Brutal Quote about Tatum in latest ESPN article

[gouki88]

Lebron was 27 when he won his first title.
Giannis was 26 when he won his first title.
Durant was 28 when he won his first title.
Steph was 27 when he won his first title.
All the Celtics guys were in their 30's.

Sometimes it take time, Tatum and Brown are 23.5 and just turned 25. They may just not be ready.

Hope is not a strategy. Hoping Tatum or Brown morphs into a player the caliber of one of those 4 definitely isn’t a strategy.

Giannis and Steph were not the Giannis and Steph you know today at 23 years old. Giannis made an enormous leap in impact and production per minute and per possession at age 24 (6th season), and Steph didn't make his big leap until he was 26 (also his 6th season I believe).

Regardless, I think hoping Tatum or Brown turns into an MVP level player is a little short of prudent. It ain’t gonna happen. I have a very hard time seeing either as the best player on a championship team.

People thought of Curry, Kawhi and Dirk at age 23 much the same way. Their progression is not finished.

I’ll grant you Dirk but not the other two. And of the teams most fortunate to eek out a championship in recent memory, the 2011 Mavs are way up on that list.

Who thought Kawhi was capable of a playoff run reminiscent of Michael Jordan when he was 23? Who thought Curry would be the first unanimous MVP when he was 23?

Nobody.

You’re wearing blinders to fit your argument, particularly on Kawhi.

You think Tatum is going to win an MVP? Just go on record on the topic.

I never said that, but definitive statements about the potential of 23 year-old star players are silly.

It’s actually not at all regarding NBA MVP. That capability is plain by such an age. Tatum is never winning an MVP.

Lotto numbers tomorrow night?

Make you a substantial wager on this one aaaaaany time you want.

The odds are against 99.9% of NBA players winning an MVP, that doesn't mean definitive statements capping the potential of young stars make sense.

[todd_days_41]

Lebron was 27 when he won his first title.
Giannis was 26 when he won his first title.
Durant was 28 when he won his first title.
Steph was 27 when he won his first title.
All the Celtics guys were in their 30's.

Sometimes it take time, Tatum and Brown are 23.5 and just turned 25. They may just not be ready.

Hope is not a strategy. Hoping Tatum or Brown morphs into a player the caliber of one of those 4 definitely isn’t a strategy.

Giannis and Steph were not the Giannis and Steph you know today at 23 years old. Giannis made an enormous leap in impact and production per minute and per possession at age 24 (6th season), and Steph didn't make his big leap until he was 26 (also his 6th season I believe).

Regardless, I think hoping Tatum or Brown turns into an MVP level player is a little short of prudent. It ain’t gonna happen. I have a very hard time seeing either as the best player on a championship team.

People thought of Curry, Kawhi and Dirk at age 23 much the same way. Their progression is not finished.

I’ll grant you Dirk but not the other two. And of the teams most fortunate to eek out a championship in recent memory, the 2011 Mavs are way up on that list.

Who thought Kawhi was capable of a playoff run reminiscent of Michael Jordan when he was 23? Who thought Curry would be the first unanimous MVP when he was 23?

Nobody.

You’re wearing blinders to fit your argument, particularly on Kawhi.

You think Tatum is going to win an MVP? Just go on record on the topic.

I never said that, but definitive statements about the potential of 23 year-old star players are silly.

It’s actually not at all regarding NBA MVP. That capability is plain by such an age. Tatum is never winning an MVP.

Lotto numbers tomorrow night?

Make you a substantial wager on this one aaaaaany time you want.

The odds are against 99.9% of NBA players winning an MVP, that doesn't mean definitive statements capping the potential of young stars make sense.

Odds exist for a reason. Are you on record that Tatum is in that .01%? And I note you’re not interested in the wager.

[Moranis]

Lebron was 27 when he won his first title.
Giannis was 26 when he won his first title.
Durant was 28 when he won his first title.
Steph was 27 when he won his first title.
All the Celtics guys were in their 30's.

Sometimes it take time, Tatum and Brown are 23.5 and just turned 25. They may just not be ready.

Hope is not a strategy. Hoping Tatum or Brown morphs into a player the caliber of one of those 4 definitely isn’t a strategy.

Giannis and Steph were not the Giannis and Steph you know today at 23 years old. Giannis made an enormous leap in impact and production per minute and per possession at age 24 (6th season), and Steph didn't make his big leap until he was 26 (also his 6th season I believe).

Regardless, I think hoping Tatum or Brown turns into an MVP level player is a little short of prudent. It ain’t gonna happen. I have a very hard time seeing either as the best player on a championship team.

People thought of Curry, Kawhi and Dirk at age 23 much the same way. Their progression is not finished.

I’ll grant you Dirk but not the other two. And of the teams most fortunate to eek out a championship in recent memory, the 2011 Mavs are way up on that list.

Who thought Kawhi was capable of a playoff run reminiscent of Michael Jordan when he was 23? Who thought Curry would be the first unanimous MVP when he was 23?

Nobody.

Curry was hurt and in his 3rd year when he was 23.  Curry finished 6th in MVP voting and was 2nd Team All NBA in his 5th year, which is what Tatum is at now.  In Curry's 6th year he was the league MVP, 1st Team All NBA, and led the Warriors to a championship. 

Giannis followed a similar path as Curry.  2nd Team All NBA in both his 4th and 5th year with a 6th place MVP finish in year 5.  In year 6, 1st Team All NBA, 1st Team All Defense, and won the MVP. 

At 23, Kawhi was in year 4.  He won the DPOY and finished 10th in MVP voting (1st Team Defense as well).  That was the year after he was Finals MVP at age 22 in his 3rd year.   In his 5th year, Kawhi was 1st Team All NBA, 1st Team All Defense, finished 2nd in MVP voting, and won his 2nd straight DPOY. 

I think years experience is more important than age, and in that, this seems to be the year (i.e. 5th) when players tend to really start hitting their peaks.  So if Tatum is going to be that sort of player, this is pretty much the season that is going to bear that out.  He can still peak higher like Steph and Giannis, but he isn't going to go from not an All NBA guy to MVP.  If he is going to reach the MVP level, it will be pretty darn apparent this season that he has that sort of peak, at least if he follows fairly typical trends. 

[ozgod]

Brad Stevens went on Toucher & Rich today and said that quote that footey referenced from Tim Bontemps' ESPN article was "idiotic".

Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said the suggestion that Jayson Tatum doesn’t care about winning is "absolutely ridiculous," while sounding off on a series of anonymous quotes about his team including one that suggested Tatum was more concerned with his individual stat line.

Stevens, making his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s "Toucher and Rich" program, pushed back when asked about anonymous quotes in a recent ESPN article, particularly an unnamed Eastern Conference assistant coach who suggested Tatum only cares about big scoring nights.

"If you can’t put your name on it, don’t say it,” said Stevens. "There is no way that assistant coach would put his name on that quote because, first of all, he has never been around Jayson. And, secondly, Jayson would kill him every time he played him for the rest of his career. That’s the way those guys in this league are wired ..."

“I take it with such a grain of salt. To me that line was a joke because I’m around him every day. You look at him, he plays, he’s available, he competes, he’s got a lot on his plate. He’s done a lot more in his first five years in the league than most of the league, right? Totally, totally wrong in that guy’s assessment.

“I thought that quote was absolutely ridiculous, to be honest. I don’t ever react to that stuff and I actually sent a note to one of the people I work with like, ‘This is idiotic.’ Just be around this guy every day. That guy loves to win. He’s sitting there with his feet in the ice bucket after every game that we lose and he looks despondent. This guy’s competitive. I know that for a fact. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/brad-stevens-responds-anonymous-quotes-jayson-tatum-idiotic

As for Tatum, here was his response after the Cs went to Schroder instead of him for the final shot vs. Philly.

"I seen a report the other day that said I was a selfish player. That seems pretty unselfish of me, but whatever it takes for us to win," said Tatum. "I guess more often than not it’s going to be in my hands but we play 82-something games in the regular season. There’s going to be some nights where you might need to space the floor, take the best defender away out of the action and see what we get.”

Asked after Wednesday’s win about finding ways to help the team beyond scoring and if that was satisfying, Tatum said:

"For sure, because it’s like I contributed to winning. I still dominated, still impacted the game at a high level without necessarily scoring 30 or 40 points, and still winning. Go home and sleep well tonight.”

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/brad-stevens-responds-anonymous-quotes-jayson-tatum-idiotic

[ozgod]

I wonder if the issue with Tatum is that he doesn't always show emotion (except when complaining about being fouled). If he was more like Draymond, or Smartacus, and got himself ejected a few times, would people's opinions of him change? Maybe it's because us fans (some of whom are pretty well lubed up by the time the game starts) get passionate about the game and we want the players to rage like we are raging in our lounge rooms?

What does Tatum need to do to make fans think that yes, he cares about winning and not just scoring?