Yea I'd much rather have Zach than Brad...Is Lavine super friendly with the JAYs? Seems like Chicago is a good situation for him, big market, etc
The only connection I'm aware of is that Tatum and Lavine played together on the gold medal olympic team, which is often a bonding experience for players. Smart also played with LaVine on the 2016 Select team that trained with the USA basketball National team. I think you pointed out a couple months ago that Smart called LaVine his favorite non-Celtic player, which can often point to an under the radar recruitment effort.
I think most people mean it the other way when they discuss it. That the value of trading for Beal is that it would convince the player that sees himself as BB's little brother to commit to Boston long term.
Honestly I would be fine with the Sixers running out that defenseless backcourt that will cost them $100 million per year. Since it would require the Wiz to eat Harris's ugly contract it will also require every useful roleplayer and available draft pick to soften the blow.
While some posters (not you) have been curiously dismissive of Tatum's struggles recovering from a bad bout of CoVid last season, the reality is that he spent a good part of the middle of the season using inhalers. I have to believe that impacted some of his numbers last season.
Tatum's current career high for 2P% is .502, last season. He's currently at .512.
DARKO for the season interesting. Tatum not quite up to those elite guys yet.
That seems like a pretty reasonable list. If Tatum and the C's finish out the regular season like they have the last two months he might move up a slot or 2.
I think the highest he can possibly get is 4. That top 3 seems pretty set in stone (barring injury in the next week)
Having Ja and DeMar ahead of him seems weird, unless you really don't think that defense matters. Tatum is a bit behind those guys offensively, but it's not by much.
I don’t think anyone here actually thinks Ja or Derozen is more valuable than Tatum, but it feels unlikely that he finishes ahead of either in the voting. Early season narratives are still locked in to some extent - the Celtics and Tatum are finally playing up to their potential. It’s not as interesting as derozen having a career season at age 32 and helping turn the bulls into a solid playoff team, nor is it as interesting as ja taking a huge step forward and pulling the grizzlies will him, at least one year ahead of schedule.
defense only matters if you're trying to win Championships
Been that way forever.
+1 on all accounts.
good point, Tatum is almost inviting it now.
A few writers have pointed it out, but he’s 100% inviting them. He’s manipulating them, trying to draw them to an exact spot, and he tells all of his teammates where to go on the court. His basketball IQ is pretty underrated (not here), IMO.
There just aren't that many guys in the league who can consistently draw doubles 30 feet from the rim, and he's also able to drive and force doubles when single-covered out there.
There was a few layups the last few games that have just kind of blown my mind, he dribbles around the trap, then through two other defenders on the way to the rim for what looks like an easy finish.
Great post.
This is really funny and true. Like there is a Gobert/Kawhi/Draymond/Smart class of players, and then the Trae/Harden/Doncic class, and then like, 99% of the league is in some mysterious middle ground.
I’m not even sure that the view that Luka is a more impactful offensive player is right. Tatum is a much better shooter, takes care of the ball better, and is starting to meaningfully close the gap on passing ability (recognizing that was a big gap and he’s unlikely to ever be Luka’s equal as a creator). If you forced me to choose between them on pure offense today, I think I’d pick Tatum because if you give me all the improvements Tatum has already made and a return to form shooting, he’s probably already better. Looking forward, I also now see Tatum as likely to build a meaningful lead over Luka. A year ago I would’ve bet the other way, that Luka was more likely to improve his shooting meaningfully than Tatum was to improve everything else about his offensive game. At this point, I think the smarter bet is on Tatum continuing to develop into a borderline elite playmaker v. Luka developing to the level of shooter where you’d consider him over Tatum. To reiterate, this is just assessing offense. As complete players I don’t think it is close anymore.
Yup, well put. I'm like you--didn't expect Tatum to close the gap with Luka on offense during their careers barring some crazy 3-point shooting, but he has.
This is well said. I would absolutely choose Tatum over Doncic now even just offensively. His trend is glorious. But those who have Luka as more impactful offensively this year to date aren’t crazy.
Agreed. He's a machine and now as confident as anyone.
That’s a great point and is extremely underrated when building a team.
IIRC Tatum said at the beginning of the year that his goal was to make the all defense team. Would love to see that happen.
I wouldn't go that far. There are only 4 forward spots and the first team is gonna be Giannis and Draymond I would think. Then there is whole lot of guys battling for the second team. Tatum is for sure in that mix and helps that Kawhi and George are dead. But there is Butler and Jackson Jr and Mobley and Thybulle (if he is classified as a SF). Maybe Herb Jones too?
Tatum's 3rd year: 54.5% assisted, .394, 7.5 3PA/36, 7.1 3PA/G
I wonder whether getting Tatum out of the post and getting more of his 3s in the spots/rhythm he would take them in 2019-2021 helps. The way they use him now, initiating the offense and passing to a PG out of doubles, leaves him one-on-one in comfortable self-generated 3 situations more often.
we are seeing that Brad doesn't need to go ALL IN for a 3rd banana-like Beal or Lillard this Summer
This is absolutely true, and agreed with PRG that he's making progress there. Some of it he controls, and some of it is league rep. The latter lags the former of course.
