Jayson Tatum Thread – (All-NBA Team, 2024)

[steefP2]

We just finished a run of like 8 games in 14 nights. We’ll have 2 days off now and hopefully blow more teams out with the defense emerging and brogdon returning. Hopefully that’ll be enough

[zoyathedestroya]

So this is really happening, huh. We have a legit MVP candidate?

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[Tatumfor2]

Short sample size obviously, but god damn. All time best PPP for 30 ppg scorers.

Adrian Dantley was a walking bucket!

[Shak_Celts]

Porn.

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Most Complete Player: Jayson Tatum
This label does not mean Tatum is the best player in the world. Instead, view it as a way to mark his remarkable development. It’s Year 6 and the fat has been sizzled entirely out of his game. No star has fewer weaknesses.

Tatum can shoot, pass, dribble, rebound, defend, read the floor, draw fouls, and score from all three levels in myriad ways—posting up on the block, isolating on the wing, functioning in pick-and-rolls as both a ball handler and screener—at an elite level. He’s averaging a whopping 32.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game, shooting 50 percent from the floor, 59.6 percent inside the arc, and 38.7 percent from 3-point range on 9.5 tries a night.

As a bona fide MVP candidate who would scoot past Luka in this very column if his supporting cast wasn’t so much more impressive than Doncic’s—whose best teammate this season has been Spencer Dinwiddie—it’s all coming together. Tatum has touch, footwork, every ballhandling counter in the book, and a brain that seamlessly combines all of it without wasting any movement. He’s taking 4.4 more free throw attempts than his career average and shooting 81.4 percent at the rim.

Again, this doesn’t mean he’s “better” than Doncic, Curry, or Jokic, but none are ever asked to guard the other team’s best player, or able to help (he’s currently averaging the same number of blocks per game as Jarrett Allen) like the conservatively measured 6-foot-8 Tatum can. This doesn’t mean he’s better than Giannis. But when defenses load in the paint, Tatum has no problem creating a high-percentage shot by himself from the perimeter, then reliably making eight (not six) out of every 10 free throws. (It’s hard to think of any other player better than Tatum right now.)


Tatum controls games without dominating the ball. His fingerprints are all over this four-point swing:

He enhances Boston’s actions with the selflessness of a star who understands when to impose himself on a game and when to turn a defense’s aggression against itself.

Whenever healthy over the past few years, Kawhi Leonard was this guy, an all-around menace whose skill set was a perfect mesh of dominance and malleability. The closest thing to a create-a-player who turns every category up to 95. Tatum has officially grabbed that torch, and at 24 years old is still getting better. Nothing looks hard because he can now do everything so well.

[zoyathedestroya]

Looking through potential PotW candidates and saw JT still put up 22/8/6/1/1. +13.7 per game in +/-. Only player in the East who had higher was White. Putrid shooting splits though. 35/21/85. (It was really just his three-ball that abandoned him. Decent from 2 at 15/31.)

[zoyathedestroya]

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Steph has been unreal. Just waiting for his teammates to catch up.

[bisme37]

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[ryan in Maine]

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Great pic!

Shout out to blue shirt two spots to the right of JT. Middle of my beard has gone full gray as well.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[Feed Your Head]

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[bisme37]

I can't get it to post in the thread but there's a new Ben Taylor Thinking Basketball video on Tatum on NBA.com.

https://www.nba.com/watch/video/thinking-basketball-how-tatum-is-more-efficient-than-ever

[lon3lytoaster]

This probably doesn’t need to be said but the way Tatum is reading and acting in these games is just amazing to watch right now.

The sequence where he got fouled late in the Kings game and you just see his intensity mount and build isn’t even something you’d have seen last year, mostly likely. He also has much more of a brash, I know I’m the best asshole-ish demeanor in the floor that I love.

He really is just about perfect a player this year. Takes over when he needs to, but if he isn’t hitting shots or getting exactly what he wants he becomes this massively underrated facilitator and takes what’s he’s given, while locking down the other team.

The reads, extra strength and the new realization that on a bad day, he’s top-5 in the world is so great to watch.

[Feed Your Head]

This probably doesn’t need to be said but the way Tatum is reading and acting in these games is just amazing to watch right now.

The sequence where he got fouled late in the Kings game and you just see his intensity mount and build isn’t even something you’d have seen last year, mostly likely. He also has much more of a brash, I know I’m the best asshole-ish demeanor in the floor that I love.

He really is just about perfect a player this year. Takes over when he needs to, but if he isn’t hitting shots or getting exactly what he wants he becomes this massively underrated facilitator and takes what’s he’s given, while locking down the other team.

The reads, extra strength and the new realization that on a bad day, he’s top-5 in the world is so great to watch.

I can’t help but keep coming back to this piece from an SI article heading into the season.

Oh baby.

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[ballup]

Quarter season review:

Tatum has increased his % in the restricted area from 68% to 75%. He has never reached this height as this is Giannis/Lebron territory, but with how strong he has become, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to meet them or at least reach into the middle. Regardless, he is in the elite section of the league here. Not only has Tatum decreased his mid range FGA by one, he has increased it from 37% to 45%. His 3% remains the same as last season. It's still early in the season so these numbers can change.

What has changed significantly is his FT rate, which has jumped almost 3 attempts. This is what has vaulted him from a upper end all star into the superstar category. Another small, but important improvement is the slight uptick in cuts. Tatum's ISO/post up numbers in the past have been mediocre to fine, but has jumped above 1.0 PPP this season. Whether it is sustainable is a unknown, but it's finally great he's this dangerous. His frequency in self creation plays hasn't changed, which is a good sign of the offense as it depends on their ball movement.

While Tatum hasn't upped his assist numbers, his playmaking is still going strong from last season. There's nothing to criticize as he has put up an MVP season, but he has to keep this focus throughout the season and post season.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[Feed Your Head]

[zoyathedestroya]

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[Smart2Nesmith43]

After last night, Tatum is now leading the league in +/- again. Jokic is second, Curry third and Hauser fourth so that leaderboard gives us a perfectly accurate ranking of the top 4 players in the league.

[zoyathedestroya]

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[bisme37]

There was an MVP discussion on NBA Today just now. Perk's top 5 is pretty silly imo. But they bickered about it and everyone has Tatum at #1 except Richard Jefferson who has Giannis. Curry and Jokic were not mentioned by any of them.

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