Tatum out Sunday. Personal reasons.

[gouki88]

If this "personal" day off is, in fact, so he could be at home all day for his son's birthday ...................

1) he should never have been given a day off for something so ridiculous ....
2) he should have never asked for a day off for something so ridiculous.....
3) if true and the team approved it, and worse, Tatum thought this was a good idea ..

then I am stunned.

Surely, there is a whole lot more to this than his kid's birthday party. That's not even a reason.
I'll withhold final judgement until I hear the full story. Even soft, sensitive Jason would not pull a stunt like this.
More of a story you might read about Crazy Kyrie, not one of these current Celtics. Please tell me No.

He's soft and sensitive, yet you're the one throwing the tantrum about a guy having a day off. What does that make you?

[Birdman]

Be bad to lose back to back games at home vs Orlando

Doubt that happens. Even without him.

It did happen..Celtics & Tatum should be fine for missing a game because of birthday party..family comes first but he was home last 4 days and couldn’t had a party on his day off??? We all probably miss our kids party one time or another but did something another day

[GetLucky]

Has the birthday party reason been confirmed anywhere? It sounded like baseless speculation to me. The only "source" I've seen is an instagram story of a bday party venue he posted a day or two prior.

[Roy H.]

The timing is a bit odd, but guys get planned days off.  For all we know, Tatum could have asked for this day as soon as the schedule was released.

[JohnBoy65]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

[Roy H.]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work. 

[JohnBoy65]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work.

You're right, his wealth allows for opportunities a lot of families don't have. It's just annoying to see all the Tatum slander.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work.

You're right, his wealth allows for opportunities a lot of families don't have. It's just annoying to see all the Tatum slander.

Well, this blog is known for eating its young. I assumed Tatum would be the next target.

[angryguy77]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work.

You're right, his wealth allows for opportunities a lot of families don't have. It's just annoying to see all the Tatum slander.

It's not slander if it's true. If the guy missed the game due to a b-day party, that's not a good look.

His team is in a slump and hadn't been playing all that well for over week. Cancel plans and show some leadership. He's a great player, and I'm happy we got him, but this is inexcusable if it's for the reason stated.
Unless it's a health, family tragedy or child birth, you don't miss a game voluntarily.

[slamtheking]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work.

You're right, his wealth allows for opportunities a lot of families don't have. It's just annoying to see all the Tatum slander.

It's not slander if it's true. If the guy missed the game due to a b-day party, that's not a good look.

His team is in a slump and hadn't been playing all that well for over week. Cancel plans and show some leadership. He's a great player, and I'm happy we got him, but this is inexcusable if it's for the reason stated.
Unless it's a health, family tragedy or child birth, you don't miss a game voluntarily.

this seems like an extreme take on the situation but I will say this, as one of the vast majority of people here who are not in an obnoxiously wealthy family such as Tatum's (that belies any excuses for having to personally prepare for an event that's on a known date every year) or in a smaller group of posters here who's parents work schedule wasn't known months in advance , the planning of birthdays for anyone in my family had to take into account my father's work schedule where we'd either wait until he wasn't schedule to work or we had to have the gathering without him. 

This isn't something I'd lose my mind over and criticize Tatum but I can definitely see the bad light it casts on his decision making. 

[keevsnick]

Ya tbh I'm not really sure I get missing the game for a birthday party. I can't recall a similar example of a player missing a game because of a kid's birthday, which kind of makes me think that's not what this actually is.

If it was I'm not going to be angry about it, people have taken time off for much dumber reasons myself included. But we should probably actually get this confirmed before we make too many judgements, the birthday might just be coincidental timing and some family member may be sick or something.

If it was just a maintenance day they'd have listed him with some minor ailment, also they wouldn't do it before 2 days off, they'd do it on a B2B or something.

[Roy H.]

Ya tbh I'm not really sure I get missing the game for a birthday party. I can't recall a similar example of a player missing a game because of a kid's birthday, which kind of makes me think that's not what this actually is.

https://www.slamonline.com/archives/rajon-rondo-skipped-celtics-game-sacramento-birthday-party/

Closest I can remember (and much worse, since it wasn't with permission).

[keevsnick]

Ya tbh I'm not really sure I get missing the game for a birthday party. I can't recall a similar example of a player missing a game because of a kid's birthday, which kind of makes me think that's not what this actually is.

https://www.slamonline.com/archives/rajon-rondo-skipped-celtics-game-sacramento-birthday-party/

Closest I can remember (and much worse, since it wasn't with permission).

Its not exactly comparable since Rondo didn't miss PLAYING in the game to celebrate his birthday. As the article mentioned he wasn't expected to play anyway on the back to back. This was more a situation when he should have been with the team, and wasn't, but the birthday isn't why he missed playing time.

I would find it weird if Tatum is taking time off just to celebrate a birthday. I kind of doubt that's what this is.

[Neurotic Guy]

Who knows the real reason of his day off, but let's pretend for a minute that it's true he was home with his son hosting a birthday party.

Parents in here: Have you never taken a day off of work to prep, clean, host a party for your kids? I know my parents have done that before. Why is it different for Tatum? Because you're salty we lost a game?

Well, to be fair:  most of the people in here haven't earned $58 million to date, with another $134 million guaranteed on the way.   I doubt JT is cleaning the house to get ready for company.

But, I agree that athletes are allowed to have lives that occasionally conflict with work.

You're right, his wealth allows for opportunities a lot of families don't have. It's just annoying to see all the Tatum slander.

It's not slander if it's true. If the guy missed the game due to a b-day party, that's not a good look.

His team is in a slump and hadn't been playing all that well for over week. Cancel plans and show some leadership. He's a great player, and I'm happy we got him, but this is inexcusable if it's for the reason stated.
Unless it's a health, family tragedy or child birth, you don't miss a game voluntarily.

What if it’s basically team philosophy that players take a game every now and then to keep them fresh and mentally/physically healthy for the playoffs?  What if Tatum circled this date for himself as a game-off date because it came after a long road trip, was against a weaker team, and also fell on a Sunday near his child’s birthday - a day that maybe family could gather.  I don’t love the idea that players take birthday celebrations off, but if it is part of a strategic plan to give games off for players to preserve health, I’m ok with it. 

[jambr380]

I'd have no problem with this if it was on a b2b, but load management isn't necessary when you have off-days. The Cs don't even play again until Wednesday. I guess it's essentially a 2nd All-Star break with only one game for him in a week.

Dude should have had the party on Saturday. I mean, Deuce was born on 12/6 anyway, so it's not like having it on the 12/18 was so essential. Maybe Tatum thought this was a guaranteed W against a cellar dweller at home, but that probably wasn't a chance worth taking. And looks even worse in hindsight with the loss.