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Celtics Basketball => Celtics Talk => Topic started by: KG Living Legend on December 06, 2017, 01:19:55 AM

Title: Poll: Rate Tatum’s Athleticism
Post by: KG Living Legend on December 06, 2017, 01:19:55 AM
 
 I'm sick of people saying that he's just an average athlete, he may not be the most explosive guy but some of those dunks are very impressive and he's very quick for a guy his size.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: CELTICSofBOSTON on December 06, 2017, 01:30:25 AM
I would say that he is above solid and below very good.  He is a good athlete.

Great body control, hand eye coordination, footwork, and is dangerous in transition with the ball.  He is also ridiculously fast in the open court without the ball.  He is 10/10 smooth but doesn't have quick twitch or great explosiveness.

He can get up for dunks and sky for boards but he's not super powerful with his movements.  For these reasons, he is a good athlete and not a very good athlete.  Without a doubt he is above average.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: CelticsElite on December 06, 2017, 01:31:58 AM
He's good

Less strength and more of a crafty athletic moves to get around players. I hate to do it but it reminds me of pierce type of athleticism (which is good to me)
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: moiso on December 06, 2017, 05:48:50 AM

 
 I'm sick of people saying that he's just an average athlete, he may not be the most explosive guy but some of those dunks are very impressive and he's very quick for a guy his size.
For a small forward in the nba he's an average athlete.  Some of what makes his dunks and drives to the hoop look so good is the long arms.  I haven't heard a single person complaining of Tatum's lack of athleticism.  He's plenty skilled, long, and athletic enough to be a great player.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: Celtics4ever on December 06, 2017, 07:21:32 AM
He is an 8 to 8.5 coupled with great length and instincts.   He performs and can execute why are people questioning him?
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: Eja117 on December 06, 2017, 09:01:17 AM
I always think it's funny when the guy that keeps toasting everyone is the one whose athleticism is questioned.

11
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: DefenseWinsChamps on December 06, 2017, 09:16:29 AM
Two obvious weakness right now are lateral quickness and strength. He consistently gets beat off the bounce. He still can't hold his ground on either end of the court.

I think those things can and will improve. Its one of the reasons why I'm always more excited for a guys sophomore season than for his rookie season, because they get an entire off-season to work on their body.

I voted solid. He's not elite. He has potential to be good.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: fairweatherfan on December 06, 2017, 09:53:00 AM
He has very smooth athleticism, vs the explosiveness and power of someone like Brown.

Which in a lot of ways is more impressive - he makes extremely athletic plays look routine and easy - but doesn't always come through in the eye test.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: Donoghus on December 06, 2017, 10:17:29 AM
I agree with the smooth athleticism assessment. 

His play is almost effortless which might deceive people he's not a ridiculously good athlete but its really just an optical illusion.  Some of the stuff he does out there is amazing.  The two step drives, the baseline stuff.  Those are pretty remarkable.  Randy Moss was another one of those "effortless" types.  You don't see a ton of it either.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: rondofan1255 on December 06, 2017, 10:37:09 AM
good and deceptive
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: saltlover on December 06, 2017, 10:46:32 AM
I think it depends how you want to define athleticism.  Is it just explosiveness and strength?  Or can it also be reaction, balance, and endurance?  I don’t think Tatum’s strength/explosiveness is anything more than average for an NBA player.  But he seems to have a very good reaction time, which allows him to gain a quarter-to-half step when going for rebounds.  He’s got terrific balance, which helps make his pump fakes more effective, either to shoot or drive after the fake, and also to absorb some contact at the rim.  And he leads the team in minutes played this season, without looking winded at the end of games.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: chiken Green on December 06, 2017, 12:12:22 PM
His 1st step and his change of direction is explosive.. 
The Speed in which he glides up and down the court is Elite.
We dont see a bunch of Reverse dunks and layups out of him be he does explode for rebounds..

He is just a smooth player But the way he moves and handles the ball for a man of his size is plenty Athletic..  I think he is an excellent Athlete... Not Jordan or Kobe but like Drexler
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: vjcsmoke on December 06, 2017, 12:55:47 PM
I agree with the smooth athleticism assessment. 

His play is almost effortless which might deceive people he's not a ridiculously good athlete but its really just an optical illusion.  Some of the stuff he does out there is amazing.  The two step drives, the baseline stuff.  Those are pretty remarkable.  Randy Moss was another one of those "effortless" types.  You don't see a ton of it either.

Agreed.  He is a deceptively good athlete.  He makes every move look so smooth and easy that it's hard for the spectator to realize just how amazing the things he is doing.

2 step drives.  How the hell does he cover so much ground so quickly and suddenly he has a layup and the defense was helpless to stop it.

On top of his athleticism though, his shot accuracy is unreal.  Yes he is wisely picking his spots but to nail 50% of his 3pt FGs at the pro level.  That really adds to Tatum's lethality.  Why?  Because defenses now have to close out on him and respect his shot.  This opens up... his 2 step drive.  Defender closes in to stop the 3, and Tatum glides to the basket for a nearly uncontested layup.

It's a pick your poison with this kid, and I've never personally seen a rookie shoot this well before in his first year in the NBA!  Makes your really wonder how great he can become once Jayson fully grows into his game!
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: 18isGREATERthan72 on December 06, 2017, 12:57:33 PM
I agree with the smooth athleticism assessment. 

His play is almost effortless which might deceive people he's not a ridiculously good athlete but its really just an optical illusion.  Some of the stuff he does out there is amazing.  The two step drives, the baseline stuff.  Those are pretty remarkable.  Randy Moss was another one of those "effortless" types.  You don't see a ton of it either.

This is a perfect comparison IMO.  Tatum has Moss like athleticism... It's so smooth and natural looking that it appears to be nothing special.

Keep in mind there are a LOT of different types of "athleticism" and explosive jumping is only one very small aspect of it.  Tatum has exceptional body control and balance which I think people don't value as much because it doesn't always produce the flashy wind up dunks that Jaylen is capable of.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatums Athleticism
Post by: loco_91 on December 06, 2017, 07:40:34 PM
Tatum's best attribute athletically is long strides, and his worst attribute is lateral quickness. In that way he's the opposite of Smart, who has excellent lateral quickness but short strides.
Title: Re: Poll: Rate Tatum’s Athleticism
Post by: crimson_stallion on December 07, 2017, 07:24:17 AM
He is deceptive. 

On eye test alone he LOOKS slower then he is, because he takes such long strides rather then lots of teeny little steps.  Yet if you watch him in transition he actually gets up the court VERY fast.

Likewise his leaping ability doesn't look anything special because he's not up there with his head at the rim pulling off flashy show dunks.  Yet I frequently see him finishing very difficult dunks in traffic that give off the impression he's getting higher then he actually is.  I think the key to this is that (1) his vertical reach is so impressive thanks to his long wingspan and (2) although he doesn't get high off the ground, he does get off the ground very quickly. 

As a result he seems to be able to rise up and throw down seriously impressive power dunks over people's heads that leave you thinking he must have had his head above the rim - but then you watch the replay and he's like a full head below the rim. 

He's an odd athlete because he isn't Rozier-like quick and doesn't have Brown-like leaps, yet he seems to get up the floor just as quickly and get the ball just as high as those guys based on those long strides and impressive reach.  It's like he emulates athleticism. 

Every time I watch him though, I'm always sitting there thinking "this kid is so much more athletic then he is given credit for..."