To fellow Blue Devil alum Amile Jefferson — now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics — Duke teammate Jayson Tatum was always going to make it into the NBA. Jefferson, reunited with Tatum in a different role, spoke with the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach for a recent interview in which he shed some light on Tatum’s formative season as a college prospect.
“He was super physical, and you don’t really find freshmen that seek out the contact,” explained the Celtics assistant. “Like, he would go into people’s bodies. He’d pull you in, he wanted to get hit, and he knew how to do all those things. He was advanced.”
The St. Louis native would reportedly get peeved about any kind of loss — even in practices. “Practice reps, shooting competitions, one-on-ones, a race,” explained Jefferson.
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“He was ultra-competitive and wanted to win anything. I think that’s an early sign, but a really good sign of a player who you know is going to bring it every day.”
“I always admire guys who hate losing more than they love winning,” added Jefferson.
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