2018-19 NBA Preview: Areas of improvement for each Celtics youngster

#2 Jayson Tatum - Killer instinct

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Seven

With 6:41 remaining in the 4th quarter of the Eastern Conference Finals, Celtics #3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft put The King on what I think is the best poster dunk of the NBA season gone by. With 6:04 remaining in the same quarter and the Celtics down 69-71, Tatum put the Celtics back in the lead with a stupendous 27-foot 3-pointer.

Right at that point, a lot of Celtics fans might have jumped up in ecstasy and pride at their young'un going toe-to-toe with the greatest player on the planet and winning the sweepstakes for the time being. In the last 6:04 of the quarter, however, we were all deprived of the shootout that had already been brewing in full cry at that point, as Tatum took just one more shot attempt, which got blocked by JR Smith.

It is unreasonable to expect a rookie to succeed when pitted against the arguably greatest player to ever play the game. But Tatum is the kind of player who has the skill and smoothness as a 6'8" small forward that only Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony have had in the past. Sacrilegious as it might seem to say, Tatum might already be on track for a career better than Paul Pierce as of the end of his rookie season.

To be the new Truth, however, Tatum needs to force the issue better, take over on nights when 3 of his teammates combined to shoot 30 3-pointers waywardly and forced Boston out of the game with their bricks.