Operating as the roll man is Jayson Tatum’s latest weapon
Adding new folds to your game is a requirement to become an elite player in the NBA. Each summer is another opportunity to diversify your skills, fix any mistakes you found in the previous season and take another step in your growth as a player. There is always something to do, something to add or something to fix.
Last summer, Jayson Tatum had the luxury of a full offseason that was one of, if not the first, of his career. We’ve all witnessed the improved Floater game and its improvements in stopping through traffic. But there was another subtle improvement that allowed the Boston Celtics to punish defenses that switch pick-and-roll — Tatum has become a legitimate threat as a role-man.
Now, I’m not saying Tatum is spamming this promotion; Instead, both he and the coaching staff are in court if they choose to use him as a scooter, which Synergy Sports says has happened 90 times in the 55 games he has participated in. However, those 90 possessions already outweigh the 75 we’ve seen from him last season, and the multitude of ways Tatum hurts defense in those moves has resulted in some easy buckets.
Since it’s the All-Star break, I wanted to take a moment to look a little closer at some of these possessions to illustrate the growing variety in Tatum’s Roll-Man game.
When we think about what makes a good role player, we often jump to size, explosiveness, and physicality, but in truth there are two other skills that far surpass the rest: timing and patience. Timing, because if you cut too hard or too slow, the defense can swallow the fast lane and deaden the action. Patience because if you slide too fast/slow the intended switch may not occur and the desired discrepancy may not occur.
Watching the clip above, watch as Tatum stays patient after Derrick White comes off screen and pulls his dribble away from Tatum and Kyrie Irving to ensure Kevin Durant is fully committed to the move. Once Durant is fully engaged, Tatum, who has Irving sealed, slices towards the rim and controls his moves to make sure he’s in position to get the pocket pass, which blows up all defense wide and into one of the easiest dunks leads to which he’s going to get all season.
Another way to ensure that Tatum’s roleplaying possessions contain a shock factor to defense is to camouflage them within actions the team consistently performs throughout a game. In the action above, we see the Celtics perform a “chin action” as an excuse for their true intent to roll Tatum to the edge after setting a screen.
As detailed in the clip above, Smart’s off-ball cut engages the nail defender, creating the space necessary for Tatum to detach his man and begin pressure on the rim. Here, as the ball is passed to the St. Louis native, we see some of his improvements showing through, most notably with his drop step to find the open pocket behind oncoming defenders allowing him to get the bucket while also drawing the foul.
The Celtics also have the added benefit of having two true All-Star wings at their disposal, so it makes sense that they’re trying to capitalize on Tatum’s emerging skills as a roller while using Jaylen Brown’s scoring gravity to smash defense strengthen.
What’s interesting in the clip above is that Brown is the first to put up a screen before slipping it and taking a seat in the center post (and eventually drifting to the wing), allowing Tatum to flow into an on-ball screen for Markus Smart.
As Tatum starts to cut (timing), Brown switches (which I mistakenly annotated as an L-cut in the clip (it was early)) and Horford threatens to cut the baseline; As a result, the defense has to make some tough decisions, giving Tatum the extra half step he needs to get airborne before the Miami Heat defense is able to really challenge his shot.
This is the last annotated clip I’ll be using, but it’s also one of the more interesting ones as the Celtics lead him and Tatum in the same pick and roll rather than using Brown as a vehicle to cast defensive action. Again we see Tatum timing his slip while also angling his movement to create a pocket his defender can’t reach without bouncing to the ground. Credit to the Phoenix Suns for having their weak low man come over to mark the role and offer some defensive help. However, when Tatum is in space near the basket, contesting his shot is almost a de facto foul.
According to Cleaning The Glass, Tatum currently has his most productive season within 4 feet of the rim and completes 71% of his attempts, which places him in the 76th percentile on wings. For a player who draws so much defensive attention and is constantly scheming against opposing teams, finding new and intuitive ways to free him is imperative, which is why we’ve seen several different moves to roleplay Tatum more act as simply asking him to be a high pick and roll threat like you would a real big man – although that does and does happen from time to time.
It will be interesting to see if teams anticipate using Tatum as a roller once the season resumes and we enter the final stages of games before the playoffs begin. Still, the Celtics boast too many points and ball handling for defense to overcompensate to limit Tatum’s penetration when he rolls, and something tells me Joe Mazzulla has some other moves up his sleeve that he’s waiting for the playoffs are unleashed.
Until then, it will be fun to watch the different ways Boston Tatum dresses up before he comes loose.
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