Jayson Tatum looks fantastic - breakout season?

[droopdog7]

If Tatum is the real deal he BETTER break out this year.  You tend to see large jumps early in the career of super stars.  We'll know this year whether Tatum can be placed on that pedestal.

[Hoopvortex]

His best bucket was the only one you didn't post. I don't think it's in those highlights. He beat his man with a wicked spin then maneuvered around John Collins for a left handed layup. All star stuff.

Found it. First highlight here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1cH-KhUwg&t=3s

Tatum has been working with Drew Hanlen this off-season:

Driving and getting downhill through contact and being able to finish around the rim is our No. 1 focus,” Hanlen said. “And then consistency when he’s shooting off the dribble or off a full-speed move from the 3-point line. Those are our two things, just getting to the rim and drawing fouls, and finishing when you do get to the rim, and then consistency with threes. We just want him to be more efficient, and we think he will be. He’s as locked in as I’ve ever seen him. He’s very, very locked in.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

His best bucket was the only one you didn't post. I don't think it's in those highlights. He beat his man with a wicked spin then maneuvered around John Collins for a left handed layup. All star stuff.

Found it. First highlight here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1cH-KhUwg&t=3s

Tatum has been working with Drew Hanlen this off-season:

Driving and getting downhill through contact and being able to finish around the rim is our No. 1 focus,” Hanlen said. “And then consistency when he’s shooting off the dribble or off a full-speed move from the 3-point line. Those are our two things, just getting to the rim and drawing fouls, and finishing when you do get to the rim, and then consistency with threes. We just want him to be more efficient, and we think he will be. He’s as locked in as I’ve ever seen him. He’s very, very locked in.

He has been working with him since the age of 15 or 16 IIRC.

[Hoopvortex]

His best bucket was the only one you didn't post. I don't think it's in those highlights. He beat his man with a wicked spin then maneuvered around John Collins for a left handed layup. All star stuff.

Found it. First highlight here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT1cH-KhUwg&t=3s

Tatum has been working with Drew Hanlen this off-season:

Driving and getting downhill through contact and being able to finish around the rim is our No. 1 focus,” Hanlen said. “And then consistency when he’s shooting off the dribble or off a full-speed move from the 3-point line. Those are our two things, just getting to the rim and drawing fouls, and finishing when you do get to the rim, and then consistency with threes. We just want him to be more efficient, and we think he will be. He’s as locked in as I’ve ever seen him. He’s very, very locked in.

He has been working with him since the age of 15 or 16 IIRC.

Yes.  I wanted to make the point that that great highlight posted by ETNCeltics was a perfect example of what Hanlen said they had been working on: finishing through contact and drawing a foul.

[Fierce1]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

[rondofan1255]

career high

couldn't find a main thread - the merged one is from June 2018: https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=88001.0

and de-mamba-ing thread: https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=101372.0

[ozgod]

He was having an up and down game until the 4th when he flipped a switch and everything he did turned to gold. If he can bottle that (except for 2 of the last 3 shots when he was obviously trying to get to 40) he'll be an All Star this year. Defensively he was solid as well. This was classic Tatum - irresistible, infuriating and intriguing all in one game.

[droopdog7]

Obviously Tatum was hot tonight.  Definitely shows flashes.  Let’s hope he can continue to polish his game.  As he gets older, he’s going to need to be able to get to the line if he’s to become a true star.  Otherwise his efficiency will never get to where it needs to be.

[smokeablount]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

I think when he's at his best he looks and somewhat plays like PG13, but I'm not sure if you're calling him PP2.0 as a comp or because he's PP's kind of heir apparent on the Celtics.

I'm curious if anyone has a better single-player comp than PG13.  I'd definitely take that, Tatum peaking as a top 3 MVP vote getter would make us a true championship contender.

[Somebody]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

I think when he's at his best he looks and somewhat plays like PG13, but I'm not sure if you're calling him PP2.0 as a comp or because he's PP's kind of heir apparent on the Celtics.

I'm curious if anyone has a better single-player comp than PG13.  I'd definitely take that, Tatum peaking as a top 3 MVP vote getter would make us a true championship contender.

I think Pierce is a pretty good comparison for Tatum, Paul George is quite a different imo (elite 3 and D guy with explosive shot creation, Tatum's strengths are a bit different as a low scalability volume scorer who plays elite help defence but isn't much better than average at man defence).

[smokeablount]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

I think when he's at his best he looks and somewhat plays like PG13, but I'm not sure if you're calling him PP2.0 as a comp or because he's PP's kind of heir apparent on the Celtics.

I'm curious if anyone has a better single-player comp than PG13.  I'd definitely take that, Tatum peaking as a top 3 MVP vote getter would make us a true championship contender.

I think Pierce is a pretty good comparison for Tatum, Paul George is quite a different imo (elite 3 and D guy with explosive shot creation, Tatum's strengths are a bit different as a low scalability volume scorer who plays elite help defence but isn't much better than average at man defence).

Pierce was a herky jerky offensive player whose length was far from elite, who was a much better passer than Tatum but never had the defensive impact metrics in his whole career that JT has at 21.  He was a great player but I feel these key differences make them look much different to me.

When Tatum plays like he does tonight, he looks more like what you described accurately about PG13 than Pierce, except I agree about the help defense vs. man defense to a degree.

Also, and this is the key part, he's 21.  Maybe 2-3 21-year olds in history have been as good as PG13 has been since coming to OKC and now the Clips.  I think if Tatum hits his peak, I'm seeing more PG13 than Pierce.  Beyond those comps, I haven't seen a lot of others except KD-lite, and I don't think it makes sense to compare him to KD at this point.

[liam]

Obviously Tatum was hot tonight.  Definitely shows flashes.  Let’s hope he can continue to polish his game.  As he gets older, he’s going to need to be able to get to the line if he’s to become a true star.  Otherwise his efficiency will never get to where it needs to be.

He already gets fouled a lot, now he just needs to get some calls.

[Fierce1]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

I think when he's at his best he looks and somewhat plays like PG13, but I'm not sure if you're calling him PP2.0 as a comp or because he's PP's kind of heir apparent on the Celtics.

I'm curious if anyone has a better single-player comp than PG13.  I'd definitely take that, Tatum peaking as a top 3 MVP vote getter would make us a true championship contender.

Heir apparent on the Celts.

Tatum's individual defense is not on par with PG13.

[Fierce1]

Obviously Tatum was hot tonight.  Definitely shows flashes.  Let’s hope he can continue to polish his game.  As he gets older, he’s going to need to be able to get to the line if he’s to become a true star.  Otherwise his efficiency will never get to where it needs to be.

He already gets fouled a lot, now he just needs to get some calls.

That was the same problem Paul Pierce had early in his career.
The refs were not giving him the calls in his first couple of years in the league.

I think it's just a matter of time when getting to the FT line becomes a staple of Jayson Tatum's offense.

[smokeablount]

JT had 22 points in the 4th quarter against the Hornets.

He outscored the whole Hornets team 22-16 in the 4th.

If there's going to be another Celtic going to the All-Star game this season, it's Jayson Tatum.

Jayson Tatum is living up to the potential of being Paul Pierce 2.0.

And he's only 21 years old!

I think when he's at his best he looks and somewhat plays like PG13, but I'm not sure if you're calling him PP2.0 as a comp or because he's PP's kind of heir apparent on the Celtics.

I'm curious if anyone has a better single-player comp than PG13.  I'd definitely take that, Tatum peaking as a top 3 MVP vote getter would make us a true championship contender.

Heir apparent on the Celts.

Tatum's individual defense is not on par with PG13.

Agreed.  It will get better but it's pretty much certain that it won't get that good.