Key Celtics Guard Talks About Impact of Tatum's Return

The Boston Celtics are navigating an interesting situation. They’ve built a strong playoff team without their best player from last season, and now they are having to figure out how to reintegrate him into the lineup since he has become healthy.

The Celtics have looked pretty good with Jayson Tatum back in the lineup. They are 6-2 in games that Tatum has played this season. That doesn’t mean that the Celtics players aren’t having to make some major adjustments with Tatum now on the court. Derrick White, one of the Celtics players who stepped up the most in Tatum’s absence, recently spoke about what it has been like playing with Tatum once again.

“I think whatever the game says to do, I feel comfortable doing it. There's times where I have the ball a lot, and then there's times where I'm off-ball and spacing…So just try to be able to be versatile, to do different things, and I think that's one of my strengths. So I don't think it's changed too much…Just try to give the game what it needs.”

This is what has made the Celtics such a good team over the last few years. Everyone, including their stars, understands that it takes sacrifice to win. White is a perfect example of that. If he wanted, White could probably be scoring over 20 points a game on a worse team. Instead, he is playing whatever role is needed for the Celtics while they try to compete for another NBA championship.

When guys have this mentality, teams are able to gel better, and that’s why the Celtics are such a quality franchise. Their guys know that being a part of the bigger picture can be more rewarding than anything else.