Early Signs Indicate That Jayson Tatum And Jaylen Brown Are About To Have A "Fuck You" Season For The Ages

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

Look, sweeping the Nuggets in Abu Dhabi with the latest win coming by a billion yesterday isn't surprising. Watching them carve up the carcass that was the Nuggets defense with such ease that we got our first insane scoreboard bug of the season

was also not all that surprising. When you're a team that just set an NBA record for 20 point wins, 30 point wins, 40 point wins, and 50 point wins in a single season, this is basically par for the course. As we know, it doesn't really matter who stands in their path, the wagon rolls on.

If there's one thing to take away from the Celts short time in Abu Dhabi, it's not the results of their two wins. Teams are playing at half speed, guys are being held out, it's not exactly the NBA Finals. At the same time, we all know what would be happening had the Celtics lost by a billion to Nikola Jokic, but I digress. 

Of all the positive things that we saw in these two games, one thing could not have been made clearer. 

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are about to put on a "Fuck You" season for the ages

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Together, the Jays combined for 38 points, 5 3PM, 7 AST and just 2 TO while each only playing 23 minutes. When you watch them play so far this preseason it's abundantly clear that they are not only ready for the regular season, but I would argue they already look to be in midseason form. It's almost as if they were counting down the days until the balls were rolled out and they could officially begin their Fuck You Tour and boy does that have me feeling things.

It really is a bit unprecedented what we saw each guy have to deal with immediately following winning an NBA title. I would argue that no two franchise players have ever been disrespected to the level we've seen both have to deal with this offseason and honestly, it is such a gift from the Basketball Gods. Entering this season and the journey for Banner 19, there are only a few things that could potentially get in the Celts way from once again reaching the top of the mountain. 

Injuries and complacency.

You can only somewhat control the injury part. Making sure you're in shape and ready to go is a big part of it, and clearly both players look to be in great shape already, so that's a non-issue. The other is something you can control, which is feeling like you've accomplished all you need to accomplish and you then become complacent. It's human nature to some degree, and is something everyone in the franchise is going to have to fight over the course of 82 games.

Do you know what helps with that? When your two best players are locked in and want blood.

We were all hopeful that each guy would take their summer of disrespect and come back hungrier and better than ever, and through two fake games….that's exactly what it looks like.

All that bullshit about Jayson Tatum's jumper? It not only looks completely fixed, but dare I say it looks very similar to the 2019-20 version where he shot 40.7% on pull up 3PA? Can you imagine adding that skillset to the 2024 version of Tatum? His starting point of his gather is slightly higher, the overall motion looks quicker and smoother, no longer having that weird hitch that seemed to impact his playoff shooting, and through both games in Abu Dhabi Tatum finished 6-14 (42%) from deep while making open C&S 3PA, contested 3PA (!!!!!), pull up 3PA in transition etc. He's already giving you the elite rebounding, defense, and playmaking, and if you're telling me we're going to be getting the version of Tatum who is back to being a 40% pull up 3P shooter, I'm not sure what defense plan on doing because there is no stopping that player.

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With Jaylen, nobody in the league is more pissed off than him given all that Team USA bullshit. Again, thank you Grant Hill and Steve Kerr for being complete bozos and unlocking a new level of Jaylen we haven't seen before. He was already a player who comes into every season a better player than the guy we saw the season before, and everything about our first look of 2024-25 Jaylen is even better than we could have expected. He's in great shape, he's pissed off, his game has continued to grow and he looks every bit the unstoppable force we saw on the way to the Celts title.

We're not even talking about how awesome Payton Pritchard looked or how Sam Hauser can now attack closeouts off the dribble like he's been doing it his whole life. While those will be important pieces of the puzzle this season, everything as we know starts and ends with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. 

It was extremely satisfying to see that the Champs have picked up right where they left off this past June, and if you were of the belief that their two best players would use this summer of disrespect as fuel to come into the season and destroy everything in their path, we're off to one hell of a start.

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.