In an interview with Jeff Goodman of The Messenger, Jayson Tatum talks about his desire to add his name to the long list of Celtics legends.
Tatum is off to a strong start, with nearly 10,000 career points, four All-Star appearances and several long playoff runs by age 25. But he understands that being an all-time great in Boston requires championship banners, and he hopes to win a few of those before he’s done.
“I would love to be on the Mount Rushmore of Celtics,” Tatum says. “(Larry) Bird, (Bill) Russell, Paul Pierce and those guys. They paved the way. The one thing all those guys have is chips. I have to get to the top of the mountain to even be considered as one of those guys. I want to be an all-time great, I want to be known as a winner, and I believe I will be.”
A year ago, the Celtics appeared to be in a strong position to win their 18th title as they prepared to report to training camp. They were coming off a tough Finals loss to the Warriors and had added Danilo Gallinari to an already impressive roster.
Things began to unravel when head coach Ime Udoka was suspended on September 22. Gallinari suffered an ACL tear that wound up sidelining him for the entire season, and an injury kept Robert Williams out for the early part of the year.
“It was a lot, a lot to process and deal with,” Tatum said. “And I give us credit, we came together. I think it brought us together as a team. We had the second-best record. We could have had every excuse to start off slow and make excuses.”
Tatum touches on several other topics in the lengthy interview:
On head coach Joe Mazzulla, who was frequently the target of criticism, especially as Boston fell behind 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals:
“I think it was unfair. I don’t know what more Joe could have done. He wasn’t out there turning the ball over and missing free throws. That was us.”
On the loss of Marcus Smart, who was sent to Memphis in the Kristaps Porzingis trade and had been the team leader since Tatum arrived in 2017:
“I am for sure going to miss Smart. He was my teammate for six years and we’ve been through it all. We had good moments together, we had bad moments together. He’s somebody that I wish was going be my teammate forever.”
On the record-setting five-year, super-max extension that Jaylen Brown received this summer:
“I was excited for Jaylen, and I wasn’t surprised. That was a no-brainer for me because he deserves it. He had a hell of a year, the best year of his career, and he was rewarded for that. It was the right time. People make a big deal of $300 million. The NBA makes a lot of money. Contracts will be $350 and then $370 million. That’s the way it’s going. I was happy for him. I knew it was going to happen, it was a no-brainer, but I still reached out to him and told him he should be proud of himself and his family. Don’t take it for granted. This is generational.”
On his own NBA future and whether he wants to spend his entire career with one team:
“Just recently I started to feel the connection with Boston. I have spent my adult life here, my son has grown up here, I’ve grown up here. I’ve accomplished so many things. … You never know what can happen, but I love playing for the Celtics. I figured out my space in the city and have grown to really enjoy it. I love the fans. It would be really hard to leave this place.”
Good luck. So far at the bottom. Below A Walker
Whats “The Messenger”?
Paul Pierce is “The Truth”, which is one of the most ironic nicknames in NBA history. Dude can’t get his stories straight, especially about pooping himself in the finals, lol.
…why did Gary’s comment get deleted?
I deleted myself because I thought the messenger was Paul Pierce.. but then you came in with “the truth” and I thought oh well, I was way off. There was still time to delete my comment so I did.
Also if you receive email notification on replies to your comments you can read them there. I mentioned to you that I was going to delete and thought maybe you could read it in your email.
I mean, I can read it just fine. It just looked like I was responding to nothing, lol.
Sorry to leave you hanging.
This brings up a good question, who is on the Celtics mount rushmore. Four guys.
If there were 10 candidates I actually am not sure Jason Tatum is even on that list? So many other guys in Celtics history have had Major Impact on championships. Multiple championships.
But he’s young and has a long way to go. Plenty of time for Tatum to be an all-time Celtic great.
So I’d probably be best to leave compiling the list to True Celtics fans but I would say Russell, Bird, Havlicek, then it gets a little murky. Kevin Mchale? Cousy? Maybe Robert Parrish, Dave Cowens, or even Paul Pierce? What about one of the standout guys from the ’60s teams like Sam Jones ? So many guys have had amazing Celtic careers.
Celtic fans, who’s on mount rushmore?
Not a Cs fan, but I think he’s actually talking more like a pantheon than a Mt. Rushmore.
Eddie House
It’s not murky at all, it’s Paul Pierce. If it wasn’t for him Celtics would still be stuck in the 90s
Auerbach, Russell, Havlicek & Bird
Auerbach wasn’t a player, if you’re going to go beyond playing, then Heinsohn belongs on there
I’m not a Celtics fan per say but I am a basketball fan. Russell, Havlicek, Bird and McHale are top 4. The next tier is insane as well with Cowens, Pierce, Cousy and Parish. Tatum is somewhere after those guys. If he can win a couple championships or a few MVPs I could see him rise into the 2nd tier possibly even knock McHale off the mountain but it’d be an awfully big task to climb any higher, the top 3 are seriously in the all time NBA GOAT conversation. Remember though he’s only 25, he’s got time.
McHale? Gtfo, he was a bench player most of his career. Wtf is wrong with you?
I like McHale and all. But the reality is, his success was because of the team around him. He was never the best player on the team and he didn’t do anything without Bird
I’m not the biggest McHale fan but even by the low standards with which your comments should be judged Kurtis Blows this is even worse. McHale is a HOFer and made the top 50 players of all time. He was hardly just a product of the team
@Gary – I would hope that Tatum knows that he’d have to be the centerpiece of a multi-year championship run to get in that conversation. I’m no Celtic fan, for sure, but I agree with Russell, Bird and Havlicek. I’d have to give the fourth slot to Cowens over McHale, which is painful for me. Cowens, though, was the centerpiece of two championship teams and an MVP in a different season. McHale might actually match up better with Havlicek as both were 6th men for the first part of their careers. Havlicek is the one guy who spanned two dynasties.
He’s below all them right now
I’m stealing this line but he must be smoking ….. with Gilbert A, S Pippen and Norman Powell
Why do I feel like this quote isn’t gonna age well lol
Ya maybe if the Celtics mt Rushmore had 30 faces on it
Only one way to reach that mountain, Jayson. Hint, it ain’t stats.
Wants to be on Mount Rushmore…
Precedes to demand a trade when he doesn’t get his way. Words are cheap. Go Lakers!
So he thinks he’s better than Havlicek?
He said he wants to be, didn’t say he already is
The point is he didn’t even mention Havlicek. It’s almost criminal how much this guy is overlooked and how people seem to forget about him. If you look at his career accomplishments Hall of Fame, 13 time All-Star, 11 time All-NBA, 8 time All-Defense and 8 time NBA Champion then compare them to Paul Pierce’s. It’s not even close.
Weird to bring up Mount Rushmore and then only name three names.
not all that weird for you to constantly comment before actually reading the article
“Mt. Rushmore” was something people said ten years ago. Not anymore. Get with it, Jayson, find better ways to express yourself.
Should he have said something like “I want to be in the S tier on the Celtics all time tier list” to be more up to date and relevant?
Wow u really out here canceling Mt Rushmore lmao
“People make a big deal of $300 million”
I mean where does one even go with this??
Legend of what ???? Talk