Has Anthony Edwards Surpassed Jayson Tatum?

[DayofMourning]

Ant is better than Tatum in this playoffs too.

In this playoffs, Ant’s been the 2nd or 3rd best player.

Advanced stats:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2024_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct

What’s crazy is he’s 22 and you just know there’s no chance in hell he doesn’t put up a big game tonight.

Lol Tatum steps up big when he has to unlike your lover.

Homophobia is not cool. Tatum hasn’t won ****. I’m sorry. He’s a great player, however. “Stepping up”. Sure.

Loving that Edwards is outplaying Tatum in the playoffs so far.

EDIT: Celtics fans seem like a greedy bunch. Tatum has never won a chip but they can’t allow any other wing to be viewed as outperforming him. Tatum is great. Ant is better than Tatum was at 22. The metrics bear it out. Celtics just had deeper teams in Tatum’s early years. That’s the difference.

The guy is leading all wings in the playoffs—at 22!!!

Tatum is only 19 though.

[thinktank]

Lol Tatum steps up big when he has to unlike your lover.

Homophobia is not cool. Tatum hasn’t won ****. I’m sorry. He’s a great player, however. “Stepping up”. Sure.

Loving that Edwards is outplaying Tatum in the playoffs so far.

EDIT: Celtics fans seem like a greedy bunch. Tatum has never won a chip but they can’t allow any other wing to be viewed as outperforming him. Tatum is great. Ant is better than Tatum was at 22. The metrics bear it out. Celtics just had deeper teams in Tatum’s early years. That’s the difference.

The guy is leading all wings in the playoffs—at 22!!!

Tatum is only 19 though.

What are you going for here? Illogical Celtic homer leaps? If so, I guess LOL.

[WentzerWuver]

Lol Tatum steps up big when he has to unlike your lover.

Homophobia is not cool. Tatum hasn’t won ****. I’m sorry. He’s a great player, however. “Stepping up”. Sure.

Loving that Edwards is outplaying Tatum in the playoffs so far.

EDIT: Celtics fans seem like a greedy bunch. Tatum has never won a chip but they can’t allow any other wing to be viewed as outperforming him. Tatum is great. Ant is better than Tatum was at 22. The metrics bear it out. Celtics just had deeper teams in Tatum’s early years. That’s the difference.

The guy is leading all wings in the playoffs—at 22!!!

Tatum is only 19 though.

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

[KamikazeK]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

[tsherkin]

It’s all the advanced stats and that was bball refs’ cut of the page. I assume you’re smart enough to sort on your own, for what you want to view.

Easy enough to fix the link if you're just going to toss up a vague remark and then hope people realize what you want to look at, though, to be fair

Glad you agree. Ant’s absolutely killing it. You couldn’t ask for him to do more.

Well, we could. He could have done a far better job in Game 3, and said so himself. But as far as outside of that, he's been an electric scorer, for sure. He's not a helio guy, but his D is very good, so there's that. And of course in Game 4, he was a nightmare, but KAT was so bad that they couldn't really overcome that. Edwards has been excellent, generally speaking. He's a very good player, no question.

[GiannisAnte34]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

Didn't you just pull the Tatum was only 24 years old card for his garbage Finals performance?

Ant is 22

[thinktank]

Homophobia is not cool. Tatum hasn’t won ****. I’m sorry. He’s a great player, however. “Stepping up”. Sure.

Loving that Edwards is outplaying Tatum in the playoffs so far.

EDIT: Celtics fans seem like a greedy bunch. Tatum has never won a chip but they can’t allow any other wing to be viewed as outperforming him. Tatum is great. Ant is better than Tatum was at 22. The metrics bear it out. Celtics just had deeper teams in Tatum’s early years. That’s the difference.

The guy is leading all wings in the playoffs—at 22!!!

Tatum is only 19 though.

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

[KodiakBear]

Tatum is only 19 though.

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

Yeah, Ant was the more ready pro. Tatum was Kyrie's sidekick for a couple years.

[KamikazeK]

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

Yeah, Ant was the more ready pro. Tatum was Kyrie's sidekick for a couple years.

In the regular season maybe. Kyrie wasn't there for the playoffs when Tatum led the guys to the ECF and took Lebron to 7 games.

[tsherkin]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

Didn't you just pull the Tatum was only 24 years old card for his garbage Finals performance?

Ant is 22

I believe Tatum was injured during his Finals performance, but to be fair, he was also facing the best defense in the league. That sort of defense has frustrated many players, including the best in league history. He sort of crapped himself at the line and inside the arc, but was electric from 3... and you saw a similar impact on Brown and Marcus Smart, and Derrick White. Basically only Al Horford scored well for the Celtics in that series (minding his low volume), so highlighting Tatum does go only so far.

It certainly was not an ATG performance, though, it was quite rough. Injuries happen. Good defenses happen. I'm often inclined to remind people that Jordan shot 41.5%, 45.6% and 42.7% over his last 3 Finals series, and was at or below playoff league average scoring efficiency in those runs (which were the best defenses he faced during the Finals). And during the first 3-peat, he shot 52.5%, 47.7% and 40.0% against the Knicks in the playoffs, the last two coached by Pat Riley.

Just some food for thought. A good defense can get anyone. Kobe generally shot horrendously in the Finals, but was especially bad against Boston. Lebron struggled against Boston and San Antonio. We watched Boston lock up KD. Jordan had his struggles against Boston, Detroit, New York and Utah. It can affect basically anyone, so grinding on someone like Tatum doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

[thinktank]

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

Yeah, Ant was the more ready pro. Tatum was Kyrie's sidekick for a couple years.

In the regular season maybe. Kyrie wasn't there for the playoffs when Tatum led the guys to the ECF and took Lebron to 7 games.

And kudos to a much better Celtics team than the Wolves were and to Tatum for that, but Ant did not struggle did he? No. Faaaaar from it.

[Don Ford]

Not sure I'd go quite that far but I do think that Edwards has more of the mindset to be a true #1 on a championship team than Tatum does. Tatum kind of reminds me of AD, great talent just not sure that either has the personality to be a #1 on a championship team.

[Dan33185]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

Ah, no, he didn't, the team blew it. Ant has done his share and more these playoffs.

[tsherkin]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

Ah, no, he didn't, the team blew it. Ant has done his share and more these playoffs.

Yeah.... I mean, if we're talking going up 3-1, the game where Denver evened the series is one in which Ant put 44 on Denver's face on 64% FG. The rest of the team shot 40.4%. That one isn't on him.

[cupcakesnake]

Tatum is only 19 though.

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

I don't get why either of you think this is an easy comparison.
- Rookie Tatum joined a 53-win Conference Finalist from the year before and was an excellent contributor in a tertiary role. He got to amp it up in the playoffs with Kyrie out, but it was still an ensemble performance with Jaylen, Horford, and Terry Rozier. Pretty excellent performance both from an individual and team perspective.
- Rookie Ant went to a 19-win team that ended up decimated with injuries. He played a huge role and put up scoring numbers, but it's hard to argue he was good.

Switch their situations and they likely look very different. Tatum might have had his moments, but wasn't ready to be a high-volume efficient scorer. Ant might have thrived as a jolt of athleticism and defense on a good team. Who really knows?

It's apples to oranges and comparing their rookie season doesn't give me a clearer idea of either of these players career value relative to each other. Tatum was really good against Phili that year and had some moments against Cleveland. Ant wasn't in a situation to show us how bad or good he was in the playoffs until a couple years later.

[tsherkin]

I don't get why either of you think this is an easy comparison.

Right? There are layers to this, and a lot of differing variables.

- Rookie Ant went to a 19-win team that ended up decimated with injuries. He played a huge role and put up scoring numbers, but it's hard to argue he was good.

Yeah, he was about what you'd expect from a teenage rookie shouldering a reasonably large scoring load: brutally inefficient to the tune of around -5% rTS, and he couldn't do anything at all outside of the RA. But he was 19 years old and a rookie, so that's fairly normal. KD and Lebron were both pretty brutal as rookies also. Tatum, who doesn't reeeeeally stun as a scorer would have been pretty rough in Minny in 2021 as well. Both guys have their strengths and weaknesses and context has affected things. And of course Tatum is being looked at in year 7, right? And after over 100 postseason games, so he's had time to get adjusted much more so than Ant. And also to be placed under the microscope a lot more. Minny's been a first round out of little consequence prior to this, so this is really Ant's first season where he matters, after a fashion.

[thinktank]

He was 19 when he was dominating while Ant was struggling. Those are the facts not that it means anything now. It's about who will win the MVP or FMVP going forward.

Tatum has already proven he is more clutch in big games while Ant has been streaky as a scorer. How will he play today after losing twice at home? He is more likely to trash talk imo.

Ant struggled when he was 19?

No.

Tatum averaged 14 and 16 points a game his first two years.

Ant averaged 19 points a game right out of the gate.

What a struggle!

I don't get why either of you think this is an easy comparison.
- Rookie Tatum joined a 53-win Conference Finalist from the year before and was an excellent contributor in a tertiary role. He got to amp it up in the playoffs with Kyrie out, but it was still an ensemble performance with Jaylen, Horford, and Terry Rozier. Pretty excellent performance both from an individual and team perspective.
- Rookie Ant went to a 19-win team that ended up decimated with injuries. He played a huge role and put up scoring numbers, but it's hard to argue he was good.

Switch their situations and they likely look very different. Tatum might have had his moments, but wasn't ready to be a high-volume efficient scorer. Ant might have thrived as a jolt of athleticism and defense on a good team. Who really knows?

It's apples to oranges and comparing their rookie season doesn't give me a clearer idea of either of these players career value relative to each other. Tatum was really good against Phili that year and had some moments against Cleveland. Ant wasn't in a situation to show us how bad or good he was in the playoffs until a couple years later.

I agree. Thread should stay on topic without moving goal posts.

[Kingdibs19]

Yes Ant is better and it’s not even close

[life_saver]

Don't care. Ant had his chance to go up 3-1 and he blew it, he might not even make it to the conference finals. Anyone who doesn't think this Wolves team is every bit as talented as the current Celtics team is delusional. They are, if not more.

lmao what ? Celtics team is lot more talented than Wolves team...I mean very few people even had Wolves as a top4 seed before start of season. Celtics have so much more talent offensively than Wolves..Celtics starting lineup is very balanced and has lot of spacing, something Wolves clearly lack..Gobert is a zero scoring threat offensively outside dunks and McDaniels is a below par and inconsistent shooter.

[Exp0sed]

edit: if these accolades are all that, then i'm sure every franchise would rather build around Tatum than around Ant, right?
30/30 GM's and owners pick ANT in a heartbeat. the "X number of playoff points before age Y" is great for captions on televised games and for future NBA trivia questions but it's pretty irrelvant otherwise

You can't speak for 30/30 GMs and owners, that is pure speculation. It's also pretty silly to throw speculation around like it's a fact and then tell us actual statistics are irrelevant. It's disingenuous and kind of lame when their are plenty of legit arguments to be made for Ant. All accolades, awards, statistical accomplishments, and titles come with context, this is absolutely true but in the end a player is going to be judged on success and statistical accomplishment and the rest will only be debate points for the fans. Mostly they'll be ammunition for haters on a message board somewhere.

Statistically they both track similarly when looking the their seasons at the same age with a slight edge to Tatum on shooting percentages and rebounds and a slight edge to Ant for overall assists and steals. Time will tell.

obviously I can't speak for those GMs. it means: imo, 30\30 gms wil take ANT over Tatum

statisticaly? is that those same stats that related to ANT's rs %'s and +-? i'm talking about the playoffs. in his short career ANT has elevated his game in the playoffs and Tatum, while having plenty of opportunity - did not. that's not to say he's a bad playoff performer, on the contrary, even maintaining ur rs production in the playoffs is solid and valuable but ANT is on a different level.