Is Tatum playing out of position?

[Donoghus]

I don't think he's playing out of position.

I just think sometimes he's pressing and trying to do too much.  Can get himself in trouble with over-dribbling.

[nickagneta]

I also don't think he is playing out of position. He is a one on one matchup nightmare for most players regardless of position and is a plus defender overall against 2s and 3s.

I will say though, he needs to get better court vision, as he is all to often missing teammates who are wide open, especially when he brings the ball upcourt. He is constantly missing guys wide open ahead of him for easy runs at the basket when he brings the ball up.

And his handle....he has to get like Brown and bend more, keep his dribble down and keep it tight to his body. Tatum has a remarkably high dribble that is really loose. Gotta make that better.

Oh, and lastly, learn to finish at the rim with the left had, Jayson.

He does all this, and he will be an MVP, regardless of what position he plays.

[Tr1boy]

Putting aside Brad’s position-less basketball blah blah blah:

When I watch Tatum play currently I see a

- Decent perimeter defender
- Ok-ish rebounder
- Bad inside defender
- Great shot maker
- Great 3 point shooter
- Decent ball handler
- average court vision

Is it just me or is Tatum a long 2 rather than SF or PF? The only reason to keep playing Tatum like we have would be if we think he can become a point forward. He doesn’t match up favorably with PF or SF on defense currently.

Tatum handles is a little shaky to be a 2 or long 2 as you call it

Tatum is the modern day Tayshuan Prince. Positionless player

I wish he would dribble less, decides quicker and learn to utilize screens and shoot off the catch.   Hopefully it happens

I was going with the modern day Antoine Walker.  A big that really plays as a small.  Toine used to frustrate me so much, because he could score at will inside, but liked to play outside.  This is Tatum, not comfortable at the rim.  It's now on Brad, to see that and figure it out.

It was frustrating to watch the New Orleans game and seeing Ingram putting his shoulder down and driving to the rim, while Tatum dribbled into double teams on the perimeter.

You know Zion is going to do that, but Ingram looks 20 lbs lighter than Tatum, and 75 less than Zion.

Tatum is not in mid season game shape at the moment

Also since adding bulk, Tatum has lost some of his quickness

Look at this highlight clip from the 2018 playoffs.  Tatum had an easier time getting to the rim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nfj7_Mhdso

He also did a better job running the floor/getting to the rim last season.   

Hopefully he can get back on track.   A big guy like Tatum should not be hanging around the perimeter most of the time

[A Future of Stevens]

Putting aside Brad’s position-less basketball blah blah blah:

When I watch Tatum play currently I see a

- Decent perimeter defender
- Ok-ish rebounder
- Bad inside defender
- Great shot maker
- Great 3 point shooter
- Decent ball handler
- average court vision

Is it just me or is Tatum a long 2 rather than SF or PF? The only reason to keep playing Tatum like we have would be if we think he can become a point forward. He doesn’t match up favorably with PF or SF on defense currently.

Tatum handles is a little shaky to be a 2 or long 2 as you call it

Tatum is the modern day Tayshuan Prince. Positionless player

I wish he would dribble less, decides quicker and learn to utilize screens and shoot off the catch.   Hopefully it happens

I was going with the modern day Antoine Walker.  A big that really plays as a small.  Toine used to frustrate me so much, because he could score at will inside, but liked to play outside.  This is Tatum, not comfortable at the rim.  It's now on Brad, to see that and figure it out.

It was frustrating to watch the New Orleans game and seeing Ingram putting his shoulder down and driving to the rim, while Tatum dribbled into double teams on the perimeter.

You know Zion is going to do that, but Ingram looks 20 lbs lighter than Tatum, and 75 less than Zion.

Tatum is not in mid season game shape at the moment

Also since adding bulk, Tatum has lost some of his quickness

Look at this highlight clip from the 2018 playoffs.  Tatum had an easier time getting to the rim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nfj7_Mhdso

He also did a better job running the floor/getting to the rim last season.   

Hopefully he can get back on track.   A big guy like Tatum should not be hanging around the perimeter most of the time

I am not sure if I have ever seen anyone advocate loosing bulk to get more efficient at the rim.

[Vermont Green]

Tatum is already a significantly better player than Prince ever was.  It is quite simply disrespectful to compare Tatum to Prince.  He isn't much worse than Butler (if at all) right now and isn't that far away from part-time Leonard.

Nice Moranis, I like this post. TP

If you compare Kawhi in his third season, at age 22, to Tatum in his third season at age 21 (last season), Tatum is well ahead of where Leonard was.  The base stats, Tatum 23.4 Pts, 7.0 Rebs, 3.0 Assts, 40.3 3p%, Leonard 12.8 pts, 6.2 Rebs, 2.0 Assts, 37.9 3p%.  And so far this season, Tatum is ahead of last season in every category except 3p% (39.0% vs 40.3%).

I am not sure how a question about Tatum's natural position turned into a debate about whether Tatum is a star or not.   Tatum is an elite wing in this league right now and at age 22 (almost 23) and he still has plenty of room to grow in terms of talent.  Probably not as much room to grow as Kawhi had that age/stage of his career but still plenty.

Sorry, hands off Kawhi!  He's the guy I compare Brown too.   

I agree with that.  Brown has a little more of the raw athleticism like Kawhi whereas Tatum has more "smooth" to him.  The comparison of Tatum to Kawhi was raised in the post that I responded to.  I am not trying to step on anyone's comps  .  Brown now in his 4th year and a year younger relative to Kawhi at that time also compares favorably to where Kawhi was at that time in terms of box score production.

Kawhi really shot up around that time though, made an unusual leap that most players are not going to make.  Tatum and Brown are both likely closer to their ceilings than Kawhi was in his 4th season.  Tatum and Brown are already showing they are star players who can put up numbers.  They are 80% or 90% of the way to being that star that can carry a team to a title (as Kawhi has done).  That last 10%-20% is of course the hardest to achieve.

[gouki88]

Tatum is already a significantly better player than Prince ever was.  It is quite simply disrespectful to compare Tatum to Prince.  He isn't much worse than Butler (if at all) right now and isn't that far away from part-time Leonard.

I guess you already forgot what Butler did to the Celtics in the playoffs

Leonard is a world champion and running on one good leg at this point of his career

Tatum has ways to go.  A very good 1 on 1 talent. But there is a lot more to NBA basketball than 1 on 1 ball

right now he needs figure out how to beat traps/double teams and make the correct read/pass the ball out quickly/consistently

Maybe you forgot what what Tatum did to the Heat in that series.  Butler had one huge game which was awesome, but he was average for most of the series.  Tatum 27/10/5, Butler 19/6/5.  Not even close in that series.

Oh brother

Its not only about stat totals

Butler had more impact in that series

No he did not. Not even close

Do a polling

I don't need to. Butler was scoring 19PPG on pretty poor shooting from the field and woeful shooting from 3. He was also playing poor defence by his standards. He got bailed out by foul calls often

[vjcsmoke]

I just have to bring this up.  I'm watching the game... Theis is listed at 6'8 but Tatum on the same court looks significantly taller.  Is Tatum actually more like 6'10 now?

[Ogaju]

I just have to bring this up.  I'm watching the game... Theis is listed at 6'8 but Tatum on the same court looks significantly taller.  Is Tatum actually more like 6'10 now?

No, Theis is 6’ 6....lol