It’s time to back off of Jayson Tatum

[Roy H.]

Am I the only one both surprised and annoyed by the criticism that Tatum gets, particularly in the game threads?

I was following along last night prior to halftime, and the level of criticism directed toward this kid was disproportionate. I don’t think it represents a majority of the Fanbase, but it seems like if he makes four great plays followed by two bad ones, the critics sharpen their vocal knives.

It’s probably the nature of the fanhood beast, but to me it just doesn’t makes sense that people go out of their way to criticize him.  Tatum is already way better then I imagined he would be when we drafted him. There is a legitimate argument that he’s already better than Paul Pierce ever was, and Pierce is in the pantheon of Celtics.

Just cut him some slack and enjoy his game. The kid just dropped 50 points in a playoff game, and there isn’t a thread about his performance anywhere.  We are watching the maturation of the best homegrown Celtic probably since Bird.  Celebrate the young man!

[gift]

I think people underestimate the flaws of other teams' star players. All players are flawed. When you follow a player closely and your team isn't winning, those flaws become magnified.

[ozgod]

I think it's 2 things: 1) exorbitant expectations from the fanbase; and 2) imbibing copious amounts of alcohol while participating in a game thread 

Of course, some people just like being negative probably...it's more fun to get stuck into someone than praise them I guess. That seems to be an internet phenomenon though, more than just a fanbase one.

[A Future of Stevens]

I will take any perceived warts with our 23 year old stud. He is just going to keep getting better. I truly hope he is a Celtic for a very, very long time. The scoring prowess he shows, is insane. Any perceived issues with his shot selection is a symptom of him being able to make those shots. Could he be a little more mature? Sure. Does it worry me for the future? Absolutely not.

[RJ87]

Agreed 100%.

I said in a previous thread that I think he's been so good at such a young age that there's this unrealistic expectation that he's going have all the savvy, leadership qualities, and wrinkles to his game that a 8 or 10 year vet does, and it's really not fair.

He's developed far beyond what I thought he was going to be when we drafted him and I see no reason why he shouldn't continue to add to his game as he's clearly putting the work in. People just need to be patient and let it happen at the pace it's supposed to.

[Tr1boy]

I think people underestimate the flaws of other teams' star players. All players are flawed. When you follow a player closely and your team isn't winning, those flaws become magnified.

This... but also ... lets face it he didnt have a very good regular season

Covid was a problem. But also growing pains trying to become a leader

Even though the 50pts was great yesterday...and Celts needed it.  Even Brad wanted to see more ball movement (post game presser)

As the game slows down even more for Tatum...hopefully his assist numbers will improve

Btw .. yesterday was his best D performance I have seen out of him. I guess he saves it for the postseason. 

[nickagneta]

I think it might be the people in the game threads that could be the issue. There is definitely a group of posters in there that have tended to be angry, over the top critical and, dare I say, toxic, even during the best of times over the years. Maybe it's just the nature of some internet people on fan sites and the internet. Whether it's on any of the SBNation fan sites or even comment sections of various news sites or social media sites, being that way is definitely much more common on the internet than what you run into in real life.

In my discussions with fans of the team that don't frequent Celtic fan sites, there is a massively smaller and less vitriolic criticism of Jayson and also Jaylen, who before getting hurt was also the victim of over the top criticism simply for having a couple bad shooting nights, even though he was by far the most consistent shooter on the team all year. Outside of Celtic fan sites, most C's fans I talk to have only been slightly critical of the duo's slippage on the defensive front but otherwise love the guys.

I think Celtic fan sites represent a very small but very vocal set of the Celtics fanhood and generally tend to be way, way more hyper-critical of the team, it's players and it's coach.

The Jays have been outstanding this year. Jayson has played through a bad case of Covid aftereffects after being hit hard by the virus. Jaylen played through multiple injuries before being shut down for surgery. Neither should be on the receiving end of the type of negativity thrown their way this year. As Tatum showed last night, he and Brown are part of the solution, not part of the problem.

[wiley]

Excellent sentiment Roy.

Always nice to see someone stick up for any Celtic, star, middle of road or bench.

I don't like online abusiveness... (cowardly).

[wiley]

I think people underestimate the flaws of other teams' star players. All players are flawed. When you follow a player closely and your team isn't winning, those flaws become magnified.

Yup, the top guys on other team's don't make mistakes...well said.

[PhoSita]

Tatum has been in the playoffs every year of his career.  He's led the team in scoring on multiple ECF playoff runs.  He's got some truly epic games under his belt included a couple just in the last month and a half.

He isn't Larry Bird, he probably won't ever win a MVP, and he's probably not the ideal type of player to carry a team to a title.

But he's still really fun and really good and we should enjoy him while he's here because we've seen that stars can get gone really fast in this league.

[Goldstar88]

Am I the only one both surprised and annoyed by the criticism that Tatum gets, particularly in the game threads?

I was following along last night prior to halftime, and the level of criticism directed toward this kid was disproportionate. I don’t think it represents a majority of the Fanbase, but it seems like if he makes four great plays followed by two bad ones, the critics sharpen their vocal knives.

It’s probably the nature of the fanhood beast, but to me it just doesn’t makes sense that people go out of their way to criticize him.  Tatum is already way better then I imagined he would be when we drafted him. There is a legitimate argument that he’s already better than Paul Pierce ever was, and Pierce is in the pantheon of Celtics.

Just cut him some slack and enjoy his game. The kid just dropped 50 points in a playoff game, and there isn’t a thread about his performance anywhere.  We are watching the maturation of the best homegrown Celtic probably since Bird.  Celebrate the young man!

It doesn’t. There are maybe a half dozen people that post on this site that seem to think/want Jaylen to be the best player on the team and they try to pick apart Tatums game. We are incredibly lucky as a fanbase to have both JT and JB. Tatum Is becoming a transcendent talent.

[RJ87]

I think people underestimate the flaws of other teams' star players. All players are flawed. When you follow a player closely and your team isn't winning, those flaws become magnified.

This... but also ... lets face it he didnt have a very good regular season

Based on what, though? The opinion of Boston sports radio?

I think a player who's top 10 in the league in scoring, posts career high's in scoring, rebounds, and assists and is selected as an All-Star - even with Covid hitting him in the middle of it - had a good season.

If you want to make the argument that the team didn't have as much success as some believe it should have, fine. But I think that goes more to flawed roster execution and the inability of management to replace the drain of talent we've faced over the past 3 years.

[Donoghus]

I think people underestimate the flaws of other teams' star players. All players are flawed. When you follow a player closely and your team isn't winning, those flaws become magnified.

This... but also ... lets face it he didnt have a very good regular season

Based on what, though? The opinion of Boston sports radio?

I think a player who's top 10 in the league in scoring, posts career high's in scoring, rebounds, and assists and is selected as an All-Star - even with Covid hitting him in the middle of it - had a good season.

If you want to make the argument that the team didn't have as much success as some believe it should have, fine. But I think that goes more to flawed roster execution and the inability of management to replace the drain of talent we've faced over the past 3 years.

Yeha, that make no sense. Tatum statistically improved in pretty much every category this season.

The team had a letdown but Tatum really didn't.   Let's not forget he's also been doing a lot of this while dealing with lingering effects of covid.

[colincb]

Brooks post-game:

"He's not a great young player, he's a great player. And he's gonna be an MVP in this league soon."

He's coached 3 MVPs.

[michigan adam]

Tatum is outstanding, especially for his age.  My goal for him is 3 areas of incremental improvement over the next few years.
1) on court awareness to manipulate/intentionally draw double teams to facilitate for others, adding 2+ assists per game.
2) Gain additional respect from ref's to get to the line more from contact adding 4-6 more FA per game.
3) Continue adding strength to better match up on PF's on D.  Never gonna be lebron or Karl Malone, but a step that way in physique would give him better man to man D on bigger players.  Also adds the bulk to get a few more RB's per game.

I think this turns him into a 28-30 point, 8-10 rb, 6-7 assist 2 way player perennially in the MVP conversation.  He is not far from this player.