Tatum's regression

[moiso]

He did not get stronger.... no muscle mass. .too soft. He need to go on the GA strength program.

The slightest amount of body contact causes him to miss layups far too often.  I think that bugs me even more than his long two's.  I end up saying "too weak!" to the television a few times every game.

[Csfan1984]

I agree not really a regression in terms of skill but his shot selection did regress and he wasn't dialed in on man to man defense. He has to get scouting reports on who is out there because he has no clue how to guard some guys. He is a good help defender though so I don't think it's effort.

[Celtics4ever]

Blame it on Kobe and getting success to easy as a rookie.  He think he is the " I 'm the Man Club"   but this is not even remotely true.

[JBcat]

He did not get stronger.... no muscle mass. .too soft. He need to go on the GA strength program.

The slightest amount of body contact causes him to miss layups far too often.  I think that bugs me even more than his long two's.  I end up saying "too weak!" to the television a few times every game.

I agree.  He is so young that maybe he’ll get better at absorbing contact.  I’m not sure if he regressed, but more like flatlined and didn’t improve a whole lot.

Saying that though projecting out 5 years from now who are the best wings in the league? Durant will be 36, Leonard and George the end of their primes.  Our Brown, maybe Hayward will be very good at 34, Barrett, Ingram if his career isn’t over, Giannis but you could classify him as a big, Doncic, Beal if you think of him as a wing, and I’m having a hard time thinking of much else. Tatum should be there among the best.

[mctyson]

He was one of the worst ISO players in the league and he loves ISO basketball.  So there is that.

[jambr380]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Thank you for posting these stats. I am sick of hearing about Tatum's 'regression' when that's not what happened at all. I know people wanted to see an explosion in his 2nd year, but that was never going to happen with so many mouths to feed.

He is still the top asset that any team is offering for AD and the Pels/their fans seem to love him (seriously go check out their boards). If he puts in the work, he has all the makings for perennial All-Star.

[Birdman]

Kyrie is why tatum was down this season

[Fafnir]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Yeah, even his playoff numbers were pretty similar to last year. He just shot worse, but the whole team couldn't get good looks against the Bucks soo....

[td450]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Thank you for posting these stats. I am sick of hearing about Tatum's 'regression' when that's not what happened at all. I know people wanted to see an explosion in his 2nd year, but that was never going to happen with so many mouths to feed.

He is still the top asset that any team is offering for AD and the Pels/their fans seem to love him (seriously go check out their boards). If he puts in the work, he has all the makings for perennial All-Star.

A 6 percentage point drop in 3 point shooting is not trivial. It's about the same as the difference between Darren Collison and Klay Thompson. It seems odd to claim it does not show a regression.

We all expected a 19 year old rookie to improve with another full year of experience and development, and yet he did perform somewhat worse on both offense and defense. It was not a collapse, but not encouraging either.

His number one priority should be to learn to finish well going left. Right now, defenders have figured out they can force him left and disable his driving game. He still will likely be a volume scorer and an all-star. The early hopes that he had MVP potential are probably a bit much.

The other issue is scoring in the 5-15 foot range, which most great wing scorers do easily. It is almost impossible to stop a patient 6'9 player with a good handle from getting clean looks in that range. You can't always get all the way to the rim, but you can almost always get an 8 footer off the backboard.

[Somebody]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Thank you for posting these stats. I am sick of hearing about Tatum's 'regression' when that's not what happened at all. I know people wanted to see an explosion in his 2nd year, but that was never going to happen with so many mouths to feed.

He is still the top asset that any team is offering for AD and the Pels/their fans seem to love him (seriously go check out their boards). If he puts in the work, he has all the makings for perennial All-Star.

A 6 percentage point drop in 3 point shooting is not trivial. It's about the same as the difference between Darren Collison and Klay Thompson. It seems odd to claim it does not show a regression.

We all expected a 19 year old rookie to improve with another full year of experience and development, and yet he did perform somewhat worse on both offense and defense. It was not a collapse, but not encouraging either.

His number one priority should be to learn to finish well going left. Right now, defenders have figured out they can force him left and disable his driving game. He still will likely be a volume scorer and an all-star. The early hopes that he had MVP potential are probably a bit much.

The other issue is scoring in the 5-15 foot range, which most great wing scorers do easily. It is almost impossible to stop a patient 6'9 player with a good handle from getting clean looks in that range. You can't always get all the way to the rim, but you can almost always get an 8 footer off the backboard.

Coughs golden boy in Milwaukee with his extra steps and elbows does that easily lol

[ETNCeltics]

I'm disappointed with Tatum's regression, but not overly so. The whole year was just poison. Blame it on Morris and Rozier wanting to get paid, Kyrie's wierdness, Hayward still trying to play his way back, whatever. It all just didn't fit together, and when it mattered, almost no one played near their best. Whatever the reason was, it all didn't work, and Tatum wasn't able to rise above it....and neither was anyone else.

I'm still hopeful he can be a superstar.

[Moranis]

Tatum did not regress.  He improved almost across the board.

[bdm860]

Tatums scoring was per game 13 pts last year 15 pts this year, 5 rbs last year, 6rbs this year, 49% FG last year 48% this year, FT% 82% last 85% this, 3pt 43% last year 37% this year, Ast 1 last year 2 this year I'm not seeing a regression. The only step back I see is that 3pt % but 37% is still quite good.

Yeah, even his playoff numbers were pretty similar to last year. He just shot worse, but the whole team couldn't get good looks against the Bucks soo....

Part of it's probably how it all played out.  He seemed to get better as rookie, going out on a high note in the playoffs vs this year kind of playing worse at the end of the year and going out with a dud performance.

As a rookie he went 14ppg from Oct-Nov, dropped to <12ppg in Jan-Feb. Then hit 17ppg in March, followed by 16ppg vs the Bucks, 24ppg vs the Sixers, and 18ppg vs the Cavs (with a monster Game 7 dunk on LeBron).

So a lot of people went into the season thinking the C's would be getting 24ppg-vs-Sixers Tatum, or at least 18ppg-vs-Cavs Tatum this year.  What they got was:  16ppg from Oct-Feb, dropping down to <14ppg in March-Apr. Oh wait he's back and flipped the switch putting up 19ppg against IND, only to go out with a measly 12ppg on 36% shooting in a demoralizing short series to the Bucks.  He put up 20+ points in 10 games during last years playoffs, vs only 2 this year.

It's the Celtics+Tatum doing so much better than expected in the '18 playoffs vs so much worse than expected in the '19 playoffs that makes it look like regression, even though his overall stats for the season mostly improved.

[Monkhouse]

Kyrie is why tatum was down this season

There is no way you can know that.

I don't think anyone is strictly to blame.

It's a team game.

[jambr380]

Kyrie is why tatum was down this season

People do realize Kyrie was an All-Star and Boston's best player during Tatum's rookie year, as well, right?

A 6 percentage point drop in 3 point shooting is not trivial. It's about the same as the difference between Darren Collison and Klay Thompson. It seems odd to claim it does not show a regression.

We all expected a 19 year old rookie to improve with another full year of experience and development, and yet he did perform somewhat worse on both offense and defense. It was not a collapse, but not encouraging either.

His number one priority should be to learn to finish well going left. Right now, defenders have figured out they can force him left and disable his driving game. He still will likely be a volume scorer and an all-star. The early hopes that he had MVP potential are probably a bit much.

The other issue is scoring in the 5-15 foot range, which most great wing scorers do easily. It is almost impossible to stop a patient 6'9 player with a good handle from getting clean looks in that range. You can't always get all the way to the rim, but you can almost always get an 8 footer off the backboard.

I think we all wanted Tatum to have a 2nd year explosion, but it is understandable why he did not. There were a lot of players on this team that needed shots so everybody - except Kyrie - sacrificed in that department. Give him a team where he is [officially] one of the top 2 options and he should easily surpass 20ppg. And I doubt his efficiency takes too much of a hit - it is just too easy for him to get a quality shot off.

As for the 6% drop, I realize it is a little concerning, but most everybody said coming into the year that his 43% during his rookie year was not sustainable - I guess they were right. No big deal, Tatum is obviously a very talented scorer in every way, including 3pt shooting.