Jason Tatum: I'm going to average over 20, make the All Star team, and the Celtics are going to the finals

[L3GEND4RY]

careful guys, board insider coming through

He has multiple sauces too?

[GregB]

I wonder how Kemba feels about that.

Elated?

Seriously, Nic Batum May be the greatest player he has every played with. Dude wants to play with talent.

[GregB]

I wonder how Kemba feels about that.

Elated?

Seriously, Nic Batum May be the greatest player he has every played with. Dude wants to play with talent. Wants to win. Excited to see Fiba and regular season.

[Ben-N1ce]

they downgraded from kyrie to kemba and lost horford, how are they supposed to be better then last year??

The bar at winning one round and one game in the 2nd isn't an impossible feat. Losing Kyrie is negligible with Kemba. Al on the ohter hand is not replaceable barring some type of trade.

[Nuntius]

they downgraded from kyrie to kemba and lost horford, how are they supposed to be better then last year??

I disagree on the downgrade comment. Kyrie to Kemba is an upgrade, imo. Kyrie has more natural talent than Kemba but Kemba is a much better leader and he can help this young Celtics group rally around him much more than Kyrie was ever able to do. But yes, losing Horford (and not replacing him with anyone of note) is indeed an issue.

As for Tatum, there's no doubt in my mind that he can average over 20PPG. He probably will. I also think that he has a decent chance at making the All-Star team. But I don't think that the Celtics will go to the Finals. The Bucks and the Sixers both figure out to be better than them.

These young guys won't rally around Kemba or anybody else. Like Tatum said, he wants to average 20, and he wants to do it by any means neccesary. Kemba will only make it more difficult for him. I expect the same type of disfunction on the court, with difference being that Kemba won't be as vocal about it as Kyrie was

I believe that a team absolutely has space for two 20 PPG scorers. I don't think that there will be any dysfunction between Kemba and Tatum and I definitely believe that Kemba can be very good for guys like Jaylen Brown.

[Nuntius]

they downgraded from kyrie to kemba and lost horford, how are they supposed to be better then last year??

I disagree on the downgrade comment. Kyrie to Kemba is an upgrade, imo. Kyrie has more natural talent than Kemba but Kemba is a much better leader and he can help this young Celtics group rally around him much more than Kyrie was ever able to do. But yes, losing Horford (and not replacing him with anyone of note) is indeed an issue.

As for Tatum, there's no doubt in my mind that he can average over 20PPG. He probably will. I also think that he has a decent chance at making the All-Star team. But I don't think that the Celtics will go to the Finals. The Bucks and the Sixers both figure out to be better than them.

I love Kemba but I think we really don't know what kind of leader he is. He's never won much of anything at the NBA-level, his teams have never really outperformed expectations, never gone on a bit of a run. He might just be an easier guy to get along with, which is all that the Celtics may need.

I disagree with this part. Kemba's teams have consistently outperformed expectations, in my opinion. If we were to rank teams by talent then the Hornets should be finishing in the bottom 3 throughout Kemba's tenure. And yet, they never sucked that hard. Kemba consistently pushed them at least in the mid 30s range and they were always a threat to steal games, even from good teams. Yes, he only made the playoffs twice (same amount of times as AD, by the way) but that's to be expected when your team gives big minutes to Frank Kaminsky, possibly the worst rebounder at the C/PF spot ever.

But part of Irving's frustrations with the younger players were specifically about the feeling like they've already won. That's pretty much what Tatum is expressing here to me. That he didn't learn any lessons from last year. 2K ratings and ppg sounds like young guy ****. The same guy apparently put up a huge poster in his place of him dunking on LeBron in a series that LeBron won (in part by going right at Tatum in the closing minutes). Is Kemba going to be able to come in there and say anything different than Kyrie here? He has even less playoff success than Tatum?

Fair enough on this part. I don't follow the Celtics closely so I don't know why Irving was frustrated with their young core.

[mowcrowbar]

Jaylen Brown 2.0

[Nuntius]

they downgraded from kyrie to kemba and lost horford, how are they supposed to be better then last year??

I disagree on the downgrade comment. Kyrie to Kemba is an upgrade, imo. Kyrie has more natural talent than Kemba but Kemba is a much better leader and he can help this young Celtics group rally around him much more than Kyrie was ever able to do. But yes, losing Horford (and not replacing him with anyone of note) is indeed an issue.

As for Tatum, there's no doubt in my mind that he can average over 20PPG. He probably will. I also think that he has a decent chance at making the All-Star team. But I don't think that the Celtics will go to the Finals. The Bucks and the Sixers both figure out to be better than them.

how is it an upgrade when kemba is one of the worst defenders, higher volume shooter then kyrie with worse percentage and he proved nothing in charlotte kyrie even has more assists a game then kemba.

What? Kemba consistently ranks very high in hustle stats like deflections and contested 2pt and 3pt shots. He is not a bad defender at all (I'd say that he is good, actually) and he is definitely a lot at it than Kyrie who is a turnstile.

Volume-wise, they are quite similar. Yeah, Kemba took over 20 shots per game last year (20.5, to be exact) but that's because his team lacked offensive talent. Someone had to take the shots. Kyrie attempted 19.7 shots per game in his last year with Cleveland and that was despite sharing the court with LeBron James. Kyrie's Usage Rate throughout his career (29.2%) is also higher than Kemba's (27.3%).

As for providing nothing in Charlotte, I already answered that. Charlotte was a team that lacked talent, especially on the offensive end. They should be winning around 20 games a year, not 30+.

there is no doubt in my mind that he can avg 20pts but that doesnt make you an allstar, he is also talking finals when the celtics clearly got worse. I dont question his talent and scoring atleast 20ppg, but the rest i do.

Over 20 PPG and a good seed (3rd, for example) gives him a pretty good chance of making the ASG. Yeah, I agree that the Finals aren't in play since Milwaukee and Philly are much better but I have no issue with him saying that.

[PhilBlackson]

Jayson Hall of Fatum.

Sounds like he's starting to step out of the shadows n make it his team. But unless Danny can bring in someone to plug the gapping hole Horford leaves defensively, this is just a lot of chest puffing.

Celtics need a big man to handle Embiid or Giannis before they can hang with the Big Boys of the Conference (bad pun intended).

But I like seeing Tatum assert himself more.

[Showdown]

Kobe destroyed him , he should model his game to be Paul Pierce with more athleticism.

[Gooner]

I disagree on the downgrade comment. Kyrie to Kemba is an upgrade, imo. Kyrie has more natural talent than Kemba but Kemba is a much better leader and he can help this young Celtics group rally around him much more than Kyrie was ever able to do. But yes, losing Horford (and not replacing him with anyone of note) is indeed an issue.

As for Tatum, there's no doubt in my mind that he can average over 20PPG. He probably will. I also think that he has a decent chance at making the All-Star team. But I don't think that the Celtics will go to the Finals. The Bucks and the Sixers both figure out to be better than them.

These young guys won't rally around Kemba or anybody else. Like Tatum said, he wants to average 20, and he wants to do it by any means neccesary. Kemba will only make it more difficult for him. I expect the same type of disfunction on the court, with difference being that Kemba won't be as vocal about it as Kyrie was

I believe that a team absolutely has space for two 20 PPG scorers. I don't think that there will be any dysfunction between Kemba and Tatum and I definitely believe that Kemba can be very good for guys like Jaylen Brown.

Not that team, there are still hungry mouths there. Jaylen Brown doesn't want to go by the wayside, especially in a contrat year. Hayward wants to be that player that they signed, and Kanter is a good offensive player aswell. Then there is Brad Stevens system that's all about sharing the ball. It will be difficult for Ttaum to average 20 this year and he will try to force it by taking bunch of contested shots again, in my opinion.

[Gooner]

I wonder how Kemba feels about that.

Elated?

Seriously, Nic Batum May be the greatest player he has every played with. Dude wants to play with talent. Wants to win. Excited to see Fiba and regular season.

What about Al Jefferson, one of the best post players of this decade. Batum used to be pretty decent too. I'm not saying that was great supportig cast, but they had couple of decent seasons.

[Jables]

Besides the Celtics finals it's not really particularly ambitious tbh, I mean you'd want him to be aiming for that stuff as long as he's taking the right shots. He's not saying the wrong things but people wanna make everything dramatic now.

[Jaballa Parkay]

Finna

[FlatearthZorro]

Kobe destroyed him , he should model his game to be Paul Pierce with more athleticism.

Been saying this for a while. And completely agree.

[Nuntius]

I understand that Kemba may be a breath of fresh air, but this idea he is some great leader when he has had a losing record in 5 of his 8 seasons and never advanced a round in the playoffs tell another story

It tells the story of how bad Charlotte was at drafting. This a list of their lottery picks after they picked Kemba.

2012 Draft: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at #2. Picked over Bradley Beal, Harrison Barnes, Damian Lillard and Andre Drummond. Not the worst pick ever since he can at least defend but he never developed an offensive game and he was picked over players who became much better than him.

2013 Draft: Cody Zeller at #4. Cody is a pretty decent player. He is right in the borderline between decent 5th starter and good sub. Normally, you expect to do better than that with the 4th pick but I can't fault them a lot for it since the players picked after him (Len, Noel, McLemore, KCP, Burke) aren't great either. Maybe CJ McCollum at #10 or Adams at #12? I could see that. I can't blame them at all for not taking a risk on Giannis at #15 or Gobert at #27. They weren't projected to go that high. I rate Cody as a mediocre pick.

2014 Draft: Noah Vonleh at #9. Not a bad player but not starter-level player either. A solid bench player. Picked over Dario Šarić, Zach LaVine, TJ Warren, Jusuf Nurkić and Garry Harris. Below average pick.

2015 Draft: Frank Kaminsky at #9. Picked over Justise Winslow (#10), Myles Turner (#11), Devin Booker (#13), Kelly Oubre (#15) and Terry Rozier (#16). Horrible pick. The worst rebounding big I have ever seen. He doesn't even block out.

2016 Draft: Traded the #22 pick for Marco Belinelli.

2017 Draft: Malik Monk at #11. Picked over Donovan Mitchell (#13) and Bam Adebayo (#14). An undersized scorer with negative wingspan that is shooting 37.6% from the field (and 33.5% from the 3-point line) in the first two years of his career. Needless to say, that is looking like a terrible pick so far.

2018 Draft: They had the #11 pick and they traded it to the Clippers for the #12 pick and two future 2nd rounders. The Clippers chose Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the #11 pick and the Hornets picked Miles Bridges with the #12 pick. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a better rookie year than Miles Bridges and he was part of the package that got the Clippers PG. Miles Bridges does seem like a very intriguing young player, though. His rookie season was still quite good. I can't knock the trade value-wise even if I prefer SGA over Bridges.

So, there you have it. 2 horrible picks (Kaminsky, Monk), 2 below average picks (Vonleh, MKG), 1 mediocre pick (Cody) and 1 decent trade that got them a intriguing young player but also gave up another intriguing young player (the draft in '18). Most of the players they picked ended up not even being starters, despite the fact that they were picking in the lottery almost every year. When you botch the draft as often as they do as a lottery team then yeah, you are unlikely to improve and go far in the playoffs.

PS: I'm not mentioning this year's draft because it's still too early for that.

[Nuntius]

These young guys won't rally around Kemba or anybody else. Like Tatum said, he wants to average 20, and he wants to do it by any means neccesary. Kemba will only make it more difficult for him. I expect the same type of disfunction on the court, with difference being that Kemba won't be as vocal about it as Kyrie was

I believe that a team absolutely has space for two 20 PPG scorers. I don't think that there will be any dysfunction between Kemba and Tatum and I definitely believe that Kemba can be very good for guys like Jaylen Brown.

Not that team, there are still hungry mouths there. Jaylen Brown doesn't want to go by the wayside, especially in a contrat year. Hayward wants to be that player that they signed, and Kanter is a good offensive player aswell. Then there is Brad Stevens system that's all about sharing the ball. It will be difficult for Ttaum to average 20 this year and he will try to force it by taking bunch of contested shots again, in my opinion.

Jaylen Brown didn't show a lot of improvement last season. He should probably focus on being a good role-player on a team that can make a playoff run for the time being. Hayward definitely wants to be that player again but we don't know if he can. Kanter can score but he usually gives up more points than he scores.

Brad Stevens' system definitely focuses on sharing the ball but take away the shots that Horford, Marcus Morris and Rozier took (10.6, 11.3 and 8.4, respectively) and you have more than enough shots to go around.

[LewisnotMiller]

I wonder how Kemba feels about that.

About going to the Finals? Pretty solid.

[Triple7]

I disagree on the downgrade comment. Kyrie to Kemba is an upgrade, imo. Kyrie has more natural talent than Kemba but Kemba is a much better leader and he can help this young Celtics group rally around him much more than Kyrie was ever able to do. But yes, losing Horford (and not replacing him with anyone of note) is indeed an issue.

As for Tatum, there's no doubt in my mind that he can average over 20PPG. He probably will. I also think that he has a decent chance at making the All-Star team. But I don't think that the Celtics will go to the Finals. The Bucks and the Sixers both figure out to be better than them.

These young guys won't rally around Kemba or anybody else. Like Tatum said, he wants to average 20, and he wants to do it by any means neccesary. Kemba will only make it more difficult for him. I expect the same type of disfunction on the court, with difference being that Kemba won't be as vocal about it as Kyrie was

I believe that a team absolutely has space for two 20 PPG scorers. I don't think that there will be any dysfunction between Kemba and Tatum and I definitely believe that Kemba can be very good for guys like Jaylen Brown.

Of course there is space available. Lots of it. You need not look far. The warriors have three 20ppg and above scorers. Ball movement and efficiency is the key.

[Prokorov]

I understand that Kemba may be a breath of fresh air, but this idea he is some great leader when he has had a losing record in 5 of his 8 seasons and never advanced a round in the playoffs tell another story

It tells the story of how bad Charlotte was at drafting. This a list of their lottery picks after they picked Kemba.



PS: I'm not mentioning this year's draft because it's still too early for that.

this misses the point. you can certainly say kemba isnt to blame for the team not being good as they overall lacked talent. but failing to take bad teams to the playoffs still isnt evidence of being a winner