Tatum is Player of the Month

[Moranis]

We’ve really got something in Tatum. Hard to ask for more from him. To boot he’s been composed and poised ever since he came in the league, never a headcase. He’s incredibly mature — not just for his age, but for anyone. On the court this season he has left very little to be desired. He has virtually no flaws in his game. And incredibly durable.

This man is in Year 6. Multiple All-star, multiple all-NBA, multiple ECF appearances, NBA finals, and this year more accolades to come. I hope he spends a long time as a Celtic, because I think he can make the franchise Mt Rushmore when it’s all said and done.

I’ve watched the majority of Pierce’s career. And I vividly remember IT’s magical season. What Tatum is doing is closer to what I envision it was like watching Bird nightly. He’s special already, and only getting better.

it's more like IT's magical season than what Bird did.  Bird did it all from day one and did it all at an incredible level.

Tatum has been Boston's most important player and the most impactful player to winning since he was a rookie.  A 19 year old rookie.  Bird turned 23 during his rookie year

As a rookie, Bird also carried his team to 32 more wins than the prior year.  He won a title the following season.

It’s revisionist to argue Tatum was the most important / most impactful player in 2018, though.

Tatum had the best on/off differential on the team during the regular season and only Horford was better in the playoffs.  Now Horford and Brown were both close to Tatum in the regular season, so if you wanted to argue Horford was the most impactful player, you can, but Horford missed 10 games and Boston went 8-2. 

I absolutely maintain, and have for years, that Tatum is the most important person to Boston's success.  I think I've been the leader of the Tatum bandwagon since that first season (maybe early in year 2) when it was very clear to me just how impactful and how good Tatum could become.  I was one of the few posters that argued from basically the beginning that Irving's impact was greatly overstated and he didn't really matter to the overall success of the team.  I was abused for 2 years for that stance, but I was pretty clearly correct then as we saw when we replaced Irving with the lesser player that was Walker, while also losing Horford, only to see the team get better.

The Celtics have been Tatum's team from the moment he stepped foot on the floor.  He was that impactful during his rookie year and every year since.  Boston goes as Tatum goes. 

[Vermont Green]

Yeah, Tatum has developed into a terrific player.  Top 5 in the league, MVP discussion worth, all that is fair and great for the Celtics.  But Bird had something extra.  I don't know how to quantify that with advanced stats or whatever, but I am old enough to have been able to watch Bird and he simply was better, could do more.  Was harder to stop.

Now to compare Tatum to Pierce or Havlicek, sure, that is fair.  I think Tatum has now passed these guys in terms of individual performance.  It is always hard to compare players from different eras and that is what we are trying to do here.  Even my memory of Havlicek is a little foggy.  Anything before him is even harder for me.

IT is not in the same league in my mind.  He had one season that was right there with pretty much any season anyone had.  But all these others had 10 or more seasons like that (Tatum will soon enough). 

[Surferdad]

That's a great month for the Celtics in terms of awards.  Tatum is POTM, Mazz is COTM, and Smart is the Community Cares winner.

and Luka Samanic has been named G League Player of the Month.