I assume you have the same issue with the 2-3 times Tatim does the exact same thing?
It's hard to upgrade talent. But it's not clear more talent is what this team needs, what it needs is players who can execute when it matters, and who'll spend the late game deferring to Tatum while helping get him easier shots.
He put together the most talented roster in the league? It's not his fault his coach last year was dumb, forcing a rookie HC with zero prep on the eve of training camp into that role
I agree, it’s admirable he’s falling on the sword but it’s clear he is wayyyyyyy out of his depth here. He’s gone.
If Tatum likes Mazzulla, he needs to step up and lead the team to get them to play hard for the guy. it's hard to win it all without a top player who sets the tone.
Yeah, that’s probably a good one. Wonder if they didn’t want to give the HC job to someone who was more seen as a Udoka guy, for various reasons.
Pre-injury Ricky Rubio is what the team needs. But that guy isn't out there.
They’d put pre injury Rubio in the corner so Jaylen and Tatum can take turns turning the ball over
It's his last card to play but it won't matter. They need a legit coaching name and they'll get one. This has to end and some familiar faces need to change as well.
Tatum will at least usually hustle back, he's had multiple blocks doing that. He also generally loses the ball near the paint where they can't get out and run as easy, JB generally loses it around the 3 point line where if he doesn't try to recover it's an easy layup.
Yeah in this case because you have Tatum already a quarter for two dimes and a nickel type trade could actually be fine. I don’t think the roster is unbalanced per se and certainly not undertalented but different players could, well, be better simply by being different.
They need someone like PJ Tucker. I can’t fucking stand the guy but he’s the easiest solution to the problem.
I think that's an issue. This Heat team takes on Butler's personality. Same with the Warriors and Curry. Every LBJ team. Classic examples of Bird and Jordan. I'm just not sure that this is Tatum's personality--he seems to like to defer to Marcus and Al.
This may be a very unpopular opinion…but, are we sure Tatim is ready and capable for that kind of load? Both on court and off court? I tend to think the answer is pretty clearly no for both
it's absolutely partially his fault. he hired both guys
I 100% feel bad for him personally, but good riddance. Handed the keys to a Ferrari and he totaled it.
I think that is Tatum’s personality. He’s incredibly non chalant and needs a firestartwr next to him
Hard to say, he can do it- just look at G7 vs Philly. But the consistency isn’t there. Of course, he is young. But winning championships is hard and a lot of really good players never get to that level. I don’t know what the alternatives are; having coaches and some role players who have been there could help- or not. Who knows.
The bigger story is Tatum/Brown/Smart aren’t good enough together to lead a title winning team.
Sure, there is a reason it takes even the greats a long time to lead a winner.
This might be true, but none of them with HC experience, so they'd all be in the boat of not having an prep time for the job. Sadly the chances of a good enough guy with experience still available right before training camp. I'm not saying Brad is devoid of blame, but Ime but him in a bad spot
I’m not convinced. I compared him to Pippen last series and I think that Pippen on the high side Paul George on the downside type of comparison might be what he is. Which is a hell of a basketball player but he can’t get good shots the way the absolute best do. He’s been great at working on his game and maybe he can add that Durant jumper to score at 3 levels now that he’s able to shoot the 3 and drives much better but that Philly game aside he just doesn’t seem to regularly be able to score when every man on the court is focused on him. This is incredibly harsh on him as deficiencies in other areas have him seeing constant double and triple teams and he’s playing PG half the time for some reason but that tends to be the life of a top player on a championship team
They’re good enough but not good enough together. Going to be interested to see how Brad breaks it up because it’s obvious you can’t run this group back again.
Couldn't agree more. And I posted those concerns (Celts needed a more experienced coach) back in December-January and was told I was over reaching. And that CJM would be fine come the post season.
I’m not gonna go digging up posts but I’m pretty sure my pre season take was that Mazzulla gave them the best chance for a good start but I was super worried that they’d have to face a Heat team in the playoffs and he’d need to trade adjustments with Spolestra. Little did I know he’d sidestep this by not having adjustments
I think the off the court thing is more of an issue for him. As of now, I just don’t see Tatum as a leader at all. At all. There’s just nothing there. I think there’s a reason he defers to Jaylen and Marcus and it’s not because he’s hiding some great leader quality that those two aren’t letting him show
Ainge put together the talent. Brogdon and White have been pretty much useless in the playoffs and Al is worn out. If I owned the team, I’m looking at the whole organization. I’m guessing Brad is safe but there is a case to move on. Mazz was a mistake. But in this series, it was not the coach. It was the players.
