The shine is off of Tatum

[byennie]

I know it wasn't Tatum's best showing, but I think Kemba going 4-18 with 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls was a little more consequential than Tatum's off night. And they'll both be fine, it's opening night on the road against a title contender.

[Rondo9]

Okay I want to go off topic talk a bit about  what's going on in the main site. The smugness of the Sixer fans on game page. Seessssshhhh.

[blink]

I want to see how Tatum goes in Game 2 of the season before writing him off. He had the right intent this game in attacking the basket and his shot chart is getting better at least - mostly 3s and shots at the rim:



The issue was his poor execution and the volume of shots he took...there were a number of ill-advised ones where he would have been better served passing. He stopped the ball too often. I think he was too keyed up and anxious to be The Man, rather than being like Gordon and letting the game come to him. Also if you're looking to pass like G was the defense has to respect that which gave G more scoring opportunities in the 2nd half. I'm hoping a night of watching film will allow JT to make the necessary adjustments. If he doesn't then the worry factor will increase for me. I have zero problem with him taking shots which are good shot options within the flow of the offense, and going iso late in the shot clock. I don't want him feeling like he's the only guy who can score and jacking up ill advised shots when there are better shots for other people.

I missed the game, but I like that shot chart

Yes, the long midrange shots are much reduced.  More to the rim which we want.

For me it was the turnovers and def stuff.  We know Tatum can score...

[GRADYCOLNON]

It's just realizing that these holes in his game haven't been sealed up.  The bobbling of the ball on drives, the unnecessary finger rolls on layups that miss off the backboard.  The slowing down offensive sets, not looking to make plays for others, forcing up shots is hard to understand especially when he is expecting to get paid a boatload of money and be the future of this team. 

 

[Rondo9]

It's just realizing that these holes in his game haven't been sealed up.  The bobbling of the ball on drives, the unnecessary finger rolls on layups that miss off the backboard.  The slowing down offensive sets, not looking to make plays for others, forcing up shots is hard to understand especially when he is expecting to get paid a boatload of money and be the future of this team.

One game! One game! All this nonsense over one game. This is going to be a long season. 

[Celtics4ever]

Embiid and is a very solid rim protector and he has Al backing him up.  Why is anyone surprised that we missed some down low shots with that?

I also think Brad Stevens coaching style plays into the loss.   Most teams pick their starters and go with it.   Brad tinkers until Dec and then we finally see what we have after he figures it out.

[Surferdad]

Yes overreaction.  Teams are game-planning to stop Tatum.  He is doubled constantly.

[Who]

Tatum sure does got a lot of Harrison Barnes / Rudy Gay in him.

It was a worrying performance. Not because the shots missed but because of his decision making leading up to the shots and his continued under-passing.

I agree that Tatum is not a sure thing. Either way, good or bad. Not a sure thing.

[Who]

I don't want him feeling like he's the only guy who can score and jacking up ill advised shots when there are better shots for other people.

I don't understand this at all (less this specific comment but common feeling among many here). The starting lineup has 5 guys who all scoring threats. Tatum is not an island yet he continues to play like he is. It is what it is - selfishness.

Nor is there any pressure on Tatum to be "the man". Kemba is "the man". Then you have shared responsibility between Hayward, Tatum and Jaylen.

Tatum hasn't been put up on some pedestal. He has been put in a strong position where there is a shared load and he can continue to grow gradually.

It is Tatum himself who keeps putting himself up on a pedestal. Keeps trying to "the man". It is him. His selfishness. His unwillingness to share the stage with his teammates. His unwillingness to wait until he develops his game more and becomes a more well-rounded offensive player. His demand that he be a 20ppg scorer.

[gpap]

Yeah, I know, he’s 21.  But I’ve seen near zero progress in his game entering his third year.  He’s talented, sure.  But he’s not super talented.  His fade-aways are really getting old.  His overall decision making is blah. 

He’s no longer a sure fire future all star, never mind a top 10 player in the league.

Am I overreacting?  Perhaps.  But bonafide stars make bigger leaps by now.  He hasn’t made one, and frankly, he’s getting to be frustrating to watch.

Agreed droop. For me, the biggest issue with Tatum is his basketball intellect. Some guys just have a feel for the game, others don't. Sure, it can be acquired, but Tatum isn't there yet. This is where I think Jaylen is advanced past Tatum as Jaylen seems to have a better feel for the game. We shall see....

[Atzar]

Agree with the OP.

Tatum is still showing the same weaknesses that he had in high school.  In particular, I really dislike his habit of freezing when he receives the ball.  It hurts the entire offense when he does this.  Coming out of his rookie season, I had hopes of him eventually patching this up.  But at this point, I really don't.

[tonydelk]

Man I'm really surprised by all of this negativity.  I actually was happy with the way Tatum Played.  He attacked the basket and shot a lot of 3's.  He hit is 3's but missed some bunnies.  If he made those and scored 30 I think these posts would be a little different.  Philly poses a ton of issues for teams.  Everyone one of their starters are 6'6 and taller.  They have major length and are very physical.  The referees were also horrible yesterday.  They let Philly use that length and be as physical as they wanted to be.  They held Boston players off screens constantly.  Tatum got fouled a few times on his drives with nothing being called while they were calling hand checks on Boston.   Just a bad day for officiating making last nights game hard to watch.  I thought Tatum attacked well.  I thought he only took a few bad shots.  16 of his 22 shots were either 3's or in the paint.   He should have shot about 6 more free throws that were not called.  I think Tatum is going to have a monster year.  That's what I saw.  I didn't see all of this negativity when you take into account who they were playing and where. 

[fairweatherfan]

1 game is obviously not enough but if you go back to last year the development isn't really where anyone hoped after that great rookie year.

Things I liked about that single small sample game: overall aggression, attacking the basket, relatively few midrange attempts, good opportunistic rebounding

Things I didn't like: the ball sticking seemingly every time it came to him (and Kemba), forcing shots in lieu of ball movement, bad turnovers, not getting to the line much (and missing 2 when we needed them), some defensive lapses


Tatum+Kemba: 12/40 from the field
Rest of starters: 16/29 

It's reasonable to be a little irked at how those two played, even if we don't want to extrapolate too much from it.

[dannyboy35]

I just want us to prioritize Hayward. Right now he’s a vastly superior player. Kemba is gonna get his usually when he wants. Hayward gets us good shots . He should be our 1st option out there. That will leave Tatum with more catch and shoot etc. easier baskets. Tatum simply isn’t good trying to break a guy down right now. If we are trying to win, Hayward has to be the man.

[Diggles]

Don't worry.... he has time to be like Winslow....  He dropped 27/7/7  so he should be an All-Star this year right?