Tatum's regression

[SHAQATTACK]

they were ganging up on him now that he is a force

nothing new in nba land

[liam]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Thank you for posting these stats. I am sick of hearing about Tatum's 'regression' when that's not what happened at all. I know people wanted to see an explosion in his 2nd year, but that was never going to happen with so many mouths to feed.

He is still the top asset that any team is offering for AD and the Pels/their fans seem to love him (seriously go check out their boards). If he puts in the work, he has all the makings for perennial All-Star.

A 6 percentage point drop in 3 point shooting is not trivial. It's about the same as the difference between Darren Collison and Klay Thompson. It seems odd to claim it does not show a regression.

We all expected a 19 year old rookie to improve with another full year of experience and development, and yet he did perform somewhat worse on both offense and defense. It was not a collapse, but not encouraging either.

His number one priority should be to learn to finish well going left. Right now, defenders have figured out they can force him left and disable his driving game. He still will likely be a volume scorer and an all-star. The early hopes that he had MVP potential are probably a bit much.

The other issue is scoring in the 5-15 foot range, which most great wing scorers do easily. It is almost impossible to stop a patient 6'9 player with a good handle from getting clean looks in that range. You can't always get all the way to the rim, but you can almost always get an 8 footer off the backboard.

Did I mention that he just turned 21.

[Chris22]

If Tatum would spend a summer learning to shoot a hook shot with EITHER HAND, he could be an allstar. Work with Tommy, not Kobe.
It drives me crazy to see him drive inside and always use his right hand. I am 65 years old and I can throw in running left handed hook shots all day long.

[IDreamCeltics]

A friend asked me a question yesterday that sent a chill down my spine. 

"Can you think of any star that regressed in their second year?"

[tonydelk]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

There wasn't a regression in stats he just didn't take the leap most expected.  I attribute this to the style of play with Kyrie versus without Kyrie.  The C's thrived on ball movement and getting open looks.  A lot of Tatum's bad shots this year were off iso's and him trying to get his versus taking shots in the flow of the offense like he did last year.  He also wasn't attacking the paint as much in the beginning of this year as well.  Tatum needs the ball in his hands to be effective and he needs space to thrive.  Kyrie takes up  lot of space and can clog some areas making players take bad shots to bail him out.  I think Tatum got better this year outside of 3pt shooting but didn't improve to the point where he was a #2 star on a top tier team. 

[gouki88]

A friend asked me a question yesterday that sent a chill down my spine. 

"Can you think of any star that regressed in their second year?"

It pains me to say it but I've posted this here about Tatum too. Those exact words.

Magic Johnson sort of regressed from year 2 to year 3, but he really just shot less and was injured in year 2.

I'm really struggling for examples.

[Phantom255x]

Tatum's regression to me came on defense. Lets just call it like it was, his defensive effort was lousy in many occasions. The hustle and effort we saw last year on that end which made us think he could be a Pierce/PG13-esque 2-way player was just not there this season.

Overall though, I'd say it wasn't a big regression when you consider he still put up solid stats, he just didn't seem to make a leap that many folks expected.

Also, while Kyrie was bad in the Bucks series, so was Tatum in all but like 2 games. Jaylen outplayed him in the playoffs which I don't think many expected. Certainly not me.

[JBcat]

A friend asked me a question yesterday that sent a chill down my spine. 

"Can you think of any star that regressed in their second year?"

It pains me to say it but I've posted this here about Tatum too. Those exact words.

Magic Johnson sort of regressed from year 2 to year 3, but he really just shot less and was injured in year 2.

I'm really struggling for examples.

This is all true, and I worry that Tatum may just level off.

However with that said Tatum was in a very unique situation. Most star players start off on a bad team which allows for a more natural upward tragectory.  Add on Hayward and Irving this year and things didn’t fit in well for the team.

[PhoSita]

I don't think I agree that Tatum regressed in year two.  I think it's more that he didn't really add anything significant to his game.  The general malaise of the team resulted in his shot distribution being worse.  I don't think it was that he actually lost confidence or that his skill or physical ability dropped off at all.

[liam]

Tatum is 21 and I'm hearing people say he's leveling off or has hit his peak. He just turned 21.

[droopdog7]

A friend asked me a question yesterday that sent a chill down my spine. 

"Can you think of any star that regressed in their second year?"

It pains me to say it but I've posted this here about Tatum too. Those exact words.

Magic Johnson sort of regressed from year 2 to year 3, but he really just shot less and was injured in year 2.

I'm really struggling for examples.

This is pretty much the same question I posed earlier on this thread.  By large, the frauds regress and the stars explode.  And not necessarily in a numbers sense but in an eye test way. 

Of course, as has been stated, this may indeed be a unique situation.  Some of the shine is definitely coming off but there is enough still there to have hope for a perennial star.  And before people overreact, I don't mean bad player by fraud.  I simply mean not a star star.