If Tatum can ever somehow re-find that magical 2020 shotmaking, he's the MVP, and I'm not sure it's that close.
Not trying to dunk on anyone either but I didn't remember the Thon Maker discussion in that thread. It struck me mainly because Maker is trying to get back in the NBA and was waived this week in preparation of a G-League stint.
Even then, Harden was basically recent Tatum: 35-36% on high volume. (The volume did get stupidly high by 2019 though, which adds value.)
iirc that was when some teams just started shading him to drive every possession, and giving him a clear lane to the hoop, so as not to allow those 3s (and because they knew he wouldn't take mid-rangers)
Agreed with both of these. Maybe he's the exception that proves the rule, but anyone making the "you are who you are at 25" statement deserves to be mocked going forward. Guy became the passer that we hoped that he could be and kinda gave up on happening...and he did it during the season...his age 27 season. He's not Tatum in that, and he might only be the fourth best passer on the team, and that's still super useful for a guy who can regularly leave his guy in the dust due to his explosion and threat to shoot from almost anywhere reliably. If he can score on all three levels and find shots for others when teams are collapsing on him, even if he doesn't do it as well as Tatum, that's a super valuable player.
I love that it showed up in the on/off stats too. They were +9.1 last year in lineups with Brown and no Tatum. That is bonkers for a lead playmaker in the staggered minutes without the alpha star.
Very interesting; thanks for posting. Where are you getting your stats? Cleaning the Glass?
He briefly torched us while playing for Milwaukee though, so it's a little like trauma getting burned into our memories. He's therefore a permanent fixture on the (Frank Catalanotto Memorial) Lead Pipe List.
Thanks!
Yeah anyone pushing the "Maxey is actually the driving force behind the Sixers playoff chances" is choosing to forget that the Sixers were at a 30 win pace last year with Maxey as the lead guy.
That's a pretty appealing 2nd season. My first thought is that I believe only one of these guys (SGA) has children, and family was a major, major part of season 1. It feels like the vast majority of off the court screen time for Lebron/Sabonis/Tatum/Butler involved them with their kids, plus we were actually in the room when Ant's kid was born. Gonna look pretty different this time.
Estranged, unlikely to be a big part of the doc.
Even watching a jump cut of Harden opening the casino door and going inside at 10pm, then the difference in demeanor, sobriety, woman on his arm, etc. at 4am when he opens the door to leave would be quite funny.
Don't remember if I ever posted the Russ Westbrook at Encore story before. It was the year prior to Covid. (no video, nor would it have been entertaining)
Depends on the casino. Most allow filming/photos while not at a table, but there is an entire influencer industry built around folks gambling in casinos and filming while doing it. Places like Resorts World in Vegas seem to actively encourage it, with people using tripod setups and everything, presumably because it attracts more folks who want to gamble and film it....
I'm sure the 3 will come around.
Jaylen is critical to this team when KP is out as it exposes our lack of frontcourt depth now that Horford is aging. Being forced to play non-NBA rotation pieces in Walsh and Tillman is suboptimal. Queta truly has been a lifesaver this year.
We all love Neemias but let's be real, he hasn't moved ahead of Jaylen yet, even when factoring availability this season.
I think most fans assume this is still a really good team without KP and Jaylen which I disagree with. They were 13.5 point favorites last night which to me was absurd. We have also benefitted from playing one of the easiest schedules in the league this far that doesn’t ramp up until after the new year. Our greatest challenges this year are complacency and health.
