What exactly makes Tatum more talked about/ranked higher than Pascal Siakim?

[antonac]

Tatum also has the far better 3pt shot.

(yes I know their numbers are similar this year, but Tatum now has two seasons of being a good 3pt shooter, with the potential to increase it incrementally while Siakam's stats are as likely to be a outlier as a sustainable level, and even at that Tatum is still better on more attempts.)

Siakam shot 14% (1/7) on threes in his rookie year. In the first 41 games in 2017-18, he shot 14% again; he shot 33% in the second half of the season. This season, his 3PT% has generally been going up along with more attempts each month (23% on 1.6 attempts in October, 43% on 1.9 attempts in November, 29% on 2.4 attempts in December, 33% on 2.6 attempts in January, 49% on 3.9 attempts in February) and he is starting to take more difficult shots. I'd argue Siakam has even more room to grow as a three-point shooter.

you'd lose that argument. you're welcome to save this comment and come back to me if Siakam does pass Tatum as a 3pt shooter, stranger things have happened.

However, a 20 year old rookie, using the small sample size we have, able to hit around 40% on three on a good number of attempts is pretty much nailed on to be an elite level 3pt shooter throughout his career. Siakim absolutely does not fit this bill and until he can put together more than few months of good shooting after several seasons in the league no one in their right mind is going to have him project as a better shooter than tatum.

[LakersSoul]

Age difference is definitely a huge factor. Just imagine Tatum in 4 years.

Just imagine Pascal in 4 years. Scary.

[MVP1992]

Age difference is definitely a huge factor. Just imagine Tatum in 4 years.

Warming the bench for the Grizzlies?

[spacemonkey]

Age difference is definitely a huge factor. Just imagine Tatum in 4 years.

His game has barely changed from last year.
After working with Kobe this past summer, I thought he'd take his game to another level this season but its been a disappointment.

Well he did add the contested fade-away long 2 to his game, so there's that.

[RoyceDa59]

Tatum has more of a go to game whereas Siakam I think is be a more effective complimentary star.


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[510TWSS]

Tatum is super young, offensively talented and should get better as an isolation scorer--one of the most valuable type in the NBA.

Siakam is playing great in his role, just will likely never be anything above a #3 on a playoff squad. Highly valuable, however and depending on the current makeup of the team, Siakam may be a better team fit than Tatum.

If i'm starting from scratch, it's Tatum 100/100 times.

[LAL]

Age difference is definitely a huge factor. Just imagine Tatum in 4 years.

Just imagine Pascal in 4 years. Scary.

Exactly. Siakam is improving way faster than Tatum. How is Tatum gonna catch him when he’s already behind and improving slower?

[Black Mage]

It took Raptors fans a few years to rifle through their love fest and overhyping of all their other Top 5 players in the NBA to get to Siakam.

[VanWest82]

To me the age gap is less of a consideration given Siakam’s background. I’d imagine Tatum probably has 2-3x the playing experience despite being four years younger.

When you consider how far Siakam has come in the last two years, including how much better he’s still getting month to month, I don’t think this is a situation where he’s even close to tapped in terms of potential.

Tatum might one day grow into an all nba player but he’s probably going to have to get there to surpass Siakam (who easily could also turn into an all nba player).

[Jakay]

honestly, next year will be a better comparison between the two. Give Pascal some playoff testing, and all the other teams an offseason to dissect his game. No way they've been game planning for him like they have been Tatum yet.

[PushDaRock]

Tatum is super young, offensively talented and should get better as an isolation scorer--one of the most valuable type in the NBA.

Siakam is playing great in his role, just will likely never be anything above a #3 on a playoff squad. Highly valuable, however and depending on the current makeup of the team, Siakam may be a better team fit than Tatum.

If i'm starting from scratch, it's Tatum 100/100 times.

Siakam has a 44 point career high with three 30+ point games this season while Tatum has only scored over 30 once despite shooting the ball more often.

This notion that Siakam is a role player needs to end. He' has his highest scoring games whenever the team is struggling and he's the primary scorer whenever Kawhi is not on the floor. He's already the #2 scorer on one of the best teams in the league.

Their % of Assisted FG's is also basically identical. Siakam isn't being spoon fed his offense, he creates his own offense at a highly efficient rate.

[dhsilv2]

Siakam is older but started playing basketball much later so no one knows his ceiling. All of a sudden he's shooting 37% on threes and last night he showed some yo-yo handles that people were never expecting. It's like a game by game evolution instead of year by year right now.

I'll say it again, most players peak athletically around 26. This is the smoking gun to these "he just learned it". Maybe he maintains or grows a bit into his late 20's but father time is coming and your peak/ceiling drop after 26-27 even if some do peak after that. It's great if he learns more moves and gets a better feel for the game, but when it comes to running faster, jumping higher and recovering from injuries....it's better to be 25 than 30.

[dhsilv2]

i wouldn't be surprised is siakam ends up a top 10 players... i know its crazy but if it happens i wouldn't be shocked. Not saying he will but again, you could see this kid develop anything he wants to.

You should be shocked. The top 10 list is CRAZY high these days. I mean maybe a top 10 player in a season with some injuries and we're factoring that....not IMPOSSIBLE.

[dhsilv2]

Can we at least all agree that Siakam is the unanimous winner for MIP?

I think this is pretty darn likely. I was kinda rooting for Sabonis early on, just loved his dad, but honestly I don't see any competition at this point for Siakam. He's killing it. Unless we want to entertain George

[LAL]

Siakam is older but started playing basketball much later so no one knows his ceiling. All of a sudden he's shooting 37% on threes and last night he showed some yo-yo handles that people were never expecting. It's like a game by game evolution instead of year by year right now.

I'll say it again, most players peak athletically around 26. This is the smoking gun to these "he just learned it". Maybe he maintains or grows a bit into his late 20's but father time is coming and your peak/ceiling drop after 26-27 even if some do peak after that. It's great if he learns more moves and gets a better feel for the game, but when it comes to running faster, jumping higher and recovering from injuries....it's better to be 25 than 30.

Athletic peak =/ basketball peak.

[dhsilv2]

People have this weird idea that youth = regular / linear growth.

How many guys have we seen that showed a TON of potential in their first couple of years and never got past that point? The answer is most

No, we understand that players peak athletically at a younger age than most people realize. This is a problem for someone's peak...you don't keep recovering like a 20 year old at 30. You can with skills and development expend that prime into your early 30's but that's extremely rare.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

If Tatum is so good currently, why are the Celtics 9th overall. He's Boston's second option, right?

[MeloRoseNoah]

Jayson Tatum has a lot of work to do over this offseason in order to get back on track to being a star in this league. If he looks like this again next season, Jayson Tatum is closer toward being a role player than a star. It's expected to have inconsistency as a sophomore. However, you need to show a long stretch of being a star player, like what Trae Young and Lauri Markkanen are doing right now.

[youngthegiant]

Tatum is overrated. He's pretty much Rudy gay.

[510TWSS]

Tatum is super young, offensively talented and should get better as an isolation scorer--one of the most valuable type in the NBA.

Siakam is playing great in his role, just will likely never be anything above a #3 on a playoff squad. Highly valuable, however and depending on the current makeup of the team, Siakam may be a better team fit than Tatum.

If i'm starting from scratch, it's Tatum 100/100 times.

Siakam has a 44 point career high with three 30+ point games this season while Tatum has only scored over 30 once despite shooting the ball more often.

This notion that Siakam is a role player needs to end. He' has his highest scoring games whenever the team is struggling and he's the primary scorer whenever Kawhi is not on the floor. He's already the #2 scorer on one of the best teams in the league.

Their % of Assisted FG's is also basically identical. Siakam isn't being spoon fed his offense, he creates his own offense at a highly efficient rate.

Once again, Siakam is playing great this year--better than Tatum. I'd highly doubt you'd find a GM right now say they'd take Siakam over Tatum. So maybe, Siakam SHOULD be talked about more now, but Tatum is still the higher ranked player going forward.