Tatum says he had ‘massive half’ in Kemba becoming a member of C’s
Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON — Jayson Tatum was purported to be a part of the rationale why Kyrie Irving would determine to stay in Boston for the long-term when he hit free company this summer season.
As an alternative, he says he wound up being a giant cause why Kemba Walker selected to be Irving’s substitute because the star level guard of the Boston Celtics, due to a gross sales pitch he gave Walker throughout their time collectively in Paris earlier this summer season as a part of a Jordan Model occasion.
“I am very excited,” Tatum stated. “I believe I had a giant half with him coming right here. I used to be with him in Paris.
“I by no means advised him to return, however I advised him I’d love for him to hitch the workforce and advised him the way it was. Clearly everyone has to do what’s greatest for themselves, and I am blissful for him.”
So, if Tatum did not inform Walker to return, what did he inform him? He stated he offered Walker on what it’s wish to play in Boston, the workforce’s followers and the way the group would deal with him.
“I simply advised him about Boston, the town, the environment, our followers, the tradition, the teaching employees. I answered all of the questions he had.
“I am excited, and simply prepared for the season to start out and everyone to be round one another and construct some chemistry and simply get it going.”
Tatum’s remarks, which got here at a pop-up occasion for his new cologne, come on the heels of Walker saying related issues to ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan throughout a sitdown interview final month, by which he talked about how these conversations with Tatum helped trigger Walker to decide on to hitch the Celtics after spending the primary eight years of his profession with the Charlotte Hornets.
“We spoke for fairly a while,” Walker advised MacMullan. “Once we left Paris and the times went on and [free agency] got here and I made my choice, a variety of it was due to him.
“[We talked] in regards to the metropolis, in regards to the followers, the environment, Coach Stevens, a number of the gamers on the workforce, how issues went final 12 months and stuff like that.
“[But] not as soon as did he say, ‘Come [here].'”
“I am excited, and simply prepared for the season to start out and everyone to be round one another and construct some chemistry and simply get it going,” Jayson Tatum stated about new Celtics addition Kemba Walker and the upcoming season. AP Photograph/Charles Krupa
Earlier than Tatum can play with Walker with the Celtics, nevertheless, he’ll be hoping to hitch him as a part of Staff USA’s entry within the FIBA World Cup, which start Aug. 31 in China. After a sequence of high-profile defections from the coaching camp roster in latest weeks — together with James Harden, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard, amongst others — Walker is anticipated to be the focus of Staff USA’s entry beneath Gregg Popovich, who can be on the helm for the primary time since taking up for Mike Krzyzewski.
Tatum, nevertheless, is hoping to play with Walker — in addition to the 2 different Celtics invited to coaching camp, Marcus Good and Jaylen Brown — in China, as effectively.
“I performed [with the] USA 3 times once I was in highschool, and it is an honor to play for the nation and to be alongside different nice gamers,” Tatum stated. “That is what I am most excited for, being round different guys and competing in apply and coming collectively for a larger goal.
“I believe that is fairly cool,” he added, of the opportunity of 4 Celtics being a part of this 12 months’s workforce. “I do know lots of people dropped out and I really feel like every thing occurs for a cause, so hopefully all of us 4 make it and begin some early chemistry for the season.”
Staff USA — and the World Cup entries, particularly — have served as jumping-off factors for younger gamers previously to take the subsequent step ahead of their careers. Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry, for instance, performed massive components in Staff USA’s win on the 2010 World Cup in Turkey, as did Irving, Harden and Klay Thompson within the 2014 version of the event in Spain.
The high-profile defections have elevated the probabilities of Tatum making this 12 months’s workforce, and he sees the identical form of alternative for himself to make use of the event as an opportunity to take a big leap heading into subsequent season — the sort Boston hopes Tatum will be capable to make, because it tries to stay related within the Jap Convention after dropping each Irving to the Brooklyn Nets and Al Horford to the Philadelphia 76ers in free company this summer season.
“It is an awesome alternative and simply construct from it and keep it up into the season and have an awesome season individually and as a workforce,” Tatum stated. “I am actually seeking to take a much bigger bounce. Be extra vocal, be extra of a frontrunner. Simply be a greater model of myself.”
Tatum and Irving grew shut over the previous two years, thanks partially to each sharing an alma mater — each performed one 12 months at Duke earlier than getting into the NBA — and an agent in Jeff Weschler. Whereas each issues modified this summer season, Tatum stated he and Irving nonetheless speak usually, and that his departure from Boston did not influence their friendship.
“We nonetheless be in contact,” Tatum stated. “That is like household. We speak usually. Nothing particularly, nothing particular about final season, simply buddy speak.
“I am all for guys doing what’s greatest for them. It does not change the dynamic of our friendship.”
The departures of each Irving and Horford was the ultimate blow to what was an unsightly season for the Celtics, who entered the 12 months because the favorites to emerge from the Jap Convention — solely to complete fourth within the East and get run out of the playoffs in 5 video games, together with 4 straight losses, by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
These struggles have led many to ask various variations of the identical query: How may such a promising season go so otherwise than anybody — together with the Celtics themselves — ever may have guessed?
Tatum stated that even now, three months later, he nonetheless does not have a solution.
“I do not know,” Tatum stated. “We have all been requested that query so much.
“There isn’t any particular reply, however I form of really feel like everyone is able to go away final 12 months behind us. It is a new season, we have a brand new workforce, new guys … so final 12 months is behind us.”