum during the summer--and that he was impressed with what he saw from the Celtics youngster.
"He showed me some stuff," Durant said.
This promoted an enthusiastic Simmons to say, "Really? Tell me more."
And then Durant said, "Nah, he's nice. He's nice."
So then Simmons asked Durant if he thinks Tatum has--dare I say--MVP talent. To this, Durant replied, "He's got that talent, yeah."
Now, I don't really know how seriously you can take that answer when Simmons essentially forced it out of him. I don't know if this is Durant trying to be nice or something but hey, he paid a compliment to Tatum and clearly knows a thing or two about basketball, so we will take it for the time being.
And on a side note about Simmons: I once heard people talking about him in the Boston Globe sports department because he used to answer the phones and cover high school sports for the Herald. Someone said he was either the laziest or worst employee they recall there but hey, Simmons is doing pretty well now. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't, maybe someone is just jealous but hey, it all worked out alright--because he's rich.