Celtics star forward Jayson Tatum is 16 months removed from Achilles’ tendon surgery and says he’s fully healthy as the team begins its first week of training camp, according to the Associated Press’ Kyle Hightower.

“I feel great having this offseason to get stronger,” he said. “Get more explosive and just work on my body in totality. So, obviously feel much better than I did this time last year and I’m excited and thankful for that.”

With Jaylen Brown out of the picture, Tatum is now the undisputed leader of the team.

“Yeah, very comfortable. This is Year 10,” Tatum said. “Leadership is about a lot of different things. Awareness is the biggest one. Self-awareness, awareness of the group. And just understanding we all have roles and we’re just kind of simply in this together. So it looks different from person to person.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

• New Celtics center Mitchell Robinson is fine with starting or coming off the bench for his new team, Keith Smith tweets. Robinson also indicated he’s working diligently on his biggest flaw, saying he shot “a lot” of free throws during the offseason. Robinson is a career 50.8% shooter from the line. In an interview with “CP The Franchise,” Robinson revealed that he won’t be on any minutes restrictions entering the season (video link). “I’ll be able to play back-to-back so I’m very excited for that. It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “Now I can go out there and play basketball and not have to worry about not playing this game. Just go out there with a free mind and just hoop.”
• Not surprisingly, Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard refused to answer questions regarding the league’s punishment to him and his previous team, the Clippers, following a lengthy league investigation that determined the club had violated salary-cap rules, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter link). Leonard was fined $700K but not suspended. “I’m excited to be here… I think the best decision is to move forward… (The investigation) already was a distraction for the last 70 days… I just want to talk about the Toronto Raptors,” he said during the team’s media day. Leonard led the Raptors to their lone championship before bolting to the Clippers in free agency. He was traded back to Toronto this offseason, though the move didn’t become official until the investigation concluded. “A big part of it was fans, legacy, us doing the impossible here,” he said of returning to Toronto. “Just the energy of the city. I really enjoyed it… The energy and the people are why I wanted to come back.”
• Former Knicks assistant coach Daisuke Yoshimoto has joined the Sixers as an assistant coach and head video coordinator, BasketNews relays. Yoshimoto had worked in a variety of coaching and player-development roles with New York from 2020-25.