Jayson Tatum just won his first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in a season where he was voted First Team All-NBA for the third consecutive year. And yet, he should still have plenty of motivation and hunger entering the 2024-25 season.
The great players always have that chip on their shoulder, even after winning.
For Tatum, he still has plenty left to achieve. He didn't win Finals MVP last season. Jaylen Brown was the deserving winner after a fantastic performance against the Dallas Mavericks. So that's one award Tatum can strive for. And getting benched in two games at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Team USA also should serve as a source of motivation for Tatum.
Tatum said Tuesday at Celtics Media Day that head coach Joe Mazzulla was "probably the happiest person" after the superstar forward didn't win Finals MVP and went through adversity during the Olympics. He also added, "If you know Joe, it makes sense."
Mazzulla wants the best for his players, and he knows that those tough experiences will only help Tatum as he continues his career.
He went into further detail after Wednesday's practice.
"I think that comes off as love," Mazzulla told reporters when asked about Tatum's comment, as seen in the video above. "That's just the way that I love him and the relationship that we have, and I appreciate that he accepts my perspective and the way that we go about talking about it. But at the end of the day, he's 26, and I just said, 'Listen, you've accomplished so much in this league, and just take a step back and appreciate that and then be grateful that you have, God willing, 10, 12, 14 years left in this league -- who knows what you're gonna see.'
"I don't think we've seen the best of him yet because of how much he works and how he's willing to grow. So I thought it was great that he's got something he's gonna work towards. And sometimes when you get success, you don't have that next hunger right in front of you.
"Sometimes you gotta wait for it. Sometimes it's a loss, sometimes it's a losing streak, and he was able to get that right in front of him. So I just thought it was a gift. It doesn't mean that he shouldn't be pissed off about it. I didn’t want to take away from how that may affect him in real time because I wasn’t there. But as his coach and as somebody that really cares about him, I thought it was great because it gives him something to work towards."
Mazzulla has a special relationship with his players, and this is another example. He knows what buttons to push to maximize their on-court production and keep them locked in on the team goals.
Complacency has been an issue for many defending champions in NBA history, but after hearing Mazzulla and Celtics players talk at Media Day earlier this week, it doesn't sound like this team will be plagued by that problem.
