J. Kyle Mann

Okay, Boston, where are you on the Celtics and the Tatum return potential?

What does that do for their team?

I mean, if you're – like, leave aside the change of schedule that lit everyone up and the – I guess NBC has just been filming him continuously for a while.

Like, if you're practicing real basketball –

and it's February 17th, I'm pretty confident you're going to come back this year.

He's not going to be Jason Tatum.

Fans need to get ready for that.

Everyone wants to jump forward to the, whose team is it?

How is this going to affect the Jalen Brown-centric ecosystem and the style of play?

Don't jump – like, the first step is he's going to be limited compared to what he used to be.

Maybe that makes the transition a little bit easier in some senses, but I have just been on the board of, like, I think he's coming back, and I just think there's no downside to him coming back.

Like, I don't – I'm not – I think, again, the Celtics are kind of like the Pistons where –

As uncomfortable as it feels to say, like, this is very confusing.

How did they become this good with a totally untested frontline pre-Vucevic trade and all of this, and they've been healthy all season?

The evidence suggests they could win three playoff series in the East, as is.

I do think Tatum nudges their margin for error up and their ceiling up a little bit to the point that I would take them a little bit more seriously as a finals team.

I don't see him as being any kind of disruptive force, but I do expect him at this point, just because he's practicing, to come back.

I think they could go to the Eastern Conference Finals now, as is, with no Tatum.

Because, I mean, it's the East.

Someone has to make the Conference Finals.