Shortly after the Boston Celtics drafted forward Jayson Tatum No. 3 overall out of Duke in the 2017 NBA Draft, they signed forward All-Star Gordon Hayward to a four-year, $128 million contract. The signing made Tatum question if he would get the chance to start or have a role on the team.

Despite the dangers of reacting to early-season trends, I tried to cut through the noise to find eight of the most important stats from the Celtics’ first eight games. The Celtics improved to 7-1 with Monday night’s 123-93 win at Atlanta.

The Celtics, who had the No. 1 pick, could've simply stayed put and taken Jayson Tatum. Instead, they pulled one of the all-time heists -- in hindsight, at least -- by trading down to No. 3 with the Sixers,