Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

Coach K had to push Tatum to make him great 😤 | #shorts #nba #duke #coachk #celtics #bostonceltics

2 Apr 2022 · 1 min

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In this short interview, Jayson Tatum recounts a pivotal moment from a game at Virginia when he was playing passively, making extra passes and not shooting. Coach Mike Krzyzewski, known as Coach K, entered the locker room, removed his jacket, and threw it at Tatum, calling him a "soft‑ass St. Louis kid" and insisting he was not brought to Duke to be merely good but to be special. The coach repeatedly used the "soft" label during film sessions, pausing shots where Tatum could have taken a more aggressive approach, urging him to shed passivity and develop a more assertive mindset. The anecdote illustrates Coach K's intense, confrontational coaching style and its role in shaping Tatum's competitive mentality.

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We was playing at Virginia. I think I'm making the right play. Like, I'm catching it, I'm making the extra pass. I'm not really being aggressive. I may have had like 4 points, but I was like 2 for 3. I wasn't really shooting. I think we might have been up 2 or as tied at halftime. I come in and I'm like, I'm feeling good about it. And I remember Coach K came in, he took his jacket off and he threw it right at me. Like, it hit my leg and my feet. Yeah. And he was like, he just start snapping. He like, "You soft-ass St. Louis kid. I should have left you where I found you." He used to tell me all the time, "I didn't bring you here to be good." He said, "I need you to be special." And like anytime in the game, like the next day in film, if there was a shot where I could have shot it, he would always pause it in film. "You being soft. You being soft. We don't need you to be soft. We need you to be you."