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Celtics' Jayson Tatum Named To NBA's All-Rookie First Team

By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Chances are he won't be named the NBA's Rookie of the Year, but Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is getting some recognition for a phenomenal first season in the league.

The 20-year-old was named to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team on Tuesday. He received 99 of a possible 100 first-team votes, falling one vote shy of a unanimous selection. Whoever put him on the second team should be identified and ridiculed until they surrender their vote.

"Somebody made a mistake," Celtics head coach Brad Stevens told reporters on a conference call.

Tatum thrived in the NBA spotlight after the Celtics drafted him No. 3 overall last June, starting 80 games and averaging 13.9 points (good for third on the team) on 48 percent shooting. He was thrust into a bigger role when Gordon Hayward was lost for the year just five minutes into the season, and very rarely looked like a rookie on the floor. He was knocked for his three-point shooting during his one season at Duke, but Tatum hit 43 percent of his shots from downtown and set a Boston rookie records with 105 threes.

Tatum is the first Celtics player to earn First Team All-Rookie honors since Paul Pierce did it during the 1998-99 season. Fittingly, Tatum is often compared to "The Truth."

He joins Philadelphia's Ben Simmons (the ROY of the favorite), Utah's Donovan Mitchell, Los Angeles Lakers' Kyle Kuzma and Chicago's Lauri Markkanen on the All-Rookie First Team. Dallas' Dennis Smith Jr., the Lakers' Lonzo Ball, Atlanta's John Collins, Sacramento's Bogdan Bogdanovic and Phoenix's Josh Jackson earned second-team honors.

Fellow Boston rookie Semi Ojeleye received one second-team vote.

 

 

 

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