Tatum, out of COVID protocol, ramps up his workouts

Though he doesn’t have a clear return date yet, Jayson Tatum is out of health and safety protocol and ramping up his workouts.

The Celtics forward, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 9, was finally cleared for workouts on Tuesday.

“He worked out (Tuesday), real briefly,” said Brad Stevens. “I think he did some work back in Boston today. He feels great. He’s out of the protocol but now he has to ramp back up the activity.”

Rob Williams, who was active for Wednesday night’s game in Philadelphia, took part in his first practice Monday after being released from quarantine. The Celtics center had tested positive for the coronavirus two days before Tatum’s positive test, and admittedly turned symptomatic, at his worst breaking into sweats one night before improving.

Williams went into the Philadelphia game under a 10-to-15-minute restriction. Though the Celtics play the Sixers again in Philadelphia on Friday night, it’s unclear if Williams’ return will be reflective of Tatum’s own recovery. Carsen Edwards is now the only Celtic still in protocol.

“I think it’s gonna depend on each guy, and how they come back from it themselves from the standpoint of just physiologically how they’re feeling,” said Stevens. “Obviously they have to go through a series of tests, including the heart test after to be cleared to return to any activity.

“And then it’s a little bit different for Robert because he wasn’t playing 35 minutes a game before that like Jayson was,” he said. “He was playing less and so I think his ramp-up will be less early and then back up to his normal minutes-plus, which I thought he was really impactful for us early. When Jayson gets back we’ll have to manage those minutes appropriately, and just the idea of being inactive for 14 days I think is a challenge.”

More minutes, please

Kemba Walker, who made his season debut during Sunday’s loss to New York, remained under a 20-minute restriction. On Sunday, Walker expressed the wish that the restriction end with one game.

Apparently not.

“He feels great. I’m guessing that he will get more and more angry with me as the longer we go with the minutes restriction,” said Stevens. “The other day I think he was happy to be out there. And obviously he wasn’t happy with the result of the game, none of us were. But I think that we’ll try to keep him around the same as last game.”

Inspiration

Stevens was especially inspired by the presidential inauguration after hearing the reaction of his wife and daughter to the swearing in of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I talked to Tracy who’s at home today and she said that Kinsley was on break from virtual school for a few minutes when Vice President Harris made her walk down into the crowd, and Tracy described that as a pretty emotional moment for her and for Kinsley and any of us who have daughters,” he said. “You see a lot of awesome moments today. We’re hopeful that means we’re going to make progress towards the important stuff.”

Passing prowess

Jaylen Brown’s progress as a passer is a natural progression, according to Stevens.

“I think he’s really worked on it over the years and worked on all the different reads that a game presents,” said Stevens. “He’s seeing a lot more attention, so there’s a lot more opportunity to make those plays, too. That’s the other thing. When teams start loading up on you, you start seeing blitzes occasionally in pick-and-rolls, you start seeing more help off of your screening actions, the right play is to make the next right pass. That’s the other part of it — as you get to be a better scorer, in my opinion, your assist numbers should go up because that will mean you’re drawing a lot more attention.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/38ZZcG2