Jayson Tatum Thread – (PotM - Feb. 2024)

[zoyathedestroya]

Who has a more complete scoring package, him or Pierce?

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[bisme37]

Playoff MVP Race: Jayson Tatum the early No. 1

...And a lot of that has had to do with Jayson Tatum, who looks like he has turned the corner into unquestioned superstardom this postseason – though he probably reached that level before these playoffs – while outdueling former league MVP Kevin Durant in a pretty one-sided fashion.

Tatum is putting up 29.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists over four games while playing some of the best defense of his career, helping stifle Durant.

There’s no doubt anymore that Tatum is one of the best players in basketball and of the caliber to help guide a team to a championship – he’s been that impressive this postseason that we can say that with confidence now.

https://hoopshype.com/lists/2021-22-nba-playoff-mvp-rankings-butler-tatum-jokic-giannis/

[31to6]

I just realized how good a thread title this is:)

If Tatum has another kid *please* don't name them "Trips"!

[playa-hater]

[TommyPointGawd]

That wall of shame

[Feed Your Head]

That wall of shame

We could make a wall of weak passive aggressive posts, if you also want to win one going away.

[TommyPointGawd]

That wall of shame

We could make a wall of weak passive aggressive posts, if you also want to win one going away.

We all have our wheelhouses.

[Feed Your Head]

That wall of shame

We could make a wall of weak passive aggressive posts, if you also want to win one going away.

We all have our wheelhouses.

I also lead the Jaylen thread going away too, must be a thin line between love and hate.

[ThumbsUpBaby]

So did Jayson Tatum level up to Rudy Gay in steroids or Kuzma in steroids?

I just realized how good a thread title this is:)

If Tatum has another kid *please* don't name them "Trips"!

Don't give him any ideas. Who knows if he's a secret member of this board?

[Feed Your Head]

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[ryan in Maine]

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[zoyathedestroya]

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[ryan in Maine]

[Feed Your Head]

He dropped a deuce, in the paint today.

[Tatumfor2]

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Is that guy in the white Philly?

[Fencer reregistered]

“I told Jayson when he was in high school, he gonna sell shoes, he gonna be an All-Star,” Durant told Yahoo Sports last week. “So for him to do this? I expect him to do this; it’s no surprise to me. I expect him to be a Hall of Famer, 30,000 points, three-time Olympian. I expect that out of him because that’s how talented he is. That’s how great he is.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/changing-of-the-guard-giannis-ja-morant-and-others-swing-spotlight-from-lebron-003053303.html

[Fencer reregistered]

30,000 points, by the way, is a lot. At the moment it would be 8th place all time, behind Kareem, LeBron, Mailman, Kobe, Jordan, Dirk and Wilt. KD, Melo and Harden are the older active players with decent chances of hitting that level, but if Harden's decline turns out to really be what it looks like this season, he'll never make it.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/pts_career.html

[JTMVP]

Now that Jayson is clearly a top 10 player and arguably entering the top 5, there are some things I’d like to see him work on to elevate his game as one of best (if not the best) players in the nba.

1. Gain more strength. He has come a long way. He used to fear contact at the rim or get pushed around by a physical player while defending. It’s been an area of major improvement. But he still can get stronger. The reason why he can’t finish over the Brook Lopezes of the world is because he still lacks the strength to power right through the defender at the rim. Another offseason or two in the weight room should help.

2. Off-ball movement. When he is not directly engaged in the play, he has a tendency to sit in the corner or wait on the wing. He moves very little and hardly ever cuts. Last night, there were three plays in which he showed off-ball movement - the cut on the baseline when JB was driving and the two relocations to the corner for an open 3 late in the 4th quarter. It’s a start, but this is an area which he has to work on a lot. Even offensive possession for him or so much harder because he is staring at one or two defenders. With simple cutting and movement around screens, he can free himself for open shots and layups. That would make the game so much easier for him. Right now, he is doing everything the hard way.

3. Develop a better floater/pull up in the lane and a pump fake. It’s still a bit too much of either settle for a jumper or go all the way to the rim. Pulling up a bit short and more consistently using a floater is another way to get around big and strong defenders at the rim. Use of the up-fake is another tool he doesn’t take advantage of enough. That would send Giannis and Lopez flying if he ever did that. Rim protectors bite on those regularly.

4. Consistency on offense. He still has a few too many clunkers to be considered one of the best players in the nba. The top players don’t shoot below 40% as much as he does. Of course they have off-games shooting-wise, but then they decide to take it to the basket and get easy points or draw fouls. Tatum doesn’t do enough of this, partly because of the reasons listed above (he still needs to get stronger and doesn’t have off-ball movement).

5. Challenging at the rim on defense. My only critique right now on defense is that his help side defense at the rim is absolutely nonexistent. If his own man blows by him, he might recover and attempt to block it at the rim. But if a teammate’s assignment blows by his man and Tatum is in a position to contest at the rim, he NEVER does so. I can only speculate that it’s due to either fear of getting dunked on/posterized or picking up fouls. The dunked on argument is silly because then no defender would challenge at the rim. Yes, you’ll get embarrassed occasionally, but a timely block or even sending the player to the free throw line could be a huge moment in a game in which he regularly gives up the dunk or layup. If he doesn’t want to pick up a fouls, it’s more understandable. But there have been countless moments in which he has let the player go right to the rim when Tatum was in no foul trouble whatsoever. Just something else to work on.

So somebody send him this list for the offseason and you’ll get an MVP in the next year or two.

[Feed Your Head]

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[bisme37]

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