Celtics’ Jayson Tatum shouts out not-so secret weapons behind astounding season

Jayson Tatum made sure to give props to an unheralded part of the Celtics’ success throughout the 2023-24 season.

The Boston Celtics’ dominant 2023-24 regular season continues; on Thursday night, they took care of business against the Phoenix Suns, taking a 127-112 victory thanks in large part to a combined 63 points from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. This win gave the Celtics their 52nd of the year, and in the process of doing so, they have now clinched a spot in the playoffs, being the first team to do so this season.

Simply put, based on regular season consistency, there may not be a team more primed to make a deep playoff run than the Celtics. Of course, the postseason is a different animal; but if anything, Tatum knows that the Celtics have put in enough work behind the scenes to prepare them for the task ahead, with the team’s best player shouting out an unheralded part of the team that has played a big role in their dominance this season.

“Yeah we got a great (player development) coaching staff. A younger group, but they’re hungry, our coaches work really, really hard to prepare us with film and making sure we’re going over the right things everyday in practice or in shootaround. We have a great group, a great coaching staff,” Tatum said in his postgame presser, per Celtics on NBC Sports Boston.

At the top level, the margins are razor thin. The very best teams in the NBA are full of talent up and down the roster, and every team must seek an advantage any way they can. For Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, their player development staff is a point of pride that allows them to be sharp on any given night.

Youth can sometimes be a detriment, but for the Celtics, they are showing that they are able to use this perceived weakness to their advantage. Now, the true test of their mettle will come when the playoffs begin. The Celtics, after all, have fallen short of their goal to win a championship over the past six years or so despite routinely being among the best teams in the association. But can Boston finally break through and win the franchise’s 18th championship?