Lets not overlook the fact... Jayson Tatum exposed

[JRoy]

Exposed?

As what, the best player on a finals team at the age of 25?

[DrCoach]

Tatum's inconsistency is a problem. I thought he was the next face of the league with Luka. He **** up that projection with his showing.

He struggled so much when he got to the rim. Is he nursing an ankle injury?

You mean Luka who got sent home too?

[Godymas]

Tatum literally became a superstar this year and not until the second half of the season. The expectations are a bit lofty but he clearly isn't mentally ready for the finals. Obviously this is the kind of thing that just shows he might never be close to Larry Bird in terms of Celtics all time greats and realistically we're looking at someone that might end up on the level of a guy like Paul Pierce (not in terms of raw skills and game but just in the hierarchy of Boston greats).

It is alarming how bad his FT shooting became in the finals, not a good look really. This might be a tricky thing to handle down the line if in a 5 years the Cs only have playoff failure to show for it.

[Jerry Maine]

Tatum should be happy to be exposed

Curry was exposed and just won his 4th rings and a finals MVP to boot

[GiannisAnte34]

A month ago he shut down and beat Giannis. It took the greatest NBA team in recent memory to stop Tatum and Celtics. He is also 24 I believe, most all time greats with multiple championships didnt win their first ship until they were closing to 30.

Do people even know what exposed mean. I mean I am no expert of this language, but to me, exposed would mean that someone exposed so previously unknown weakness of something, lets say a player, that makes that player useless from now on with opponents having that knowledge. Tatum is far from eposed, he sucked, but he will come back stronger.

Giannis averaged 33.9 points / 14.7 rebounds / 7.1 assists per game and leapfrogged LeBron, Baylor, and Big O's playoff series record of 200 pts / 80 rebounds / 40 assists by setting a historical high of 200+ pts / 100+ rebounds / and 50+ assists

[cupcakesnake]

Tatum's strengths lie in his all-around play. He stepped up his playmaking in these playoffs and has always been a very good defender and shooter. As a pure scorer, he's lacking in the rim pressure department, which makes him more Paul George than Kawhi Leonard. His good games are when he's going off shooting threes. He's never been able to generate high-level offense in the paint, thus far in his career.

[GeorgeSears]

He didn't get exposed, he just flat-out choked. He shot 42% from 3, but 36% from the field, and only avg. 5 FTAs per game. Too many disappearing acts at the wrong time.

[Johnny Bball]

Anyone know how many of Tatum's point came in transition in the playoffs, first 3 rounds and final? Betting there's where the answer starts.

[Wagonband]

He shrank on the biggest stage. It's a trait a lot of the players have in the league, every regular season and early playoffs we used to talk about CP3 and Harden as possibly top 3 at their position all time, but as the spotlight grew it soon became clear that they are not on that level. Tatum is showing the same thing, his passivity in the 4th quarters and bad plays are not excusable.

That said, nobody is overlooking that fact. Just the Tatum vs Luka thread has 50 posts about how bad Tatum played

[sfernald]

Tatum shrunk like my balls in a cold pond!

[Ni Da Ye]

I think Tatum played extremely well in gamr 6, under the circumstance that he already crapped in his pants.

[Balls Deep]

He’s not a scrub, but he was exposed as not being a killer/“that guy”. He can be an elite second option though.

[BayWarrior]

Tatum was a Superstar up until the finals. GS just locked him up and made the rest of the Celtics beat them? Wiggins, Green, and Loony defense on him was elite. Even when Steph switched on him, the help defense showed up. Steph stayed low on him which is difficult for a big man to dribble only to be faced with long defenders when he did go to the basket. He seemed to try to drive around the smaller players like Steph or Poole instead of pulling up on them using his length like Durant does. I think he will learn from this and be better.

[pilkoids]

Tatum is just a leaner Jamal Mashburn

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[FluLikeSymptoms]

It all comes out in the finals wash and usually a bit before then, as it had before for Boston and as it might’ve again vs a healthy Bucks or Miami team. When we say, “Tatum can’t carry a team” or “Boston needs a PG or point-something” it’s not because Tatum sucks, or because Smart sucks at PG, it’s because they just didn't look to be able to get all the way to a title.

[FluLikeSymptoms]

Tatum is just a leaner Jamal Mashburn

Sent from my SM-G991W using RealGM mobile app

You sure about that?

[bradybunch]

Led the playoffs in total points and assists.

23/24 years old.

Not exposed.

Tired and inexperienced.

[JN61]

13 points in a deciding game 6 in Boston. 2 points in the second half. And this is the guy Boston has declared as their franchise player? Larry Bird and Bill Russell rolling over in their graves.

I don't wanna see any Tatum "Top 10" Player lists anytime soon. He's fools gold.

Your man missed the playoffs.

[whatisacenter]

congrats Celtics fans! your guy got a "he has been exposed" thread which means he will eventually become league MVP and NBA champion.

[hugepatsfan]

He was absolutely terrible in the Finals. It'd be wrong to just bury your head in the sand about that. It has to negatively affect his reputation/ranking. But it'd also be stupid to go full "hot take" and completely base everything you think about him on one series.