"Oh My God, It's A Lot Of People Out There" - The Celtics Dropped The Behind The Scenes Footage Of Jayson Tatum's Return And It's As Emotional As It Gets

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

Even though it's been around 2 weeks since this tweet hit our timelines

and we've seen Jayson Tatum play in 5 games so far, it's still surreal to think this is actually our reality. The fact that he already looks pretty damn good is the cherry on top, but overall having Tatum back in the mix is such a blessing. It's something we all had no idea if it would actually happen, as most were cautiously optimistic. If he returned, great. If he didn't, that's also fine. There was no wrong decision. Now having seen how he looks in the early stages of his return, it really is remarkable how Tatum was able to get to this point. Watching him play, it's honestly as if nothing happened.

And while some dogged Tatum for his docuseries following his recovery journey, I never really understood why. For years people wanted to see a more human side of Tatum, and then when we finally got it, people clowned him for it? Very weird. Personally, I'll take all the behind the scenes footage I can get. My only gripe about Tatum's series was that it was too short. Those 3 minute episodes felt way too fast.

Thankfully, the Celtics have us covered with their most recent All Access release, which followed Tatum's journey back AND his debut, and I can't lie, it fucking rules

What we hadn't really seen at all during this journey was the footage of that Maine practice. That's when, in my opinion, things got serious. All we really had was Ron Harper Jr at the All Star break talking about how Tatum looked like Tatum, which at that time was a very big update. I'm not sure Ron Harper Jr was supposed to let that leak, but sometimes you get caught up in the moment

Now finally seeing the footage of that practice? Yeah, no lies were told. 

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You have to remember, this was about a month before Tatum eventually came back, which now that we've seen what he looks like, tells us that he'd been ready for a while. All it took was once practice, and then it was go time.

I can understand why some may be tired of this whole thing, but once again, you're doing that thing where I'm supposed to give a shit. Everything about Tatum's journey and return is arguably the most important piece of the puzzle for this franchise. Their entire future depends heavily on Tatum being as close as possible to who he was as a player pre-injury, so as fans, all this stuff matters a great deal. This is our franchise player. Having the context for what we're now seeing on the floor is awesome, and while we'll eventually get to the point where we can turn the page, that time certainly isn't now. The return is still too fresh. 

It was awesome to see just how emotional a day it was for him when he made his debut, because that's how we all felt watching it. Everything about it was and is still surreal. 

So if you're looking to kill 17 minutes because let's be honest, you don't want to work, I suggest giving this a watch. I'll warn you, there's a chance you may not be able to stand at your desk after, so it's a bit NSFW, but don't worry those are all normal feelings. You certainly won't be alone.