Poll - Is Jayson Tatum closer to KD or Andrew Wiggins?

[coco]

I feel Jayson Tatum is closer to Andrew Wiggins.  Just too inconsistent.

Having said that; he is a better defender than both..


What say you?

[NKY fan]

He’s other... right in the middle lol

[Jiri Welsch]

Are you talking about today, January 11, 2020? Or are you talking about what he can potentially become?

Also: If this is on a 1-10 scale and Wiggins is, say, sitting at 5 and Durant is sitting at 10, who is an example of someone who is in between them? Is it Paul George?

Tatum will never be as good as KD. But he could potentially be a 1A/2 on a championship team (if all goes accordingly). So what should that definition of a player lead me to vote for: Wiggins or Durant?

I'm leaning toward "none of the above"

[PhoSita]

 Paul George

[ManUp]

On a scale of 1-10 

Durant 10 All Time great
George8.5 Top 15 player in NBA
Tatum 6.5 Above average starter/Fringe All star
Wiggins 4 Below average starter

So closer to Wiggins

[Birdman]

Still to early but he is not close to KD

[Monkhouse]

Let's get this straight.

KD by the age of 28, was pretty much on the way to becoming a HoFer. His career resume boasted the likes of MVP, scoring champion, 50/40/90 club, and mutiple All Team/All Stars. Despite the controversy of his decision to join the Warriors, KD was on his way to becoming something great.

Tatum is way behind on that trajectory; there's just no way you can even compare the two at all.

Tatum's game reminds me of more of a hybrid mix of Carmelo's and Paul George's game.

He's pretty fluid with the handle, but KD could always finish through contact as evidenced by his 5.5 FTA in his rookie season. KD's game was pretty well refined, and you could tell he was going to be something special offensively.

Tatum plays like a Carmelo that can defend, and has nice handles + surprising flashes of two-way play.

As for comparing him to Wiggins, I'll gladly keep Tatum over Wiggins any day. I just don't like his game at all.

[Sophomore]

I agree with Monkhouse - and I really hope he either changes his game (as Jaylen did) or is traded. He plays so much 1 on 1, doesn’t create well or make quick decisions. Watching him pull the ball out and start trying to take his man off the dribble? Not fun to watch, especially now that he still really, really struggles to finish and all too often dribbles himself into long jumpers. The occasional game-winners and dagger threes are fun, but they’re not enough. 

[Sophomore]

To balance it out - I do really appreciate his defense. So there is that.

[Monkhouse]

I agree with Monkhouse - and I really hope he either changes his game (as Jaylen did) or is traded. He plays so much 1 on 1, doesn’t create well or make quick decisions. Watching him pull the ball out and start trying to take his man off the dribble? Not fun to watch, especially now that he still really, really struggles to finish and all too often dribbles himself into long jumpers. The occasional game-winners and dagger threes are fun, but they’re not enough.

Don't get me wrong. I'm critical of Tatum, I do believe a lot of his shots and certain parts of game require more practice. But... He's still 21. In no universe, do I ever want to see Tatum get traded right now... As much as we complain about his deficiencies, Tatum has improved across the board statistically.

Yes, he dribbles a lot, and takes tough jumpers. But people forget the sole purpose after the end of last year, that we were going to finally re-build, and re-tool. No more Irving, free the Jays, and let's go young, expectations were lowered. This year would be to give the keys to the Jay's, and see what happens. I can't pretend like I'm not impressed about 21/7/3 on 42/35/82 at the age of 21, while being in the top 4 seed in the East. (Which is no joke compared to last year.)

Right now, we're 25-11, and last year we were 25-16, so we were 5 games worse last year. I'll take that.

Even if we replaced Irving with Walker, we essentially got a little worse in terms of the roster, by losing Horford in roster talent. But the Jays have stepped up to the plate, and you need to give Tatum reps. I truly believe he has the potential to be like  26/8/4 kind of guy. Paul George kind of numbers.

The sky is the limit for Tatum, but it's on him to improve his ball handling, and finishing better which tides into his strength conditioning to absorb contact more.

[Sophomore]

Yeah. My preferred option is that he evolves his game. The growth in Jaylen’s game has been really encouraging, so why not JT too.

I just hope Jayson wants to level up in a way that makes him a better team leader and player on offense.

[SHAQATTACK]

Paul George

agree, once he is more consistent,  i think this is close .  Smooth , relaxed , quiet thinker with a deadly shot and moves to bucket .

[Jiri Welsch]

To balance it out - I do really appreciate his defense. So there is that.

I am greedy and want him to be able to contest shots at the rim every now and then.

[Jvalin]

The way I see it, his floor is Tobias Harris and his ceiling is Carmelo Anthony.

I see a bit of Andrew Wiggins in Brown (on the offensive side of the ball).

Imo, KD has no place in this discussion.

[Rosco917]

What bothers me is his shooting percentage has gone down each year since his rookie year, yet he keeps taking more shots. Frankly, what it looks like is that Tatum isn't a very good shooter. Numbers don't lie. It doesn't mean that he doesn't have good games, yet he's inconsistent.

He's slow to evaluate the floor because he doesn't even look, sometimes having blinders on while looking for his own opportunity. Unfortunately this mindset has spread throughout the team. You have players going one on one because they feel they'll never see the ball again if they don't. It's a "my turn" mentality.

He needs to tighten up his ball handle skills something fierce or he will go no farther in his development. All his turnover are off the dribble, seldom the pass.

I like his defense, he works at it. I like his ability to find a shot almost anytime he wishes, it's special. I know...I know he's young. Yet, I look around the NBA and see players who are "getting it" by showing more consistency.

When he decided to spend the summer with Kobe, that decision expressed volumes about what he thought about himself as a mire second year player. He was getting a waaaay ahead of himself IMO.

 What he should have done is work on his skills and visit Larry Bird.

Sorry...more Wiggins right now.