I'm truly over the rediculous people on this board.
You have a 21 year old kid who is 4 games in to his 3rd season averaging 22 and 8 on a playoff team - and this is the type of response people give.
People are complaining he's shown no change thus far. I beg to differ.
1. One of the biggest complaints people have had about Tatum previously is that he takes too many long midrange jumpers when he should be taking more threes and getting in the paint more. Last season 18% of his FGA were long (>16 feet) twos. This year that is down to only 8% of his shows. Last season only 13% of his shots came from 3-10 feet, this year that's up to 18%. Last year 30% of his shots were threes, this year it's been 35% (and he's shooting 48% from three, mind you). He's clearly working hard on settling for less long two's and getting in the paint more.
His turnover rate has also reduced - at 7.3% (versys 10.7% and 9.7% his firest two years) it's the lowest of his career by far.
He's out there pulling down 8-9 rebounds a game, which is a tremendous number considering he's ultimately a 6'8" skinny kid with good but not elite athleticism. He's out there fighting for rebounds, fighting for loose balls, playing strong defense.
He's scored at least 20 points in 3 or the Celtics first 4 games.
Is he still making some mistakes? Yes.
Are there stil times when he hasn't made the right decision? Yes.
But these moments are far fewer now then they were in the past,and HE'S 21 YEARS OLD!!!
On draft day, everybody was downtalking Tatum. Everybody was doubting him. He was being undervalued in almost every draft discussion in the Media. Then he comes out and shuts everybody up by putting up one hell of a rookie year, and going on to lead the Celtics to the ECF in the absense of Kyrie.
Now the media goes from sleeping on the guy to suddenly labling him as a future hall of famer, future top 5 player and all that jazz - throwing all of these crazy expectations on a kid who prior to his rookie year was being doubted by most out there.
Now suddely, just because he's not showing clear signs of being a future top 5 player at the age of 21 and living up to the totally unreasoanble expectation peopel have throw on to his shoulders, all of you guys are hating on him like he is some kind of scrub with no NBA future and talking about trade value. Like it's Tatum's fault that he has yet to meet the highly ambitious expectations that the media threw on to his shoulders.
Seriously,this is silly.
On draft day two years ago, if I had have come back from the future and told you this "Jayson Tatum" guy we just drafted would be averaging 22 and 8 in year 3 at age 21, while also playing consistently plus defence, on a top 4 seed - you would all be drooling at the mouth.
But instead you are talking about him like trade bait just because he isn't looking like a top 10 player - something nobody ever would have expected from him until the Media decided to go crazy with their predicions and lump that on to him.
Yet when Marcus Smart was out there for the last 5 years turning the ball over constantly, hurling up ludcrous contested threesEDIT: Now, Now....that's not nice., totally ignoring all of those negative thigns he does and only focusing on the good things - the game winning plays.
For goodness sake people, I say again - he's 21 year old. Giannis at 21 was only averaging 17 and 7. Steph Curry at 21 was a rookie averaging 17 and 6. Jimmy Butler at 21 wasn't even in the NBA yet. Klay Thompson at 21 was averaging 12 PPG as a rookie. Our much loved Paul Pierce at 21 was a rookie averagfing 16 PPG. Buddy Hield was still playing College Basketball at age 23. You could argue that Tatum at age 21 is playing as good as (if not better than) ALL of those stud players were at the same age.
So please, stop ovdreacting. Stop projecting unreasonable expectations. Give this kid time to grow. It may well take another year or two before Tatum actually shows us what he's truly capable of. Judging a player - ANY player - at this age is just ludicrous.
Tatum is a good kid. He doesnt complain EVER. He's modest. He seems highly coachable. He doesn't get in to trouble off the court. He plays both ends when he's on the court. He's about as close to the "model NBA player" as I've seen from a 21 year old top 3 pick. On top of that he has boatloads of talent and has already shown signs of leadership. I dont understand how anybody could possible feel anything but proud of this kid.
