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

[droopdog7]

Offensively, this season for Tatum (3rd, age 21) is very similar to Wiggins 3rd season, age 21.  Both of which are a bit better than Paul George's 3rd season, age 22.  Their per-36 stats are below and all 3 of them have a TS% between 53-54%.  Durant was in another world at that age offensively and isn't even worth comparing.

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Rk           Player  Season Age  G GS   MP  FG  FGA  FG%  3P 3PA  3P%  2P  2PA  2P%  FT FTA  FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV  PF  PTS
1       Paul George 2012-13  22 79 79 2972 6.0 14.2 .419 2.1 5.7 .362 3.9  8.6 .457 2.7 3.3 .807 1.1 6.2 7.3 4.0 1.7 0.6 2.8 2.7 16.7
2      Jayson Tatum 2019-20  21 37 37 1261 8.2 19.1 .430 2.5 6.9 .364 5.7 12.2 .467 3.6 4.1 .862 1.1 6.2 7.3 3.0 1.5 0.9 2.3 2.2 22.5
3    Andrew Wiggins 2016-17  21 82 82 3048 8.4 18.5 .452 1.2 3.4 .356 7.2 15.1 .473 4.9 6.4 .760 1.2 2.7 3.9 2.2 1.0 0.4 2.2 2.2 22.8

Defensively, Tatum is better than Wiggins at that age, but not as good as Paul George at that age.

So overall, Paul George is a fair comparison as Tatum is about as better offensively as he is worse defensively at this age.  However, PG made a big leap in year 4.  Tatum will have to improve a little bit offensively and defensively next season in order to keep up with PG.

According to these stats, Tatum is considerably better offensively than George in their respective 3rd years. Tatum should up his efficiency, but I don't think he needs to make a huge jump. I also think Tatum has been awesome on defense this year. I realize that has always been one of George's things, but Tatum is sneakily one of the better wing/swing defenders in the league - he is so smart on that end of the floor.

And I say all of this as somebody who 'likes' Brown more.

I think you’re conveniently ignoring that Wiggins was right about where Tatum is at the same age.  That’s still a possibility.  And tatums efficiency has been going down, not up.  How do you assume it will go up?

I think others have made some solid points above me, but stats don't tell the whole story and guys like Wiggins, Booker, and Lavine (up to the 3rd years of their respective careers) just weren't anywhere near the same level as Tatum. None of them contributed to winning basketball and all 3 were (are) very sub-par defenders.

It's great that those guys can get points, but Tatum's size, versatility, and almost elite level defensive skills put him in a higher class than those guys. It's just not a contest.

I agree to a degree.  Tatum definitely showing a knack for team defense and getting into passing lanes.  We'll see over time how repeatble, consistent, and impactful it will be.

I tend to disagree on the contribution to winning basketball, at least at this point.  Tatum clearly has a better team (which opens up other discussions I know).  If he were in the same situation as those other guys I'm not convinced that his team would do much better. 

Tatum still not completely polished but he has warts.  Sure, he looks good when all his shots go in but who doesn't?  His efficiency is still not very good and one can begin to reasonably ask themselves what his path forward is toward improvement.  The best way would be to start getting to the line more often, but we'll see how that goes.

[nickagneta]

Jayson started the year pretty inefficiently but since 11-29-19 has played 20 games and has shooting splits of 45.4/37.7/90.5 with a TS% of 56.5%.

Overall, for the year he has been below average in his efficiency, but since Thanksgiving Tatum's efficiency has become a bit above average and is trending up.

[vjcsmoke]

I believe the power game will come to Tatum in time.  I’ve noticed his shoulders look broader and more muscular this season.  As he puts on more weight and strength Tatum will become even more unstoppable.  He Already has a fine base of shooting and an ideal 6’8 frame for a scoring small forward.  Have faith and patience.  It will be rewarded.

25/3/6 with 45/40/90 is doable for JT.  Give him some time.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I believe the power game will come to Tatum in time.  I’ve noticed his shoulders look broader and more muscular this season.  As he puts on more weight and strength Tatum will become even more unstoppable.  He Already has a fine base of shooting and an ideal 6’8 frame for a scoring small forward.  Have faith and patience.  It will be rewarded.

25/3/6 with 45/40/90 is doable for JT.  Give him some time.

He's not that far from that now. If he starts hitting his three with a bit more frequency (especially the open ones), he'd be doing that.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

How are any of us supposed to know whom Tatum is closer friends with?

TP

Gracias! I'm glad someone appreciates my humor.

[moiso]

I believe the power game will come to Tatum in time.  I’ve noticed his shoulders look broader and more muscular this season.  As he puts on more weight and strength Tatum will become even more unstoppable.  He Already has a fine base of shooting and an ideal 6’8 frame for a scoring small forward.  Have faith and patience.  It will be rewarded.

25/3/6 with 45/40/90 is doable for JT.  Give him some time.

Yeah, he he's put on a lot of muscle since we drafted him.  Bigger everywhere- shoulders, arms, legs, he even has a bubble butt now.  He looks like he will be a beast physically in another year or two.  It's a long way from the guy who was too weak to finish in traffic in the past.

[gouki88]

Jayson started the year pretty inefficiently but since 11-29-19 has played 20 games and has shooting splits of 45.4/37.7/90.5 with a TS% of 56.5%.

Overall, for the year he has been below average in his efficiency, but since Thanksgiving Tatum's efficiency has become a bit above average and is trending up.

22/7/3/1.5/1 on that efficiency is pretty awesome for a 21 year old on a winning team. His defence continues to impress too, which was my biggest worry going into the season after the playoff debacle

[Fierce1]

Clearly the effect of Tatum's absence was felt in the loss to the Pistons.

Scalabrine said Celts miss Tatum on the defensive end.

Tatum is becoming a 2-way star player in the NBA.

[Moranis]

I get it is 1 game, but I was afraid of this happening without Tatum.  He is BY FAR the most important player to Boston's success this year (by virtually every metric that accounts for the scoreboard in some way).  The team is absolutely horrid at PF without him (and given he is best as a SF, it is a real roster flaw).  Tatum needs to play or Boston has real issues.   

[RockinRyA]

I get it is 1 game, but I was afraid of this happening without Tatum.  He is BY FAR the most important player to Boston's success this year (by virtually every metric that accounts for the scoreboard in some way).  The team is absolutely horrid at PF without him (and given he is best as a SF, it is a real roster flaw).  Tatum needs to play or Boston has real issues.   

We dont have a true superstar. So anytime 2 of our all star caliber players has an off game, its trouble for us. Doesnt help that aside from kanter who cannot really create on his own, we dont have anyone who can share the load from the bench.

[droopdog7]

Clearly the effect of Tatum's absence was felt in the loss to the Pistons.

Scalabrine said Celts miss Tatum on the defensive end.

Tatum is becoming a 2-way star player in the NBA.

Overreaction.  We’ve lost games like this with Tatum.  Losing without him was nothing but a coincidence.

[Fierce1]

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/celtics-pistons-takeaways-no-tatum-problem-cs-loss-detroit

Tatum’s absence wasn’t the only issue impacting the Celtics, but there’s no getting around the impact he has made as a scorer and defender on this team, this season.

[Celtics4ever]

Overreaction.  We’ve lost games like this with Tatum.  Losing without him was nothing but a coincidence.

I certainly missed his play on the court and you can bet his team mates and CBS did as well.  If memory serves, did Gorman say something to the effect that we lost more when Tatum was out and the whole team was not resting.

I find the game hard to watch at times without, and I never realized that until last night.   Still we played bad across the board.  I think teams packed in on us when Smart and Grant were in the game at the same time and it hurt our spacing.

Hayward was hot as hell and CBS rested him just as we were closing the gap.   Sometimes I feel we coach ourselves out of the games by over thinking.

[action781]

Overreaction.  We’ve lost games like this with Tatum.  Losing without him was nothing but a coincidence.

I certainly missed his play on the court and you can bet his team mates and CBS did as well.  If memory serves, did Gorman say something to the effect that we lost more when Tatum was out and the whole team was not resting.

I find the game hard to watch at times without, and I never realized that until last night.   Still we played bad across the board.  I think teams packed in on us when Smart and Grant were in the game at the same time and it hurt our spacing.

Hayward was hot as hell and CBS rested him just as we were closing the gap.   Sometimes I feel we coach ourselves out of the games by over thinking.

I like Tatum's defense, but don't think Tatum was going to simultaneously guard Derrick Rose, Doumbouya, Markieff Morris, and that white guy all game.  I don't think his absence was the lone factor in us losing.  Detroit played very well and didn't miss.

[Donoghus]

Overreaction.  We’ve lost games like this with Tatum.  Losing without him was nothing but a coincidence.

I certainly missed his play on the court and you can bet his team mates and CBS did as well.  If memory serves, did Gorman say something to the effect that we lost more when Tatum was out and the whole team was not resting.

I find the game hard to watch at times without, and I never realized that until last night.   Still we played bad across the board.  I think teams packed in on us when Smart and Grant were in the game at the same time and it hurt our spacing.

Hayward was hot as hell and CBS rested him just as we were closing the gap.   Sometimes I feel we coach ourselves out of the games by over thinking.

I like Tatum's defense, but don't think Tatum was going to simultaneously guard Derrick Rose, Doumbouya, Markieff Morris, and that white guy all game.  I don't think his absence was the lone factor in us losing.  Detroit played very well and didn't miss.

The listlessness on the defensive end was probably the major factor in the Celtics losing last night.  Probably their worst effort of the season.