Jayson Tatum’s 3-point shooting fell off a cliff toward the end of the 2023-24 season. The three-time All-NBA First Team forward took a total of 175 3-point shots between the start of April and the end of the postseason in June. He averaged 28.7% during that time frame.
At Media Day, the NBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist confirmed that he’s been working to fix his jump shot.
“Been working with my trainer Drew (Hanlen) a lot, recently in the last few weeks,” Tatum said. “Pick-up points, hand placement, getting lower, keeping my shoulders forward and things like that…There were some things I could have fixed, but in the midst of the playoffs, trying to manage you rest, it’s a little tougher. I was still playing well. I just wasn’t shooting the ball as well as I would have liked. And obviously, we were winning. So it wasn’t the time or the place to try to fix things in that moment.”
Tatum’s note about working on his shoulder positioning is interesting. Last season, Donte DiVincenzo was among the breakout three-point shooters in the NBA. He had joined the New York Knicks after spending a year with Steph Curry on the Golden State Warriors.
During an interview with The Athletic’s Fred Katz, DiVincenzo, who shot 40.1% from deep for the season, credited a lesson he learned from watching Curry up close during his time in the Bay Area.
“I used to think feet squared, shoulders squared, release and everything had to be aligned and everything,” DiVincenzo said. “And I get he’s almost an anomaly. But what’s so much different is as long as his shoulders are good, he doesn’t care about anything else.”
Tatum is a career 37.5% shooter from 3-point range. He has had some big moments on the perimeter. For whatever reason, his shot abandoned him during the Celtics stretch run. However, if he can pick up some nuggets of wisdom from Hanlen, he could be ready to have a bounce-back season in terms of shooting the ball.
“Overall, I can still get better,” Tatum said in an interview with NBC Sports Boston. “You haven’t seen the best version of Jayson Tatum. And you shouldn’t. I’m only 26. I should continue to keep getting better.”
It’s unlikely that Tatum has completely overhauled his shooting mechanics. Instead, he’s likely implemented subtle tweaks to improve his overall shooting motion and energy distribution. However, if he’s focusing on his shoulder alignment and has been watching film of his own mechanics and others around the league, he may be ready to have a big year on the perimeter.
Still, it’s worth remembering that Tatum is more than just a shooter. He’s arguably one of the most complete players in the world right now. His being a reliable perimeter threat is important, there’s no doubt about it, but it isn’t the only way he can affect a game. Still, if he can bring himself closer to being a 40% shooter, the Celtics are going to be incredibly tough to beat in the coming years.
