Lets not overlook the fact... Jayson Tatum exposed

[MrBigShot]

He turned 24 a 3 months ago. If you said at the beginning of this year he'd lead the celtics to the finals and come 5th in MVP, that would sound pretty damn good.

Tatum will learn and get better from this experience.

[floppymoose]

I don't know what happened to Tatum. I had him as one of the 4 MVP candidates (Tatum/Curry/Jokic/Embiid) who I all think were pretty close. I was expecting a lot more from him in the finals.

Which was a bad take since he is nowhere near any of those guys as players. Also I have no clue why you put Tatum over Giannis or even Luka.

Giannis would normally be on the list, but had a bit of a down year for him. Still great though, on the next tier.

Luka isn't in the discussion. He's a hilariously bad defender.

[Woodsanity]

I don't know what happened to Tatum. I had him as one of the 4 MVP candidates (Tatum/Curry/Jokic/Embiid) who I all think were pretty close. I was expecting a lot more from him in the finals.

Which was a bad take since he is nowhere near any of those guys as players. Also I have no clue why you put Tatum over Giannis or even Luka.

Giannis would normally be on the list, but had a bit of a down year for him. Still great though, on the next tier.

Luka isn't in the discussion. He's a hilariously bad defender.

This is not even remotely true and even if it was Luka is 2x the offensive player Tatum is. Luka is at worse average defensively. Yes he got hunted when he exerted all his energy on offense. Mavs would not be rank 6th defensively if Luka was that bad defensively.

Tatum being in the mvp convo is like Booker being in the mvp convo. Neither are true mvp caliber players. Swap Luka and Tatum and the Celtics would have won the chip.

Tatum has so many flaws offensively he is a worse player and less consistent than even Butler.

[Los_29]

Tatum isn’t the first #1 option to struggle in the finals and he won’t be the last.

Very talented player who had some very clutch moments in these playoffs.

It will be a learning experience for him.

[shoresy69]

Tatum played poorly in the finals but this playoff run as a whole was a massive win for him. Looked like he truly made a leap until the last series. He'll recover and improve.

[Bolts]

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.

Been saying this for a long time already he isn't even a Jimmy Butler level player. Guys like tatum and booker are overrated and didn't deserve 1st all nba team. Neither are true superstars.

Replace Tatum with Jimmy Butler. Do the Celtics win the finals?

[dribble1614]

list of all-nba caliber players who've been exposed in recent years include:

tatum (horrific 2022 finals performance, weak minded, very little effort, no 'dog' in him)
harden (lack of clutchness in playoffs and crucial moments)
durant (couldn't do a thing without curry, curry has proven plenty without him)

list of all-nba caliber players who've exposed the critics include:
curry (proved that he was magnitudes more valuable than durant and the foundation of the dynasty of this era)
giannis (proved he could do it the old fashioned way and an epically dominant 2021 playoffs run)
butler (even though having not won it all, proving to be epically great in the playoffs when it matters, has 'the dog' in him that tatum clearly doesn't

[RB34]

list of all-nba caliber players who've been exposed in recent years include:

tatum (horrific 2022 finals performance, weak minded, very little effort, no 'dog' in him)
harden (lack of clutchness in playoffs and crucial moments)
durant (couldn't do a thing without curry, curry has proven plenty without him)

list of all-nba caliber players who've exposed the critics include:
curry (proved that he was magnitudes more valuable than durant and the foundation of the dynasty of this era)
giannis (proved he could do it the old fashioned way and an epically dominant 2021 playoffs run)
butler (even though having not won it all, proving to be epically great in the playoffs when it matters, has 'the dog' in him that tatum clearly doesn't

So what was Jimmy when he scored 6, 8 and 13 points in the ECF? Semi exposed?

[Woodsanity]

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.

Been saying this for a long time already he isn't even a Jimmy Butler level player. Guys like tatum and booker are overrated and didn't deserve 1st all nba team. Neither are true superstars.

Replace Tatum with Jimmy Butler. Do the Celtics win the finals?

Very possibly. Butler 29.9 PER in the playoffs, the fraud Tatum only 17.6.

[Woodsanity]

Not a superstar, not MVP caliber and undeserving of 1st team all nba. He is only a mid level all star at most who played even lower than that in the playoffs. I am glad this fraud was exposed. Lots of players I said that were fraudulent got exposed lately.

[_qubik]

I upvoted because I dont like Tatum

But I disagree, PER isnt a over reliable stat, and Tatum was one of the best players on a finals team. He had bad games, shot poorly some nights, isnt the greatest shotmaker of all time, but after all its a team sport, dudes covered for his weaknesses.

He is young, talented, and while I dont like his game and dont think it screams "best player on title team", but he will be a top 10ish player for a couple of years

[Woodsanity]

I upvoted because I dont like Tatum

But I disagree, PER isnt a over reliable stat, and Tatum was one of the best players on a finals team. He had bad games, shot poorly some nights, isnt the greatest shotmaker of all time, but after all its a team sport, dudes covered for his weaknesses.

He is young, talented, and while I dont like his game and dont think it screams "best player on title team", but he will be a top 10ish player for a couple of years

Its not a great stat but its a good summary of a players ability.

If I was ranking him solely on PER he would not even be an all star since 17.6 is not all star caliber. I am considering his defensive ability which is good but overrated and the fact that he had to play 41 minutes so may be fatigued. He still has low bball iq, can't pass well and isn't particularly efficient though.

[dribble1614]

list of all-nba caliber players who've been exposed in recent years include:

tatum (horrific 2022 finals performance, weak minded, very little effort, no 'dog' in him)
harden (lack of clutchness in playoffs and crucial moments)
durant (couldn't do a thing without curry, curry has proven plenty without him)

list of all-nba caliber players who've exposed the critics include:
curry (proved that he was magnitudes more valuable than durant and the foundation of the dynasty of this era)
giannis (proved he could do it the old fashioned way and an epically dominant 2021 playoffs run)
butler (even though having not won it all, proving to be epically great in the playoffs when it matters, has 'the dog' in him that tatum clearly doesn't

So what was Jimmy when he scored 6, 8 and 13 points in the ECF? Semi exposed?

all significantly better than 6 straight games of trash. butler deserives b/c of a historic 47/8/9 game on the road facing elimination, already having led a team to the finals and beating more talented / higher seeds, and in general being one of the top 3-4 players this entire playoffs.

[art_tatum]

looking for tatum to have a crazy next season judging how the steph exposed thread went.

[sp6r=underrated]

What does Durant need to do to fall out of people's top 10?

2019 was a long time ago

[Cricket23]

I haven't read any of the thread but I will just say Tatum wasn't just fatigued, he was completely wiped out. I've seen every game of his career and I thought it was obvious. That's not to dismiss the defense the Warriors played, but there were many times he had a weaker defender or an opening and he just couldn't get there. He's also come up clutch plenty of times before. What we saw in the finals was not Jason Tatum. It's the fault of the players that they started so poorly and then had to play playoff level intensity basketball for several months just to catch up. Then Tatum took his defensive intensity to a whole new level in the first round. He's a bit of an iron man, plays a lot of games and minutes, and he played in the Olympics. Call it an excuse all you want but that's what it is.

[floppymoose]

Well quoting PER and telling us Luka isnt a horrid defender tells me what I need to know.

[lamscott]

Tatum sucks!!! Let him go home to the Lakers... please?

[Dupp]

Screw off with this take.

How about you tell me why he is a top 10 player instead getting salty this morning Or just ignore the post.

So KD not top 20 player because Tatum dominated him in their series?

Dumb thread, stupid logic.

[Fencer reregistered]

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.

Poland is not dead yet.
Ukraine is not dead yet.
Larry Bird is not dead yet.
Bill Russell is not dead yet.

(Seriously, the first two are the first lines of their respective national anthems. I've long know that about Poland; I learned it about Ukraine just this week.)