Jayson Tatum's Rise to the Top
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Weird road trip for Tatum.
Shooting 14/31 from 3 but 33/85 overall. Missing a ton of easy layups and jumpers.
Shooting 14/31 from 3 but 33/85 overall. Missing a ton of easy layups and jumpers.
How big of a slump is Tatum in? He's shot under 40% from the field in 4 straight games, the first time that's happened since December 2021 (and immediately following that stretch, he was placed on the covid list and missed the next 4 games).
Tatum played the entire 2nd half of the Suns game (at his request), and led the team in minutes last night. At some point the team will insist he rests, but he clearly wants to play through it.
That felt like a pretty good "get right" game for Tatum. With their 2nd and 3rd best scorers out, he put up 38 points on 25 shots, including 8 in the final 4 minutes to keep the Jazz from making it interesting.
I love that Durant is becoming the leader of the Jayson Tatum fan club:
View: https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1767998073651728803?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1767998073651728803?s=20
When he's not shitposting on burner accounts or signing FA deals with the Warriors, Kevin Durant is a remarkably likable, wise and thoughtful superstar, on matters of the league and the game.
I've been a fan since the 2010 FIBA World Cup, where he was roughly as unstoppable as Peak Shaq, and then afterwards spoke about how much the opportunity meant to him - not just to represent for the US, but also to help grow the game, inspire the passion of foreign fanbases and make basketball a point of connection globally. A lot of players say the former (honor to play for the country, etc) but very few talk about the latter.
If only we'd signed him in summer 2016, with the Jays probably still on the way, the last 8 years of Celtics fandom would've been a lot different.
I've been a fan since the 2010 FIBA World Cup, where he was roughly as unstoppable as Peak Shaq, and then afterwards spoke about how much the opportunity meant to him - not just to represent for the US, but also to help grow the game, inspire the passion of foreign fanbases and make basketball a point of connection globally. A lot of players say the former (honor to play for the country, etc) but very few talk about the latter.
If only we'd signed him in summer 2016, with the Jays probably still on the way, the last 8 years of Celtics fandom would've been a lot different.
Since the ASB, he’s averaging 27/7/5 on 47/44/86 splits and a 61% TS, even with the really cold three game stretch.
View: https://twitter.com/lissmx14/status/1768462575035887711
View: https://twitter.com/lissmx14/status/1768462575035887711
4.4 : 2.9 vs. 5.4 : 2.2 is a pretty huge leap. From ~1.5 A/T to nearly 2.5 A.T
Tatum up to 34.9% on pull-up threes, and that’s with nba.com skipping the tracking for the first Suns game where he was 4-7 on pull-ups. 40% on them since January 1st, and when he gets squared up, he’s just fucking drilling them.
He has 54 games of shooting over 39% on them, and a 10 game stretch of 18%. When he’s hitting it, other defenses are incapable of stopping this offense. Which is exactly what we’ve seen most of the season.
I was just looking at lineup combos, and this is Tatum on the court without Jaylen, KP, AND White. I cannot describe how insane +15.7 is without your 2-4th best players on the court.
He has 54 games of shooting over 39% on them, and a 10 game stretch of 18%. When he’s hitting it, other defenses are incapable of stopping this offense. Which is exactly what we’ve seen most of the season.
I was just looking at lineup combos, and this is Tatum on the court without Jaylen, KP, AND White. I cannot describe how insane +15.7 is without your 2-4th best players on the court.
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Updated Tatum 3pt% for this season:Tatum up to 34.9% on pull-up threes, and that’s with nba.com skipping the tracking for the first Suns game where he was 4-7 on pull-ups. 40% on them since January 1st, and when he gets squared up, he’s just fucking drilling them.
He has 54 games of shooting over 39% on them, and a 10 game stretch of 18%. When he’s hitting it, other defenses are incapable of stopping this offense. Which is exactly what we’ve seen most of the season.
I was just looking at lineup combos, and this is Tatum on the court without Jaylen, KP, AND White. I cannot describe how insane +15.7 is without your 2-4th best players on the court.
43.8% from C&S3s on 2.3 attempts/G
34.9% from PU3 on 5.9 attempts/G (up ~2% from 8 games ago, good call @RorschachsMask )
As long as he goes LEFT, let it fly from 3.
https://3stepsbasket.com/player/jayson-tatum/shooting
Tatum definitely squares up his shoulders to the basket better when shooting from the left sideI've been harping on Tatum's Pull-Up3s (33%) VS. his Catch & Shoot 3s (43%)
when it's all about firing 3s ATB on the left side of the floor (44%)
Maybe C&S 3s from the left side of ATB unleashes Tatums' best self
The 'Zards announcers said that they were watching JT during pre-game, and he didn't miss. They were impressed.
The big thing to me is that last years 29.1% is looking like the outlier. Otherwise, these are his C&S numbers by the season, since shooting them on any real volume.
35%
33.4%
36.3%
40.4%
Obviously I’d rather it not drop back to 33.4%, but anywhere in the mid 30s means he’s going to be close to unstoppable. Upper 30s? Actual unstoppable lol.
I'm more impressed that Westbrook managed to make that many. Must have a ton of attempts.
I love that Shaq makes Tatum look like a high school junior. What a truly massive person.
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1772787121671061533?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1772787121671061533?s=20
Every band needs a Ringo. Nailing that balance is a critical part of a GM's job, one that numbers-focused GMs like Hinkie tended to miss.
The handsome Celtics aren’t just a little handsome either lol, the core four are model good looking.
And this is where the comps to the 86 team fall apart. That team had a raft of . . . shall we say . . . quirky looks: Bird, DJ, McHale, Walton.
Derrick White's primary function on this team is to make everyone else look better, and he takes that responsibility very seriously.
Forget player asthetics - how fortunate are the Cs that their best players appear to have some humility? I mean we don't really know these guys but Tatum, in particular, has shown he doesn't take himself too seriously. I don't know if that matters but it feels like it should.
There was a comedian bit once where he was shitting on the 86 celtics and getting laid on the road. He went down through making fun of DJ, Mchale, Chief, Bird and Walton. End with saying if it wasnt for Ainge no one on that team would get laid. <Then acting as Ainge> "Right over here on the bus ladies...no an Actual NBA team...really....Dammit Chief get your big ass down <while motioning him to hide below the window>"
dont remember who the comedian was but my 14-16 yo self thought it was hilarious.
dont remember who the comedian was but my 14-16 yo self thought it was hilarious.
Maybe this was the real reason Smart had to go. Nothing to do with on-court: can't have closing lineups featuring more than one non-model guard.
It's pretty funny to compare them to other top cores in terms of attractiveness:
Denver: Jokic, Murray, Gordon, MPJ. Just MPJ, mayyybbbe Murray if you stretch it.
OKC: SGA, Chet, Jalen Williams. SGA, other two are oof.
Milwaukee: this is a good-looking core. Real threat in the East.
LAL: lol
LAC: PG13 is a model, but that's it.
I can go on, we still have another day to go!
He should grow the receding-hairline fro back, then. That had serious "crazy person coming through, better get out of the way" vibes.
Yeah, I saw some 2023 highlights the other day and was like "man, that guy looks awful."
Al may be the most handsome man in the league, and has gotten wildly better looking with age lol.
Back to Tatum for a second, they started him as PG the other night, and he had 15 potential assists with only 2 turnovers. 17 rim drives too, which is a really high number for someone his size.
I think they probably win the other night if they stuck with the starting lineup, instead of switching out Hauser for Pritchard. They were overwhelming the Hawks with their size.
I think they probably win the other night if they stuck with the starting lineup, instead of switching out Hauser for Pritchard. They were overwhelming the Hawks with their size.
I think it's fair to say that there was some experimentation going on, and they were not strictly optimizing for winning.
PP has maximized a lot of underwhelming physical attributes to find success on and off the court.
My wife regularly asks me “why don’t other teams look as good as the Celtics?”
Because they don’t have Brad Stevens.
Because they don’t have Brad Stevens.