can Tatum get even better?

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

1. Less complaining to officials. It helps nothing.

2. Maybe better shot selection. We all know what he is doing when dribbling outside the 3 point line what shot he will be taking. Mix it up.

yup. better jumpers. more uncontested. cut back on the step back 3's. more drives. his driving alone killed the mavs. he knew it and finally was smart and kept doing what worked and it finished off the mavs in 5.

i'd also suggest more jumpers from the elbows like KOBE but not sure joe will allow that.

[SHAQATTACK]

Work on inside 4-5 paint game . He is a lot stronger ,  use the strength and height for bully ball on smaller matchups.

His off nights might be a lack of practice practice practice shooting 1000?s of threes .  Ray Allen talked about all the preparation and practice it took . 

[moiso]

He's got such a good all around game now and I'd actually like to see him average more like 22 points than 30 points.  He has demonstrated that 3 point efficiency- what was once thought to be a huge strength of his game is actually perhaps his biggest weakness.  He takes plenty of horrible shots throughout the course of a game, and he gets even worse as the pressure increases.  It will never happen but I'd like Tatum to play more like Pippen and let Brown be Jordan.  Tatum can contribute in almost every category on a basketball court.  If he just shot when he's actually open or has a mismatch or something his percentage would skyrocket, and the Celtics would be an even better team with that version of Tatum.  Nowadays when Tatum takes double figures in 3's it's generally something we have to overcome to win the game.

[footey]

Needs to develop better midrange game.  He can create that shot anytime he wants. He should study Luka more.  They are similar size/weight. Luka relies more on wile than athleticism. JT has average athleticism for an NBA player.

[Moranis]

Better, sure. A lot better, probably not. Just the nature of the beast

[Goldstar88]

I think Tatum will be better in the postseason next year. I feel like the pressure to win it all seemed to bother him more than it did Jaylen. With that weight lifted, I expect JT to shoot the ball much better in next years playoffs.

[GreenEnvy]

I think he?s about to enter his prime. And with not only the confidence that comes with winning a title, but a chip on his shoulder for people doubting his status.

He?s proven he can be a great playmaker. If he can turn a lot of those wild layup attempts in traffic and step-back contested three?s into easy 18-footers, he will be lethal.

I think he?s more than capable of winning an MVP in the next 5 seasons.

[SparzWizard]

Think he just needs to be consistent. Learn how to escape double-teams and score at will. Teams were doubling up on him and he had to do everything else but score. But what if our other guys like Jaylen Brown or Jrue Holiday or Kristaps get injured, then how will he handle it

Oh and those dribbling down the game clock ISO 3's gotta go lol

[Surferdad]

Needs to develop better midrange game.  He can create that shot anytime he wants. He should study Luka more.  They are similar size/weight. Luka relies more on wile than athleticism. JT has average athleticism for an NBA player.

I do not agree with much of that, footey. JT has a mid-range game but he is never left alone.

Luka is not similar size to JT. Very different body types

JT is a superb athlete, but I do agree Luka uses his wile more partly because he is not a great athlete.

[celts55]

Of course he can get better. I don?t know the numbers, but he has to be one of the worst clutch shooters in the league. I don?t recall anyone who insisted on going iso at the end of quarters or the game, miss those shots. Usually really poor step back 3?s as opposed to going to the basket.
He could definitely stop complaining to the refs on almost every drive.
BUT, I don?t know of any player who couldn?t get better. Brown for example could hit his free throws.
Love  Tatum. Think he?s one of the best players in the league, but he could be better

[LilRip]

Think he just needs to be consistent. Learn how to escape double-teams and score at will. Teams were doubling up on him and he had to do everything else but score. But what if our other guys like Jaylen Brown or Jrue Holiday or Kristaps get injured, then how will he handle it

Oh and those dribbling down the game clock ISO 3's gotta go lol

He does handle double teams really well. He makes the early pass and the right reads. I think it?s a team philosophy thing that he doesn?t ?score at will? aka put up difficult shots. I?d love for him to drive and get fouled more but he doesn?t really get the superstar treatment from the refs and the team?s philosophy is to spray out to shooters. I think if the coaching staff needed him to shoot more, I would?ve wanted him off ball more instead of trying to breakdown doubles (kinda like how KD plays)

[No Nickname]

I think he?s about to enter his prime. And with not only the confidence that comes with winning a title, but a chip on his shoulder for people doubting his status.

He?s proven he can be a great playmaker. If he can turn a lot of those wild layup attempts in traffic and step-back contested three?s into easy 18-footers, he will be lethal.

I think he?s more than capable of winning an MVP in the next 5 seasons.

Agreed on those wild layups. Tatum does a lot of shaking-and-baking at the three-point line, trying to trick the defender into overplaying him for the step-back three and then drives like a madman to the rim.

We've all seen him be successful in actually getting to the rim and then he throws the ball off the backboard on a layup attempt that bounces so far away from the rim.  The perfect example was Game 3 at Indiana with 12 seconds left. 

While Tatum wasn't setting up his drive with a potential step-back three, he did drive straight to the hoop from halfcourt in an all-out sprint.  And then miss the layup as he doesn't know how to slow down at the last moment to allow the arc of the ball to go UP with touch and then fall gently towards the hoop. Instead he lets his body's momentum carry over to the momentum of the ball, like a pitcher throwing a heater instead of a curve.

https://youtu.be/AtITjEOAgpw?si=MeCJ-6Er1x1ZhlHY&t=72

He does this often when driving from the three-point line.  He gets at least two dribbles and builds up so much horizontal speed, instead of slowing down a bit and trying to UP. 

So I agree with others that he should try to initiate his offense from the elbow, use the pump fake there, and then he'll only need one dribble on a drive to the hoop, which is slower, and allows for better touch when releasing the ball.

[W8ting2McHale]

Too many times Jayson tries to get to the backboard for a layup and contorts himself out of a foul or a decent shot.

Giannis and Jaylen both go for the rim instead of the backboard. I wish Jayson would make the adjustment.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Now that Tatum is passing and rebounding like a literal Champ, he needs to go back and fix his shot....look at old films,maybe his release point has changed? This would make him a League MVP player.

[blink]

Of course he can get better.   If JB can get better every year so can JT, and he has.
I don't think JT nor JB have reached their peak.   

I think both would be good to focus on that little midrange floater for when you can't get all the way to the rim.   JT can use his passing ability to pass fake and give himself some 10-12 footers which once you freeze the def with fake should be easy shots.