Evasive about the future of the Celtics, Boston’s Jayson Tatum stays focused on winning a title in the present

For Boston Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum, the path to a championship future is to stay grounded in the present. “I never like to look into the future,” said Tatum in a recent interview with The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. “It’s just so unpredictable what can happen. The NBA changes so much every year. Every two, three years, and you just try to win,” he explained.

“Every year, I’ve tried to win a championship. My first year, I wasn’t thinking about winning my fifth year. I was just trying to win then, and that’s what I’ll try to do this season,” suggested the St. Louis native.

Tatum and the rest of his Celtics squads in past seasons struggled to punch a ticket to the NBA Finals until last season, and then the fatigue of doing so against an opponent like the Golden State Warriors proved too much to win it all with a relatively thin and unproven bench.

Now, Boston has reloaded with a deeper, veteran rotation without giving up much to do so, and could still make moves to bolster their frontcourt and wing depth. But don’t ask the Duke product what he’d do if it were his choice.

“The cool part about his job is (now-team president) Brad (Stevens) doesn’t tell me how to do my job anymore,” Tatum smiled, thinking of how his former head coach has become the team’s top executive.

“He lets me do my thing. I let him do his thing. In all honesty, that’s his decision and that’s his job.”

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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire