‘Risky’ play that made Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics possible
THE WEDDING PLANS were formulated some months beforehand. Long before the Miami Heat defeated the Boston Celtics 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, only for the latter team to lose Game 7 at home. Long before the front office of the organization had to assess yet another unsatisfactory season that came agonizingly near to the franchise’s 18th NBA championship, but yet fell short. Long before it was ever considered, Marcus Smart, the team’s heart and soul and the past Defensive Player of the Year, could be traded.
The plan was for Smart and Maisa Hallum, who were engaged to be married on September 16 at the upscale Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, California, to have a large family and close friends there.
The Pacific Ocean was magnificent. White flowers decorated the aisle and the gazebo, which were surrounded by lovely, well-kept grounds. The resort’s accommodations were villas and bungalows. The pool is a tribute to Rome’s Coliseum. The entire location exudes grandeur.
However, the entire dynamic had changed by the time the RSVP cards were due. Over the course of the seven-game Heat series, Boston had become weary and unable to handle Miami’s shifting defense and scorching 3-point shooting (43% in the series, 48% in their victories).
While Boston hadn’t been concerned about Smart, it had become imperative to get a big man who could move the floor and pose a threat to opponents in the post.
Thus, the scene that marked the end of Marcus Smart’s tenure with the Celtics also served as the beginning of his married life.
The Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum described the extravagant wedding to ESPN, adding, “It was kind of like saying goodbye right before the season started.” “It was quite difficult. I had attended one Finals game and four Conference Finals with Jaylen [Brown] and Smart. We have simply experienced so much together. It seemed as though the band was disbanding.”
Tatum, Grant Williams, and Brown attended the nuptials. Wyc Grousbeck, owner of the Celtics, was also. Brad Stevens, the president of basketball operations, and head coach Joe Mazzulla both made an appearance and created a fantastic stance in the photo booth.
People Magazine released pictures from the event, and they went viral fast, infuriating Boston fans who were still in shock after the incredible three-team trade on June 23 that sent Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies in return for center Kristaps Porzingis. The belief was that the move was done by a franchise that was becoming more and more focused on analytics in a cold, analytical manner.
With the Washington Wizards, Porizingis has hit a career-high 39 percent of his 3-point shots. However, a successful season on a 35-47 squad doesn’t alter ingrained narratives. Furthermore, Porzingis had never quite lived up to the hype surrounding him as a rookie in New York, where Kevin Durant himself called him “a unicorn.”
For the majority of the previous ten years, Smart has been developing
“I’m a big believer that whatever a narrative is on someone when they’re 19 or 22 or even 24, you just kind of keep following them and just let them develop and let them grow,” Stevens stated to ESPN.
And much like a real estate developer eyeing a fixer-upper home, he saw what Porzingis could become given the right circumstances.
This was dangerous, he remarks. “But as [assistant coach] Jay Laranaga used to tell me, ‘If we’re not trying to improve, we’ll stop being good.'”
EARLY ON, THE FIT WAS SO GOOD that Tatum began drawing comparisons between Porzingis’s role with the Celtics and that of Pau Gasol, who was traded to the Lakers in 2008 to play alongside Kobe Bryant. Together, they helped LA win crowns in 2009 and 2010.
“Kobe really needed Pau for those last two championships that they won together,” Tatum asserts. “Whatever path that I’m on and we’re on, KP really feels like the missing piece.”
When the deal was finalized, Porzingis was 3,000 miles away, working out at gyms all around Spain. He was aware enough of Smart’s value to the Celtics, his defense, his leadership, and the player-city bond to know how great of a risk the franchise was taking by
“I was unaware that [Smart] would be included in the trade, but after witnessing what they were willing to part with for me, I came to the realization that they truly desired me,” the player stated to ESPN. It implies that they have high expectations for me as well. I must thus appear.”
He has accomplished that and more, serving as a vital member of the Celtics, who enter their game against the Lakers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. on TNT) with the best record in the NBA (37-11).
“He definitely surprised me in the sense I didn’t really know him,” Tatum said. “I’ve only had the opportunity to play against him a few times, but he’s lived up to the hype.”
“We had trouble facing Miami last year because they were switching, and we lacked a true receiver to expose their switching. They exploited us for that, and KP is really the best solution.”
Over the years, the Celtics have placed Smart or Jae Crowder on Porzingis, urging them to get up under him and be physically strong enough to cause him discomfort. It was somewhat successful. But Boston’s Porzingis was a different person.
“You put somebody big on him and they’re probably too slow and not quick enough to keep up with him,” Tatum goes on. “You put somebody shorter on him, they can stay with him, but he’s 7-foot-4, so he’s literally just going to shoot over that top and not be affected.” This is the reason why Durant called Porzingis a “unicorn” in the past and why the Dallas Mavericks were thrilled to pair him with Luka Doncic, another player with legendary talent, in 2019.
However, Porzingis’ growth in Dallas was hampered by injuries and an unanticipated bad fit with Doncic, which further damaged his reputation. The LA Clippers’ defensive player-offense strategy during the 2021 playoffs forced previous head coach Rick Carlisle to play him off the floor, which was the lowest point.
He was compelled by that encounter to critically examine both his game and his future.
“I thoroughly examined myself,” Porzingis declares. “From that point on I started building my game back up.”
The summer of 2022 marked the official start of THE TRANSFORMATION. His turbulent time in Dallas came to an end in February when the Mavericks moved him to the Washington Wizards for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans at the deadline. It was an exquisite autumn.
At that point, Porzingis asked his friend and former national team guard Zanis Peiners to train him when he returned home to Latvia for the summer.
