He looked tonight like he could really use the time off.
I know it's a major payday for the NBA/Networks and a huge deal to the players...BUT I absolutely hate the All-Star game(s) in every sport.He looked tonight like he could really use the time off.
I completely agree re Jays. Gassed.I know it's a major payday for the NBA/Networks and a huge deal to the players...BUT I absolutely hate the All-Star game(s) in every sport.
Completely built for fanboys and the pink hat crowd.
Both of the Jays look fried/exhausted.
Jayson Tatum is shooting 38.6% from the field & 31.8% from the 3 in February. Those are both career lows for Tatum over a FULL month of play (not sure, but it may be his toughest stretch of shooting over 15 consecutive games). His defense has also been terrible. It appears, to me at least, he is suffering from the after-effects of COVID. The excessive games/minutes are taking a toll on his play.I completely agree re Jays. Gassed.
Gotta admire Booker taking on so many tough assignments when he sucks on D so badly.
DD was the other one that jumped right off the page. He finds a way to suck while covering the easiest covers. As you note, unsurprising.Tatum's position on that graphic is something that we might guess right but I can also see people either over or estimating his defense this year for a variety of reasons. DeRozan, on the other hand, is on his own little island which is probably the least surprising thing I've seen in ages.
How do they have a 99.9th percentile when there are not 1000 players who would meaningfully qualify for such a statistic?
Depends on whether JT stays with BOS.A question I've been thinking about. Does Tatum match or exceed Pierce's Celtics career?
Meaning, at least one Championship Banner and his number in the rafters.
Tatum's having a bad stretch, but his 22 yo year surpasses Pierce's for stats and is on par for their 4th year in the league.
He's been petulant and mopey, this year, but Pierce was immature, too.
Tatum has the physical edge to Pierce, but can he mature in the same way? Tatum has the potential to be the 2nd pest Small Forward, ever, for the C's. It'd be great to see it happen.
I think he has a chance at 3rd team. Lebron, Giannis, Kawhi, and Durant are definitely ahead of him but he's right there in the next tier of forwards with Zion, Sabonis, and Randle. If he plays well down the stretch I'd say he has a decent shot. I'm also not sure if voters usually hold injuries against guys for All-NBA voting. If they do Durant might not even make it.I don't think there is any way that Tatum is making all NBA this year.
He shouldn't make it. His defense has been meh and the .376% 3pt shooting doesn't scream all NBA 3rd teamI don't think there is any way that Tatum is making all NBA this year.
It has to be this year. If he's not All NBA this year the new contact kicks in next year as a 5 year (4+1) rookie max contract (25%). If he makes All NBA this year he'll have made it in two of the three previous years before his rookie max contract which would make him eligible for the Rose Rule and the higher rate (30%) for the same 4+1 years. It's all about his accomplishments in the years before the new contract starts.Tatum contract question, he needs to make All NBA this season to increase the value of his deal, correct? And, is it a one time only chance? So, if he makes All NBA next season, would the remainder of his deal at that point be increased?
That would be a pretty big deal from a tax perspective going forward.It has to be this year. If he's not All NBA this year the new contact kicks in next year as a 5 year (4+1) rookie max contract (25%). If he makes All NBA this year he'll have made it in two of the three previous years before his rookie max contract which would make him eligible for the Rose Rule and the higher rate (30%) for the same 4+1 years. It's all about his accomplishments in the years before the new contract starts.
Yeah, and there have been rumors that his focus has been more on that than team needs.So, it seems like he would have had a very good incentive to try and make all NBA this season.
His 3PA per game are identical to last season (7.1).Yeah, and there have been rumors that his focus has been more on that than team needs.
The 2021 Celtics lost Hayward and (largely) Walker. Both Tatum and Brown had to shoulder a bigger offensive load, and Tatum while dealing with post-covid fallout (which sucks, I'm speaking from experience here, I'm still struggling with respiratory issues and fatigue two months later). That energy expenditure on the offensive end has probably led to guys conserving energy on the other end.Maybe putting more effort/energy into generating impressive offensive numbers that get you on ALL-NBA teams then pacing himself on both ends and continuing his very good team D from years past.
Yeah, anything that helps him get back to the help D monster that he was before recently would be a massive blessing.Maybe putting more effort/energy into generating impressive offensive numbers that get you on ALL-NBA teams then pacing himself on both ends and continuing his very good team D from years past.
Tatum is unusually bad at getting to the free throw line (for a player of his size and scoring profile) while Pierce was excellent at it. Pierce's FTR during his prime (let's call it 2001-2011) was .472, compared with Tatum who is at just .228 this year. It's impossible to overstate how big of a hole FT shooting is in Tatum's game right now and if nothing else it will keep him from ever being as good as Pierce. The latter is the only player in NBA history in the top ten in both career FTM and career 3PM, which is remarkable (although he'll be joined shortly by Harden and Lebron).A question I've been thinking about. Does Tatum match or exceed Pierce's Celtics career?
Meaning, at least one Championship Banner and his number in the rafters.
Tatum's having a bad stretch, but his 22 yo year surpasses Pierce's for stats and is on par for their 4th year in the league.
He's been petulant and mopey, this year, but Pierce was immature, too.
Tatum has the physical edge to Pierce, but can he mature in the same way? Tatum has the potential to be the 2nd pest Small Forward, ever, for the C's. It'd be great to see it happen.
His defense has absolutely taken a dip this year, he has bursts of elite defense in the 4th quarter of a lot of games, but it hasn’t been anywhere consistent enough.Thanks for posting.
Clearly the metrics think his defense has been far below his offense this year.
Not surprising, and also what I would expect to be the first to decline based on conditioning/COVID factors.
I think most would agree Tatum has more defensive potential than those numbers suggest, hopefully we improvement the rest of the year.
Yeah, putting speed and length at the 4 is a big improvement over having a big or Grant/Semi there.One thing I wonder about with Tatum's D. Last year was a breakout for him, and I don't think it's a coincidence that it coincided with playing more as a nominal 4
With the Fournier/Theis swap he'll be going back to that role more. Will be interesting to track that.
I agree the way he has been jumping passing lanes with explosion is very reminiscent of his Pre-Covid impact, while still maintaining a high level offensive impact. If he's back to that quality of player this is a much different team down the stretch.My simple hope may be coming true, that the Cs struggles were more to do with Tatum being sick than anything. He has looked like he did early in the year the last two games.
Haha, I was waiting for the guy in that video to do the “throw hands up for a foul call that isn’t coming”Athletically he looks much better the last two games. Reminds me of what’s been missing.
He’s still playing too selfishly on offense. The ball just stops when he has it as his teammates know what to expect. There was a play late in the game when he had the ball just inside the top of the arc. He had his back to the basket and PP was standing off to the side for a three. Tatum easily could’ve pushed the ball towards PPs defender, drawn him, and hit PP for an open 3 he hits at 40%. Instead he turned snd shot a long two Tatum hits at like 38%. This is even a generous play to dissect because the shot clock was low snd he didn’t have many alternatives. But it was just so frustrating to see this going on and on and on.
unrelated
View: https://twitter.com/maxisnicee/status/1375882821986779142?s=21
It's worth nothing that 11 of those 18 became their team's leading scorer in their 1st or 2nd seasons, as they were often drafted into really bad teams (or, in Abdur-Rahim's case, an expansion team). Tatum was drafted into a team that had Kyrie, Horford, and Hayward (ooops), and so did not have a chance to become the alpha scorer until his 3rd season:View: https://twitter.com/bostonsportsinf/status/1378878155088347136
Jayson Tatum (23 years / 32 days) is the 18th youngest player in NBA history to score 5,000 points
https://hardwoodhoudini.com/2021/04/04/boston-celtics-tatum-banner-18/amp/?__twitter_impression=trueIn fact, according to BBall Index’s player tracking statistics, Jayson Tatum has the 3rd-best scoring gravity in the NBA and the 9th-best playmaker rating among starting forwards.
Tatum has been getting some criticism for not passing the ball, but if we look at some of the better wings in the league, his progression in the assist game is in front of theirs. KD and Butler took five seasons before they averaged the 4.3 assists like Tatum is doing in his fourth year. It took Kawhi 9 years and Paul George 11.
They guys on local talk radio are mostly clowns who know little about NBA basketball, but their criticism is over the top. Tatum’s fourth year numbers are slightly better than Kobe’s fourth year numbers. It took Kawhi 6 years to put up similar numbers, and PG 9 years.
LeBron, who is one of the three best passing SFs of all time, haw better fourth year numbers. KD is about the same (one more bucket per game, 1.5 less assists, lower eFG).
Tatum’s production is historically good, in the company of HOFers like Larry Bird and Paul Pierce, and he’s playoff tested. I get it though. I also get frustrated when JT goes into his bag at the wrong time and doesn’t score, but a little perspective is needed.
Hopefully, with TL and Fournier, the offense will be more free flowing, and JT can score (and pass) more often within the flow.
Probably the best we can say is that Tatum isn't the ball-stopping disaster that he's criticized as. Most of the criticism should be on Danny for having failed to fill out the roster with shooting wings. Tatum and Brown already look a lot better playing with Fournier instead of Semi.Year 4 Assist %
Tatum 19.1%
Durant 13.2%
Butler 14.4
Kawhi 13.0%
George 17.9% (The year before it was 19.6%) Better than Tatum.
Jaylen 9.7% (Hes at 17.9% in his year 5 season which is comparable to where the rest of them were in their year 5 season).
I'm not sure that's a good measurement though because a lot of it depends on their role with the team. The C's don't have a true PG so every player is going to have more assists per game or a higher assist %.
I get the criticism but he is 100% not the problem with the Celtics and neither is Jaylen Brown. Tatum might be the reason the Celtics are ugly to watch at time though. That's another matter.Probably the best we can say is that Tatum isn't the ball-stopping disaster that he's criticized as. Most of the criticism should be on Danny for having failed to fill out the roster with shooting wings. Tatum and Brown already look a lot better playing with Fournier instead of Semi.
Tatum likely will go right back to looking like a stud when the roster is fixed. (If the never-ending covid hell ever stops)
Sure but that's not what Mike Gorman does and his criticisms of Tatum came way before Perk's tweet. Everybody that watches the C's for any amount of time sees exactly what Gorman and Perk are talking about. Tatum has a shit attitude and plays like a guy who has one concern and that's stacking numbers. Speaking purely as a fan, I kinda can't stand watching him play hoops(this year). He has dazzling highs where the skies the limit and distressing lows where it seems like he'd rather be anywhere but on the basketball court. Unfortunately, I doubt getting called out in the media is going to do much to change the course he's on. Further, I doubt Gorman says anything unless it was a real problem internally.But it is Perk, and that’s what he does...