Are we the same as the early 2000's ?

[Goldstar88]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

[Who]

Well, Antoine used to annoy me with his 3's as much as Smart annoys me now.

I just looked at their career stats from 3:

Antoine:  4.8 attempts per game  1.6 made = 32.5%
Marcus:   4.7 attempts per game  1.5 made = 32%

At least Marcus doesn't wiggle.

I loved the wiggle!

[droopdog7]

Yeah, posters are going to push back at the OP but I think this post is completely fair.  And while it’s possible that we have a better supporting cast, Rob is really the only guy that had the opportunity to be nothing more than a JAG.  For all the love that Marcus gets he’s a below average staring PG.  Everyone else is just a guy too.

The supporting cast just not jump out in any other way.  No stars.

The comparison between the two stars also fair.  I think brown ends up better than Antoine (he’s there now) but relatively speaking we’ll see.  Jaylen somewhere between 20-25 and that was Antoine peak too.  Tatum might end up better than PP but he hasn’t reached his height just yet.  And has been said, PP was fantastic at getting to the line.  Tatum needs to get there, and improve playmaking to surpass him.

[tenn_smoothie]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

[Neurotic Guy]

Yeah, posters are going to push back at the OP but I think this post is completely fair.  And while it’s possible that we have a better supporting cast, Rob is really the only guy that had the opportunity to be nothing more than a JAG.  For all the love that Marcus gets he’s a below average staring PG.  Everyone else is just a guy too.

The supporting cast just not jump out in any other way.  No stars.

The comparison between the two stars also fair.  I think brown ends up better than Antoine (he’s there now) but relatively speaking we’ll see.  Jaylen somewhere between 20-25 and that was Antoine peak too.  Tatum might end up better than PP but he hasn’t reached his height just yet.  And has been said, PP was fantastic at getting to the line.  Tatum needs to get there, and improve playmaking to surpass him.

One thing we can say about the early 2000s C’s is that they can’t be any better than they were. If Toine and Pierce early 2000s are about equal to the Jays right now - the Jays may surpass them in 2021-22. And that isn’t a pipe dream - they are 23 and 24 and both are on an upward trajectory.

[Goldstar88]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

Thought we’re were comparing the players individually. What significant playoff wins did pierce have without two HOF players beside him in KG and Ray Allen?  Tatum dropping  50+ pts on Brooklyn, when the Nets had all 3 of their super stars and willing the C’s to victory was pretty significant, IMO.

[Celtics2021]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

Thought we’re were comparing the players individually. What significant playoff wins did pierce have without two HOF players beside him in KG and Ray Allen?  Tatum dropping  50+ pts on Brooklyn, when the Nets had all 3 of their super stars and willing the C’s to victory was pretty significant, IMO.

Not to mention this is comparing Tatum to early 2000s Pierce, or at least it’s supposed to be.  Tatum has had more playoff success than early Pierce.

[nickagneta]

Yeah, posters are going to push back at the OP but I think this post is completely fair.  And while it’s possible that we have a better supporting cast, Rob is really the only guy that had the opportunity to be nothing more than a JAG.  For all the love that Marcus gets he’s a below average staring PG.  Everyone else is just a guy too.

The supporting cast just not jump out in any other way.  No stars.

The comparison between the two stars also fair.  I think brown ends up better than Antoine (he’s there now) but relatively speaking we’ll see.  Jaylen somewhere between 20-25 and that was Antoine peak too.  Tatum might end up better than PP but he hasn’t reached his height just yet.  And has been said, PP was fantastic at getting to the line.  Tatum needs to get there, and improve playmaking to surpass him.

Pierce was better at getting to the line, but Tatum makes up for that in spades by shooting threes. Pierce over his 5 year All Star run in the early 2000's shot 4.7 threes a game at 34.8%. During Tatum's two All Star years thus far, Jayson is shooting 7.3 threes per game hitting them at 39.4%. Over the next 3 years, I expect both Tatum's FTA and 3PTA will increase at higher shooting percentiles than Pierce.

I love Paul Pierce, but Tatum is a much, much better player at every age you compare them at. If Tatum is a Celtic for life, he probably breaks Havlicek's scoring record.

[18isGREATERthan72]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

Thought we’re were comparing the players individually. What significant playoff wins did pierce have without two HOF players beside him in KG and Ray Allen?  Tatum dropping  50+ pts on Brooklyn, when the Nets had all 3 of their super stars and willing the C’s to victory was pretty significant, IMO.

Not to mention this is comparing Tatum to early 2000s Pierce, or at least it’s supposed to be.  Tatum has had more playoff success than early Pierce.

Exactly. We're not comparing Pierce's career to Tatum.  In my opinion, Tatum has had a better career year for year than Pierce had had at this point in each of their careers.

If you look at it by age, Tatum is way ahead of Pierce.  Their fourth seasons look pretty similar, but that's ignoring Tatum being two years younger than Pierce in his fourth season.

[gouki88]

Until Tatum can get to the free throw line like Pierce did, im still taking Paul as the better player.  Especially in a playoff game

Tatum averaged nearly 10 free throw attempts a game in the playoff series against Brooklyn. Tatum is also 7% from the FT line over his first 4 years than Pierce was

[ETNCeltics]

Not even close. Tatum is on his way to being a top 5 player in the league, and Brown is a far better player than Antoine Walker.

[ETNCeltics]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

Tatum has some significant playoff wins. And really, how many did Paul have before Danny put a super team around him? Tatum was the best player on 2 teams that got to the ECF at an age where Paul Pierce was still in college.

I love Paul Pierce, but whether you look at him at age 23 or at the same year of his career that Tatum is at, Tatum is a better player in almost every regard. 

[greg683x]

Until Tatum can get to the free throw line like Pierce did, im still taking Paul as the better player.  Especially in a playoff game

Tatum averaged nearly 10 free throw attempts a game in the playoff series against Brooklyn. Tatum is also 7% from the FT line over his first 4 years than Pierce was

That’s one series dude.  Yes it’s a playoff series but it’s one.

FTA per game Jayson Tatum
2017- 3.2
2018 - 2.9
2019- 4.7
2020- 5.3

In Pierces best years he’s averaging 8, 9, and 10 FTA per game.

Tatum is on an upward trend but he still has a lot work to do to get to the line like Pierce did.  If Tatum ever does, he’ll be a top 3 player in the league, and then yes, I’d definitely take him over Pierce

[LilRip]

I very well could be and yes, I would say Brown is a better player than Antoine Walker. My comparison is not a perfect match and I hope that I am wrong, but you cannot ignore the similarities and Paul Pierce is better than Jayson Tatum until proven otherwise.

[/b]


Tatum has proven otherwise. I love Pierce, but Tatum’s talent is on another level. I think Jayson is already a better player and he is only 23.

Not until Tatum guts out some significant playoff wins. That's how I measure players.

Tatum in 4 years:
- playoffs every year
- 27-23 record
- 2 ECF berths

Pierce in 4 years:
- reached playoffs once
- 9-7 record (10-7 if you want to give a free win because the 1st round was only 5 games then)
- 1 ECF berth

Looks like Tatum’s outpaced Pierce so far as per your metric.

[smokeablount]

Until Tatum can get to the free throw line like Pierce did, im still taking Paul as the better player.  Especially in a playoff game

Tatum averaged nearly 10 free throw attempts a game in the playoff series against Brooklyn. Tatum is also 7% from the FT line over his first 4 years than Pierce was

That’s one series dude.  Yes it’s a playoff series but it’s one.

FTA per game Jayson Tatum
2017- 3.2
2018 - 2.9
2019- 4.7
2020- 5.3

In Pierces best years he’s averaging 8, 9, and 10 FTA per game.

Tatum is on an upward trend but he still has a lot work to do to get to the line like Pierce did.  If Tatum ever does, he’ll be a top 3 player in the league, and then yes, I’d definitely take him over Pierce

1) This thread is about 2001 not Pierce’s best years.

2) This thread is about who is better, not simply FTAs.