What is Jayson Tatum's ceiling?

[Feed Your Head]

He will be an elite player for a very long time, which most players never even reach for a season. That’s what I care most about, way too soon to be thinking about all time rankings lol.

But I do not see top 25 ever for him lol, too many amazing players all time.

[playa-hater]

Right now Tatum compares very favorably to both Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Durant who have defined the modern power forward position in both individual and team success. When all is said and done people will debate who was the best of the three and there is a chance Tatum could pass Dirk and become #2 depending on how the next 5 years play out.

Shots come so easy to him like KD and therefore he shoots more in isolation than Dirk did. He also hasn’t had the luxury of playing with elite playmakers like Kidd and Nash. ( I don’t count Irving even though he was actually a committed floor general for first 1/2 of Tatum rookie season before season ending surgery but Tatum wasn’t getting the usage he gets now ). KD’s length, handle and clutch shot put him at another level but Tatum’s defensive ability might give him a potential edge over Dirk in the future.

When you look at Dirk and KD’s finals teams, the talent deficit around Tatum is striking. KD got to finals with Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Reggie Jackson. Dirk’s championship team had Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler, Barea. If the Celtics could upgrade the supporting cast I think Tatum could deliver.

I think Ime put an end to Tatum as a "modern PF"

[Feed Your Head]

The defense is still VERY slept on.

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[moonie_mcgee]

Right now Tatum compares very favorably to both Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Durant who have defined the modern power forward position in both individual and team success. When all is said and done people will debate who was the best of the three and there is a chance Tatum could pass Dirk and become #2 depending on how the next 5 years play out.

Shots come so easy to him like KD and therefore he shoots more in isolation than Dirk did. He also hasn’t had the luxury of playing with elite playmakers like Kidd and Nash. ( I don’t count Irving even though he was actually a committed floor general for first 1/2 of Tatum rookie season before season ending surgery but Tatum wasn’t getting the usage he gets now ). KD’s length, handle and clutch shot put him at another level but Tatum’s defensive ability might give him a potential edge over Dirk in the future.

When you look at Dirk and KD’s finals teams, the talent deficit around Tatum is striking. KD got to finals with Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Reggie Jackson. Dirk’s championship team had Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler, Barea. If the Celtics could upgrade the supporting cast I think Tatum could deliver.

I think Ime put an end to Tatum as a "modern PF"

And rightly so. Same with JB at the 2. Rather feast on mismatches of power and strength than of quickness and finess if given the choice, no?

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Per Cleaning the glass, Tatum is third in on/off efficiency among players with 1500 minutes or more.

Jokic is first at +25 per 100 possession
Curry second at +18
Tatum third at +16
Aaron Gordon and Monte Morris are 4th and 5th (playing with Jokic helps I guess)
Garland and Giannis are tied 6th at +12

Now imagine if his outside shot starts falling with the consistency of previous years.

[Fencer reregistered]

Right now Tatum compares very favorably to both Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Durant who have defined the modern power forward position in both individual and team success. When all is said and done people will debate who was the best of the three and there is a chance Tatum could pass Dirk and become #2 depending on how the next 5 years play out.

Shots come so easy to him like KD and therefore he shoots more in isolation than Dirk did. He also hasn’t had the luxury of playing with elite playmakers like Kidd and Nash. ( I don’t count Irving even though he was actually a committed floor general for first 1/2 of Tatum rookie season before season ending surgery but Tatum wasn’t getting the usage he gets now ). KD’s length, handle and clutch shot put him at another level but Tatum’s defensive ability might give him a potential edge over Dirk in the future.

When you look at Dirk and KD’s finals teams, the talent deficit around Tatum is striking. KD got to finals with Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Reggie Jackson. Dirk’s championship team had Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler, Barea. If the Celtics could upgrade the supporting cast I think Tatum could deliver.

I think Ime put an end to Tatum as a "modern PF"

Tatum is currently our closing PF.

[sam_I_am]

Right now Tatum compares very favorably to both Dirk Nowitski and Kevin Durant who have defined the modern power forward position in both individual and team success. When all is said and done people will debate who was the best of the three and there is a chance Tatum could pass Dirk and become #2 depending on how the next 5 years play out.

Shots come so easy to him like KD and therefore he shoots more in isolation than Dirk did. He also hasn’t had the luxury of playing with elite playmakers like Kidd and Nash. ( I don’t count Irving even though he was actually a committed floor general for first 1/2 of Tatum rookie season before season ending surgery but Tatum wasn’t getting the usage he gets now ). KD’s length, handle and clutch shot put him at another level but Tatum’s defensive ability might give him a potential edge over Dirk in the future.

When you look at Dirk and KD’s finals teams, the talent deficit around Tatum is striking. KD got to finals with Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Reggie Jackson. Dirk’s championship team had Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler, Barea. If the Celtics could upgrade the supporting cast I think Tatum could deliver.

I think Ime put an end to Tatum as a "modern PF"

Exactly! Besides, positions don’t matter. KD was a SG in OKC. I stand by my comparison of Tatum with Dirk and KD. He is that kind of player.

[Fencer reregistered]

I think Ime put an end to Tatum as a "modern PF"

Exactly! Besides, positions don’t matter. KD was a SG in OKC. I stand by my comparison of Tatum with Dirk and KD. He is that kind of player.

Tatum has never had the scoring consistency those guys had as MVP-caliber players.

On the plus side, he competes very well on defense even with smallball superteam Durant, and is way ahead of Dirk.

[bisme37]

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[Feed Your Head]

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[zoyathedestroya]

JT liked the first tweet (even though it appears wrong). Good company. Hope he can stay healthy and durable... In green forever.

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[Feed Your Head]

I said it in the VC thread, but this dude isn’t 24 for another couple of weeks. He is probably three years away from even entering his prime.

The game is significantly slowing down for him, traps give him basically zero trouble at this point.

[Feed Your Head]

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[sam_I_am]

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#1 in NBA in defensive win shares. He is becoming Jordan like if he can score like he does and be that good defensively. (Obvious not the nearly dominant athlete MJ was in his day.)

[sam_I_am]

JT liked the first tweet (even though it appears wrong). Good company. Hope he can stay healthy and durable... In green forever.

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Amazing that Tatum can be ahead of KD and Dirk despite not having their “scoring consistency”.

[Fencer reregistered]

https://www.celticsblog.com/2022/2/19/22941002/jayson-tatum-boston-celtics-defense-ime-udoka-robert-williams-marcus-smart-jaylen-brown-al-horford

This is both a good article about Boston's overall defense, and an OK article about Tatum's defense in particular. So overall it's probably worth reading.

[Vampirate]

Basically a healthy, prime Paul George is what comes to mind.

His scoring efficiency really needs to be where his rookie season was in terms of shooting percentages.

Something like 28PPG with 47 FG%/ 40 3P%/ 88 FT% to go along with the defense, rebounding and presumably better playmaking.

Do that over a full season and i'd say he's entering true Superstar status.

[DarkAzcura]

Basically a healthy, prime Paul George is what comes to mind.

His scoring efficiency really needs to be where his rookie season was in terms of shooting percentages.

Something like 28PPG with 47 FG%/ 40 3P%/ 88 FT% to go along with the defense, rebounding and presumably better playmaking.

Do that over a full season and i'd say he's entering true Superstar status.

So actually much better than Paul George then.

[Feed Your Head]

Basically a healthy, prime Paul George is what comes to mind.

His scoring efficiency really needs to be where his rookie season was in terms of shooting percentages.

Something like 28PPG with 47 FG%/ 40 3P%/ 88 FT% to go along with the defense, rebounding and presumably better playmaking.

Do that over a full season and i'd say he's entering true Superstar status.

I mean the last two seasons have been pretty close lol, 45/40 and 46/39. He just is struggling from deep this year like so many players.

Is averaging 27/8/5 on a 59% TS since December 1st, despite only shooting 34% from deep over that time. So you’d have to think that when his three ball normalizes, he should be over that 60% TS marker.

[Vampirate]

Yeah taking a look at PG13's stats, it isn't really all that impressive in All Star standard terms.

I guess it's possible Tatum can turn into the new Kawhi, but he really needs to be more efficient and reliable game in, game out, like Kawhi is.

Obviously without the injury issues of PG and Kawhi.

Time will tell.