The shine is off of Tatum

[DefenseWinsChamps]

The thing about Tatum that irks me is he cannot make layups to save his life! Somebody is going to come in and quote his field goal percentage at the rim but i know what i see. He misses more point blank/wide open layups than just about anyone i've ever seen. He has no touch going to the hoop. Siakam on the other hand, rarely misses layups, even the contested ones. If Tatum is still missing point blank layups in year 3 that is a cause for concern in my eyes, because those are the easiest points you're going to get other than free throws.

Tatum is the king of million dollar move 10 cent finish. If he wants to make a leap, he needs to become a better finisher at the rim period.

Basketball reference says 62% his rookie season and 68% his sophomore season on shots from 0-3 feet. That's higher than Paul George averages.

[Spicoli]

The thing about Tatum that irks me is he cannot make layups to save his life! Somebody is going to come in and quote his field goal percentage at the rim but i know what i see. He misses more point blank/wide open layups than just about anyone i've ever seen. He has no touch going to the hoop. Siakam on the other hand, rarely misses layups, even the contested ones. If Tatum is still missing point blank layups in year 3 that is a cause for concern in my eyes, because those are the easiest points you're going to get other than free throws.

Tatum is the king of million dollar move 10 cent finish. If he wants to make a leap, he needs to become a better finisher at the rim period.

Basketball reference says 62% his rookie season and 68% his sophomore season on shots from 0-3 feet. That's higher than Paul George averages.

I've never seen Paul George miss wide open/point blank layups. Tatum has at least 1 a game by my eye test.

[PhoSita]

The thing about Tatum that irks me is he cannot make layups to save his life! Somebody is going to come in and quote his field goal percentage at the rim but i know what i see. He misses more point blank/wide open layups than just about anyone i've ever seen. He has no touch going to the hoop. Siakam on the other hand, rarely misses layups, even the contested ones. If Tatum is still missing point blank layups in year 3 that is a cause for concern in my eyes, because those are the easiest points you're going to get other than free throws.

Tatum is the king of million dollar move 10 cent finish. If he wants to make a leap, he needs to become a better finisher at the rim period.

Basketball reference says 62% his rookie season and 68% his sophomore season on shots from 0-3 feet. That's higher than Paul George averages.

I've never seen Paul George miss wide open/point blank layups. Tatum has at least 1 a game by my eye test.

For his career PG takes 20% of his shots from 0-3 feet.  He cashes about 63% of those looks.

Tatum takes about 29% of his shots from 0-3 and cashes about 65% of them.



Big difference is George takes about 40% of his shots from deep whereas Tatum takes only about 30% of his shots from beyond the arc.

[keevsnick]

The thing about Tatum that irks me is he cannot make layups to save his life! Somebody is going to come in and quote his field goal percentage at the rim but i know what i see. He misses more point blank/wide open layups than just about anyone i've ever seen. He has no touch going to the hoop. Siakam on the other hand, rarely misses layups, even the contested ones. If Tatum is still missing point blank layups in year 3 that is a cause for concern in my eyes, because those are the easiest points you're going to get other than free throws.

Tatum is the king of million dollar move 10 cent finish. If he wants to make a leap, he needs to become a better finisher at the rim period.

Basketball reference says 62% his rookie season and 68% his sophomore season on shots from 0-3 feet. That's higher than Paul George averages.

I've never seen Paul George miss wide open/point blank layups. Tatum has at least 1 a game by my eye test.

For his career PG takes 20% of his shots from 0-3 feet.  He cashes about 63% of those looks.

Tatum takes about 29% of his shots from 0-3 and cashes about 65% of them.



Big difference is George takes about 40% of his shots from deep whereas Tatum takes only about 30% of his shots from beyond the arc.

In Georges third season George scored 17.4 on 42/36/81. Could totally see Tatum matching or exceeding those numbers at what would be about 10 months younger. I think George is a better defender by a pretty good margin but still, I think George is a good target for Tatum.

[cman88]

Tough crowd for a guy who has scored 25 and 10 both games.

He shot  about 50% from 3 last night....but he missed some bunny's near the rim. Otherwise, I like that hes focusing more on 3's and in the paint this season. That is something his trainer stressed this year.

He will start to hit those shots in the paint as he did last year. I doubt he is going to shoot 36% all season.

[Birdman]

Tatum will be an borderline All-Star so i take that anytime

[Big333223]

23.0/9.5/3.0/2.5 and he's hitting more than half of his three's through 2 games.

Ship this bum out.

[dreamgreen]

23.0/9.5/3.0/2.5 and he's hitting more than half of his three's through 2 games.

Ship this bum out.

hehehehe

[KGs Knee]

Tatum clearly has holes in his game still, at times has tunnel vision and a bit of a black hole mentality, but he absolutely is the player with the most promise on this team.  I've been content with his overall play so far.

[Tr1boy]

Tatum clearly has holes in his game still, at times has tunnel vision and a bit of a black hole mentality, but he absolutely is the player with the most promise on this team.  I've been content with his overall play so far.

maybe

I think both Brown and Tatum have similar ceilings

Tatum needs to work on simplifying his game ... a floater to his arsenal would be awesome also

but there is no denying when stress increases, Tatum is able to rise to the occasion.  He hit some tough moment shots last night

[Surferdad]

Tough crowd for a guy who has scored 25 and 10 both games.

He shot  about 50% from 3 last night....but he missed some bunny's near the rim. Otherwise, I like that hes focusing more on 3's and in the paint this season. That is something his trainer stressed this year.

He will start to hit those shots in the paint as he did last year. I doubt he is going to shoot 36% all season.

Most of the thread was from before Game 2.

[Somebody]

I rewatched the next three quarters and I have to say that Tatum cleaned up his game quite a bit after that iffy first quarter, he made some nice passes that he was missing as well as not taking crazy floaters from the elbow or FT line. I'm okay with his performances so far, but I'm quite concerned with his decision making and strength (he really needs a bit more muscle to start moving bodies out of the way when he attacks the paint, 15-20 pounds of extra muscle would do wonders for him).

[Fierce1]

I rewatched the next three quarters and I have to say that Tatum cleaned up his game quite a bit after that iffy first quarter, he made some nice passes that he was missing as well as not taking crazy floaters from the elbow or FT line. I'm okay with his performances so far, but I'm quite concerned with his decision making and strength (he really needs a bit more muscle to start moving bodies out of the way when he attacks the paint, 15-20 pounds of extra muscle would do wonders for him).

Again, he's just 21 years old.

Only 21 years old and he's already this good?

Tatum is one of those who scores with ease.

It won't be long before he makes All-NBA Team.

[Sophomore]

I rewatched the next three quarters and I have to say that Tatum cleaned up his game quite a bit after that iffy first quarter, he made some nice passes that he was missing as well as not taking crazy floaters from the elbow or FT line. I'm okay with his performances so far, but I'm quite concerned with his decision making and strength (he really needs a bit more muscle to start moving bodies out of the way when he attacks the paint, 15-20 pounds of extra muscle would do wonders for him).

Again, he's just 21 years old.

Only 21 years old and he's already this good?

Tatum is one of those who scores with ease.

It won't be long before he makes All-NBA Team.

Good reminder about his age. And it's nice to see him working hard. You see the changes in his game each offseason and you know he's not content to stand still.

The new thing that seems most in place is shooting a three off a step-back or side-dribble. He doesn't need to be stationary, catch and shoot.

His instinct is to attack and he usually seems to get by his first defender - more decisive than he was, not staring at the man for 3-5 seconds - using the screen or snaking. Now it's a matter of figuring out how he's going to handle the second line and finishing. He's close there too.

And... he's 21. In the 1980s he might still be in college.

[LilRip]

What are people talking about? After watching game 1&2, he’s definitely got a better mindset this year than last year. His mid range jumpers are off fakes and one-bounce dribbles (read: good simple shots to get wide open). He’s taking it to the rim as a general 1st option.

Things to improve on? Finishing through contact and/or drawing fouls. He’s getting to the cup, he just needs to consistently hit those difficult layups.