Celtics Draft Jayson Tatum at #3

nighthob

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So where would folks slot Tatum?
Well for one thing The Greek Freak isn't a prospect anymore. Their criteria look like an attempt to sneak an established NBA star onto a "prospect" list. This is his fifth year and he's an established superstar.

Using their wacky system a superstar in his fifth year is a "prospect" and a third year player, like Willie Cauley-Stein, and a second year player, like Buddy Hield, aren't. If they want to compile a "Best NBA players 23 and under" list, they should just do that honestly.

I would limit any prospect rankings to guys in their first three years, because with incredibly rare exceptions by year four a player is what he is (on the aggregate they might refine their game, but the big leaps in performance are generally over). I would no more consider Andrew Wiggins a prospect than Marcus Smart.

I'll give Embiid a pass as he spent two years injured, but otherwise I'd consider prospects the guys drafted/entering the league from 2015-2017. On that criteria the only guys I can really put over Tatum are Towns, Porzingas, Embiid, and Simmons.
 

the moops

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Their rationale was that someone is who they is by age 24, thus the age 23 cutoff. In general, not that much different than your criteria, but I see where you are coming from. When I heard the beginning of the pod, I assumed someone like Giannis wouldn't be on there because of his status. But I suppose the easier cutoff is a strict age thing and makes for an easier discussion.

Jokic has gotta be above Tatum, IMO
 

nighthob

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Don’t get me wrong, Jokic is a great young center, but center is just a less important position these days. Much like an OPS+ 130 SS is more valuable than a 1B posting a similar number a high scoring wing is just much more valuable in the pace & space era.

As for their age claims, Jimmy Butler’s breakout season was his age 25 season, but his fourth year. So, yes, my four year cutoff is more rational if you’re evaluating prospects rather than trying to sneak fifth year superstars onto a “prospect” list. ;)
 

bowiac

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I agree the rigid "under-23" rule sort of misses the point of a prospect list. Giannis is an MVP candidate right now. It's their list, so they can pick the criteria, but I'm much more interested in the slotting of guys further down the list.

Here's the list for reference:


This looks fine to me. I think if you accept Duncan's conclusion that Simmons will never be able to shoot, then both may be a bit too high on him (especially relative to Jokic), and I'm more skeptical of Dennis Smith Jr than they are, but I think Duncan's list at least is pretty defensible.

The big omission I feel was Myles Turner. They seemed overly down on him defensively in particular.

I'd probably go:

1) Giannis
2) Porzingis
3) Embiid
4) Jokic
5) Towns
6) Tatum
7) Simmons
8) Fultz
9) Turner
10) Mitchell

With Gordon, Brown and Booker in the next tier.
 

JakeRae

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I think they have both Simmons and Tatum too low. Both are playing at an incredibly high level for their age and experience. I am skeptical of Simmons shooting prospects but it almost doesn't matter. He's already proving he's a borderline top 20 player, as a rookie, without a shot. If you are optimistic about his ability to learn to shoot, the question is if he is as good a prospect as Giannis. Anyway, I'd go:

Giannis
Simmons
Jokic
Tatum
Embiid
Towns
Porzingas
Fultz
Turner
Ball

I'm aware Ball at the back of this list is likely to draw some fire. His rookie year is clearly worse than Mitchell and he has a substantially lower floor, but he still has an elite skill, and elite skills are hard to come by. I also think his shot is much more fixable than that of Simmons. Ranking gets really hard after the top 7 on this list, who are a clear level above everyone else.
 

PedroKsBambino

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The framing of the list definitely matters. If it's current value, that's one thing...if it's potential, that's another

For example, I like DSJ, but it's silly to rank him in the top 10 right now---he hasn't shown he can shoot or defend. I get he's still young and I'd certainly be happy to take my chances on him, but I think you have to acknowledge that right now he's not performing at the level of anyone else on there---his RPM is just sad (though so is the roster around him).

Fultz, similarly, is tough to put that high given that his overall track record now has more games missed than played. Even more potential there than Smith (IMO), though.

Given the age and lack of experience of most of those guys, anyone's guess really.
 

Caspir

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I think they have both Simmons and Tatum too low. Both are playing at an incredibly high level for their age and experience. I am skeptical of Simmons shooting prospects but it almost doesn't matter. He's already proving he's a borderline top 20 player, as a rookie, without a shot. If you are optimistic about his ability to learn to shoot, the question is if he is as good a prospect as Giannis. Anyway, I'd go:

Giannis
Simmons
Jokic
Tatum
Embiid
Towns
Porzingas
Fultz
Turner
Ball

I'm aware Ball at the back of this list is likely to draw some fire. His rookie year is clearly worse than Mitchell and he has a substantially lower floor, but he still has an elite skill, and elite skills are hard to come by. I also think his shot is much more fixable than that of Simmons. Ranking gets really hard after the top 7 on this list, who are a clear level above everyone else.
Ball? Putting Jayson Tatum higher than KAT will draw like, 5000x the fire of including Lonzo because it's ridiculous, assuming that list is in order.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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I think they have both Simmons and Tatum too low. Both are playing at an incredibly high level for their age and experience. I am skeptical of Simmons shooting prospects but it almost doesn't matter. He's already proving he's a borderline top 20 player, as a rookie, without a shot. If you are optimistic about his ability to learn to shoot, the question is if he is as good a prospect as Giannis. Anyway, I'd go:

Giannis
Simmons
Jokic
Tatum
Embiid
Towns
Porzingas
Fultz
Turner
Ball

I'm aware Ball at the back of this list is likely to draw some fire. His rookie year is clearly worse than Mitchell and he has a substantially lower floor, but he still has an elite skill, and elite skills are hard to come by. I also think his shot is much more fixable than that of Simmons. Ranking gets really hard after the top 7 on this list, who are a clear level above everyone else.
In a Bill Simmons "would GM 1 say no to GM 2" in a one for one deal... Ainge would be insane to decline a Tatum for Porzingus or Embiid deal. Probably KAT, too.
 

JakeRae

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Ball? Putting Jayson Tatum higher than KAT will draw like, 5000x the fire of including Lonzo because it's ridiculous, assuming that list is in order.
What Tatum is doing as a 19 year old is basically unprecedented and KAT doesn't play much defense. KAT is a better player today, but not by a huge margin. He's also three years older.
In a Bill Simmons "would GM 1 say no to GM 2" in a one for one deal... Ainge would be insane to decline a Tatum for Porzingus or Embiid deal. Probably KAT, too.
On the same note as above, I would not trade him for any of these players and I think Ainge wouldn't either. Versatile wings are the most valuable players in the modern league, and Tatum is already almost as good as those players despite being three to four years younger. It bears repeating that Tatum is currently on pace to put together, arguably, the single greatest season by a 19 year old ever.
 

BigSoxFan

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Tatum hasn’t had a game with more than 1 turnover since November 18th. He has only 3 games with more than 2 turnovers, 2 of which came in his first 4 games. The scoring efficiency has been remarkable but he’s also playing very smart and disciplined basketball as well.
 

nighthob

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Sometimes I wish the old "Buchholz" filter were still active, because poor Kristaps Porzingis would finally get some measure of revenge.
Yeah, my phone posts are legendary for my battles with spell-correct with player names. I should probably just not post from my phone.
 

luckiestman

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Yeah, my phone posts are legendary for my battles with spell-correct with player names. I should probably just not post from my phone.

Post more, if they cant handle your spelling at your worst they don’t deserve your best
 

amarshal2

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What Tatum is doing as a 19 year old is basically unprecedented and KAT doesn't play much defense. KAT is a better player today, but not by a huge margin. He's also three years older.

On the same note as above, I would not trade him for any of these players and I think Ainge wouldn't either. Versatile wings are the most valuable players in the modern league, and Tatum is already almost as good as those players despite being three to four years younger. It bears repeating that Tatum is currently on pace to put together, arguably, the single greatest season by a 19 year old ever.
Yeah, ok. He’s taking 9 shots a game. Maybe if he was taking almost double that at the same ratios this wouldn’t be ridiculous.
 
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Montana Fan

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Post more, if they cant handle your spelling at your worst they don’t deserve your best
No doubt, this isn't a spelling contest. If readers can't figure out who you're talking about then they can ask. Posting off the phone is challenging and ehmunro should post more, not less just because he had a spelling error. This is a Celtics board, talk Celtics as opposed to proper spelling etiquette.
 

Cesar Crespo

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What Tatum is doing as a 19 year old is basically unprecedented and KAT doesn't play much defense. KAT is a better player today, but not by a huge margin. He's also three years older.

On the same note as above, I would not trade him for any of these players and I think Ainge wouldn't either. Versatile wings are the most valuable players in the modern league, and Tatum is already almost as good as those players despite being three to four years younger. It bears repeating that Tatum is currently on pace to put together, arguably, the single greatest season by a 19 year old ever.

This is some serious homerism.
 

lovegtm

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I think the best way to value Tatum is to think in terms of what he's shown, what we know will likely get better, and what his question marks are.

What he can do (some of which was surprising, post-draft):
* play defense, and almost certainly will improve a lot here with experience and weight gain
* shoot spot-up 3s, very likely at a 40%+ level, and his improvement to date, along with his free throw record, suggests this might even improve
* get to the rim against NBA defenders against closeouts, also likely to improve
* handle the ball at a competent level

Question marks:
* generating efficient offense as the primary option
* shoot 3s off the dribble/PnR
* play-make and read the floor

I think that currently Ainge trades Tatum for Embiid or Porzingis, and trades him for Towns if he thinks Brad would have an effect on KAT's defense. However, if Tatum turns his question marks into things he can do, with projectable improvement, he becomes almost untouchable.

Obviously those question marks are big deals, and not at all locks, but the kid has shown an amazingly fast ability to learn and improve his game.
 

DavidTai

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On an aside, how good is 'Synergy' at measuring a player?

I've been staring at this twitter (via Celticsblog)


Rough summary for those on mobile:
For the Boston Celtics, no 19 year old has any business being this good at basketball. This is Jayson Tatum. pic.twitter.com/NUBA2GW61a

followed by a chart of play types he's been involved in this season.

Excellent on: Spot-ups, transition, P&R Ballhandler, Postup, Miscellaneous
Good on: Isolation, cut
Average on: Hand-off, off-screen, P&R roll man, offensive rebounds (putbacks)
 

lovegtm

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On an aside, how good is 'Synergy' at measuring a player?

I've been staring at this twitter (via Celticsblog)


Rough summary for those on mobile:
For the Boston Celtics, no 19 year old has any business being this good at basketball. This is Jayson Tatum. pic.twitter.com/NUBA2GW61a

followed by a chart of play types he's been involved in this season.

Excellent on: Spot-ups, transition, P&R Ballhandler, Postup, Miscellaneous
Good on: Isolation, cut
Average on: Hand-off, off-screen, P&R roll man, offensive rebounds (putbacks)
The info is accurate, but the sample size is still small. The Memphis game last night was interesting, since the team is clearly starting to try and get him involved in more diverse actions and feature him a bit more, little by little. The 3 pointers coming off a screen was really encouraging - - if that develops into a big part of his game, he has a clear path to becoming a top 10 player.
 

JimBoSox9

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The info is accurate, but the sample size is still small. The Memphis game last night was interesting, since the team is clearly starting to try and get him involved in more diverse actions and feature him a bit more, little by little. The 3 pointers coming off a screen was really encouraging - - if that develops into a big part of his game, he has a clear path to becoming a top 10 player.
Player of the game, and he could have easily had 4 more points with a little better rim luck on layups. I'll gladly wear a homer label if that's the price for betting on his upside.
 

JakeRae

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Yeah, ok. He’s taking 9 shots a game. Maybe if he was taking almost double that at the same ratios this wouldn’t be ridiculous.
It is reasonable to wonder about his relatively low usage and what it means for his efficiency if he is asked to do more. At the same time, his performance being exceptional isn't just about efficiency. His combination of scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks, and steals is something that basically no one his age has ever done. That is, on a per 100 possession basis, only 3 players have averaged at least 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. The other 2 players are TMac and Lebron.

Tatum isn't the passer that either of those players was as a 19 year old, but he is a much more efficient scorer and turns the ball over less.

Tatum is playing at a level that only the, arguably, GOAT and a guy who made the hall of fame despite his career getting derailed early by injuries played at when 19. (Kyrie doesn't hit this filter, but is comparable in other ways accounting for overall performance, so he should probably be on that list.)

I actually think this is a case of people here being scared to acknowledge just how incredible Tatum has been because we are Celtics fans, not where people are overrating him for that same reason. As the season progresses, I expect his usage to rise and his efficiency to fall and for him to still finish with the guys most comparable to him at 19 being the players listed above.
 

InstaFace

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Excellent on: Spot-ups, transition, P&R Ballhandler, Postup, Miscellaneous
Good on: Isolation, cut
Average on: Hand-off, off-screen, P&R roll man, offensive rebounds (putbacks)
Pretty generous where (what I assume is a league-wide grading curve) 51% gets you "good", and 34% gets you "average".
 

Eddie Jurak

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It is reasonable to wonder about his relatively low usage and what it means for his efficiency if he is asked to do more. At the same time, his performance being exceptional isn't just about efficiency. His combination of scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks, and steals is something that basically no one his age has ever done. That is, on a per 100 possession basis, only 3 players have averaged at least 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. The other 2 players are TMac and Lebron.
When you analyze based on arbitrary cut points like that, the resules always look a little more impressive than they otherwise would be. I'm curious where he lands on an overall value metric that doesn't rely on thresholds.

I also think the low usage is a real issue, especially because there have been a few occasions lately where the Celtics needed someone, anyone to step up, and Tatum didn't.

Obviously he's a great fit on the current Celtics team, where he has taken on a low usage role in which he can perform at an elite level. How that translates to a larger role is an interesting question.

As a 19 year old, he's obviously got a lot of growth as a player and an impressive array of skills and feel for the game, so the sky may indeed be the limit for him. It's hard to envision him not being ultimately being the best player in his draft year. But any attempt to project him beyond that is kind of a stretch given the available data.
 

DavidTai

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Pretty generous where (what I assume is a league-wide grading curve) 51% gets you "good", and 34% gets you "average".
I don't know how synergy works, but I assumed 34 percent wasn't referring to the league as a whole, but as to the percentage of points scored off that type of play, and 34 percent well might be average for that sort of play.
 

JakeRae

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When you analyze based on arbitrary cut points like that, the resules always look a little more impressive than they otherwise would be. I'm curious where he lands on an overall value metric that doesn't rely on thresholds.

I also think the low usage is a real issue, especially because there have been a few occasions lately where the Celtics needed someone, anyone to step up, and Tatum didn't.

Obviously he's a great fit on the current Celtics team, where he has taken on a low usage role in which he can perform at an elite level. How that translates to a larger role is an interesting question.

As a 19 year old, he's obviously got a lot of growth as a player and an impressive array of skills and feel for the game, so the sky may indeed be the limit for him. It's hard to envision him not being ultimately being the best player in his draft year. But any attempt to project him beyond that is kind of a stretch given the available data.
By BPM, with total minutes greater than 300 (which is a really low screen designed to filter out players who barely played) he ranks 3rd among 19 year olds. He trails TMac and Kyrie. The guys trailing him are, in order, Drummond, Davis, Lebron, KG, Dwight. Those are all the guys with a BPM of at least 1. Tatum is at 2.8.

I've run that analysis before in this thread too. The reason I switched to per 100 metrics was to illustrate that it's not just his efficiency driving his value.
 

Eddie Jurak

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By BPM, with total minutes greater than 300 (which is a really low screen designed to filter out players who barely played) he ranks 3rd among 19 year olds. He trails TMac and Kyrie. The guys trailing him are, in order, Drummond, Davis, Lebron, KG, Dwight. Those are all the guys with a BPM of at least 1. Tatum is at 2.8.

I've run that analysis before in this thread too. The reason I switched to per 100 metrics was to illustrate that it's not just his efficiency driving his value.
I guess for me the question is how much of that is due to fit. The typical role for a rookie top 5 pick is to play a lot of minutes on a crap team. Would Tatum be thriving as well in that type of system? I imagine his usage would be higher and efficiency lower, but would he still be rating as well compared to past rookies?

BTW, I don’t think that what Tatum is doing now is “easier”. Jaylen Brown of a year ago would obviously not have thrived in Tatum’s current role. I suspect most top picks wouldn’t (not that many top picks ever get the chance).
 

lovegtm

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I guess for me the question is how much of that is due to fit. The typical role for a rookie top 5 pick is to play a lot of minutes on a crap team. Would Tatum be thriving as well in that type of system? I imagine his usage would be higher and efficiency lower, but would he still be rating as well compared to past rookies?

BTW, I don’t think that what Tatum is doing now is “easier”. Jaylen Brown of a year ago would obviously not have thrived in Tatum’s current role. I suspect most top picks wouldn’t (not that many top picks ever get the chance).
The situation is definitely great for him, but he's playing over 30 minutes a game as an above average contributor to a 50+ win team. That's incredibly impressive for a 19 year old, full stop.

In terms of future development, a lot of it comes down to analyzing his skill set and areas for improvement in ways that are more granular than statistical aggregates.
 

bowiac

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I guess for me the question is how much of that is due to fit. The typical role for a rookie top 5 pick is to play a lot of minutes on a crap team. Would Tatum be thriving as well in that type of system? I imagine his usage would be higher and efficiency lower, but would he still be rating as well compared to past rookies?
It depends how much worse his efficiency would be. BPM rewards usage pretty strongly, so Donovan Mitchell still ends up with a positive offensive rating, despite pretty low efficiency. I get this effectively just asking "how good is Tatum" of course.

Tatum's oBPM would drop to about -0.4 if he was shooting only 35% on threes FWIW.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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It depends how much worse his efficiency would be. BPM rewards usage pretty strongly, so Donovan Mitchell still ends up with a positive offensive rating, despite pretty low efficiency. I get this effectively just asking "how good is Tatum" of course.

Tatum's oBPM would drop to about -0.4 if he was shooting only 35% on threes FWIW.
This makes sense.

Tatum pretty clearly has some very good NBA-ready skills but his usage is kind of ideal for developing him without exposing him too much. Mitchell is 19th in usage overall (he leads the Jazz), is one of his team's primary ball-handlers and while we can clearly appreciate what he is doing, your post in the other thread illustrates that when you look at his advanced metrics, he doesn't wow the way he does with the "eye-test".

I love Tatum and think he has a higher ceiling than many here previously thought. However, its hard to get excited about his efficiency until he shows that he can do it across a full season and in a role where he is being asked to carry more of the load offensively.
 

JCizzle

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This makes sense.

Tatum pretty clearly has some very good NBA-ready skills but his usage is kind of ideal for developing him without exposing him too much. Mitchell is 19th in usage overall (he leads the Jazz), is one of his team's primary ball-handlers and while we can clearly appreciate what he is doing, your post in the other thread illustrates that when you look at his advanced metrics, he doesn't wow the way he does with the "eye-test".

I love Tatum and think he has a higher ceiling than many here previously thought. However, its hard to get excited about his efficiency until he shows that he can do it across a full season and in a role where he is being asked to carry more of the load offensively.
It might be awhile before that happens, yeah? If anything, he'll be losing or barely gaining shots if Hayward comes back his normal self next year. He's probably not going to need to be 'the guy' type of player for the majority of his rookie contract.
 

bowiac

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I guess the bear case would be that without Kyrie or Smart on the floor, Tatum's efficiency drops dramatically to a 50% TS% on 25% usage. But we're talking about 81 minutes at that point, so it's hard to take that seriously.
 

JCizzle

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He's been close before, but last night it really seemed to click for Tatum taking it hard to the rim. The first one in particular was ridiculous.


 

Imbricus

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Nice comment from Brad on Tatum:

“I’ve been around a lot of young players,” said the 41-year-old, who previously was the head coach at Butler. “Very, very few people at 19 have his ability to respond to success or failure and just move on. He has a high emotional quotient.”
 

The Needler

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So, Rook dislocated the pinky finger on his shooting hand hustling for a loose ball last night, but returned to the game, and is expected to play tonight.

This is an unfortunate injury as in addition to his continued hot shooting, he's really been starting to show some offensive aggressiveness including a contested three of the dribble a couple of games agao, and of course the driving dunks. When he returned last night, his jump shots were noticeably off, though he managed to hit 3 of 4 free throws. These injuries can take quite a while to completely heal, and he can be expected to have his pinky and ring fingers taped for quite some time. Steph Curry suffered a less grotesque dislocation of his ring finger a few weeks ago, sat out a game, and threw up three airballs in his first game back with his fingers taped. And he's Steph Curry, of course. I'm afraid we may see some shooting struggles from JT, at least for the first few games while he adjusts to the taping. I'll also be keeping an eye on his defensive aggressiveness, especially in reaching for deflections/steals with that right hand. To my eye, he didn;t have a strong game defensively last night after he returned, which may have been partially attributable to understandable apprehension about the new injury.
 

The Needler

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If the finger is bothering him, he's not showing it - 16.7ppg on .594/.455 shooting over the last three games.

He's now sitting at .500 3p%/.522 2p% and .9 blk/gm through 37 games. In fun with b-ref season finder, if these numbers held, he would be the first player in history to shoot at least 50% from 2-pt, 46% from 3 (minimum 82 attempts), and average at least .5 blocks per game.
 

lovegtm

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Just for posterity: Tatum with in-and-out dribble + through his legs + Eurostep = awesome!

I'm beyond excited to start seeing him get more usage as the PnR ball-handler. His handler is tighter than it has any business being, his mid-ranger will be more of a threat when he's not taking it fading away, and there's a good chance he'll be able to shoot 3s when players go under.

I've said it before, but "longer Gordon Hayward" is a well within reach for him in the near future.
 

BillMuellerFanClub

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fanboy post incoming:

if he grows another inch and a half, we could be seeing durant-lite provided he gets the volume/reps. he’s already averaging almost a block/game over his last 10ish and has surprisingly good vision. his assist total looks like it has the ability to grow considerably as the location of his passes improves.

i’m almost tempted to bump him to 6th man when hayward comes back just to see him be the first scoring option on the second team where some of this stuff might be realized when the offense runs through him.
 

slamminsammya

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I think he is still a ways away from having anything run "through him", but for a 19 year old he looks like he has the potential to be the guy on offense.
 

BillMuellerFanClub

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to be clear, i don’t mean he’ll run the point a la ben simmons or lebron, but having him get a touch on every possession. it’s clear as day that his role on the starting unit is simply to space the floor by hanging out in the corner for, hopefully, an uncontested three. with his efficiency, that’s the shot he should be taking.

however, when he’s on the floor with smart and rozier, he plays the same role. watching terry and marcus kick the ball back and forth to each other for 15 seconds just to end in one of them taking a low-percentage shot is absolutely infuriating. i’d like to see him at least get a touch every time down the floor and allow him to defer than to just be there to space the floor.
 

BaseballJones

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Just amazing that the Celtics traded DOWN to get Tatum, who looks like the best player in the 2017 draft. Not only did they get Tatum instead of Fultz, they also got a first rounder from Philly. Might end up being the Lakers' first rounder if they land anywhere between 2 and 5 (currently they are tied with three other teams for 2nd worst record in the NBA, which means they're in the bottom 5 right now), or it could be either Philly's 2019 first rounder or Sacramento's 2019 first rounder.

Just an incredible trade by Danny.
 

slamminsammya

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to be clear, i don’t mean he’ll run the point a la ben simmons or lebron, but having him get a touch on every possession. it’s clear as day that his role on the starting unit is simply to space the floor by hanging out in the corner for, hopefully, an uncontested three. with his efficiency, that’s the shot he should be taking.

however, when he’s on the floor with smart and rozier, he plays the same role. watching terry and marcus kick the ball back and forth to each other for 15 seconds just to end in one of them taking a low-percentage shot is absolutely infuriating. i’d like to see him at least get a touch every time down the floor and allow him to defer than to just be there to space the floor.
Totally agree. I think they've been doing the right thing though being fairly conservative with the responsibilities given him. Kawhi also started with a small role. On a good team, better to let him work up to things bit by bit. But yea he needs to touch the ball more on that second unit.
 

lovegtm

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 30, 2013
11,913
Just amazing that the Celtics traded DOWN to get Tatum, who looks like the best player in the 2017 draft. Not only did they get Tatum instead of Fultz, they also got a first rounder from Philly. Might end up being the Lakers' first rounder if they land anywhere between 2 and 5 (currently they are tied with three other teams for 2nd worst record in the NBA, which means they're in the bottom 5 right now), or it could be either Philly's 2019 first rounder or Sacramento's 2019 first rounder.

Just an incredible trade by Danny.
Now go back and read the thread from the time of the trade.
 

Fishy1

Head Mason
SoSH Member
Nov 10, 2006
5,851
Totally agree. I think they've been doing the right thing though being fairly conservative with the responsibilities given him. Kawhi also started with a small role. On a good team, better to let him work up to things bit by bit. But yea he needs to touch the ball more on that second unit.
Even if you're concerned about giving him too much responsibility - and I don't think running an occasional pick and roll with him is too much responsibility - the team, and Jayson, for that matter, needs to be taking better advantage of his shooting. He's looking off too many open 3's, and there aren't enough plays being run for him. When you have a guy shooting nearly 50% from three point land, with Tatum's handle - you run that guy off screens and find him for more than 3's in transition and off drives and kicks. I would love to see him as the roll man, even, for some pick and pop. That play has been deadly for other teams with SFs who can shoot.

It's gotta be better than what the second unit offense is doing right now.