When do you think Tatum makes his season debut?

[keevsnick]

The Knicks game was a popular return date for Tatum, even if it was never realistic. With him officially ruled out and seemingly all but ruled out through the all-star break when do you seem him making his season debut?

A couple popular possibilities:

February 27th- The first home game after the All-Star break.
March 4th- The day after his 28th birthday.
March 14th- The day after the 10-month anniversary of his injury.
March 27th- 10 Games left in season, last home game before a long road trip.

[ozgod]

This will be a wild guess since I have literally no clue what his medical or conditioning situation is, let alone his mental state, so absent any information on that side I will go conservative and say I am not expecting to see him until next season. I will be happy if he proves me wrong, even though I'm only expecting him to be 50% of what his capability is when he returns.

If he returns and we are in the thick of a playoff run, I think the expectations on him by casual fans will be immense and unfairly so, and they will be disappointed when he's not "peak Tatum", so in a way I hope he skips all that and returns next season.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

I could see mid to late March. Gives him 12 to 15 games to get his conditioning right for the playoffs. From everything out there it looks like he is in a great place physically, he just has to get over that mental hurdle.

[Jiri Welsch]

I do not expect him back this year.

[Donoghus]

March 21-30.  He already stated his return will be a home game. Celtics have an important home stretch there with MINN, OKC, & ATL.  I expect him back in one of those games.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't know, but I'm hopeful he does come back this year even if it's in a limited role. I think the league right now there's no real powerhouse that can't be beaten, and our team has been playing very well. Many contributors, many players that are ready to play, it's not every season that you have that kind of group. A tested group, a group that has played throughout the season with meaningful minutes.

So adding Tatum at any capacity will be great, and I think it's worth the shot.

More worried about the mental aspects, fan expectations and the pressure on Tatum to perform. But you limit his role, and you limit that pressure. And if he plays well, you expand that role. There are ways to hedge it, so I think it's worth bringing him back if he's ready and is healthy.

[smicker16]

I want to avoid getting my hopes up as they got too high for a bit so I am going to say not this season. I still have hope but we have not heard much lately and things are going to have to ramp up very soon if he is going to return this year. So I am just going to try to convince myself he is not coming back this year and if he does then I will be very pleasantly surprised!

[jpotter33]

I think it's sooner rather than later - or not at all. I don't think it makes sense to only come back in mid-March or later when there's only 10-15 games left. I think he probably needs at least 20+ games back to feel comfortable to where he can actually play in the playoffs at a higher level, especially since he's unlikely to play back to backs. So I'll say February 27th with March 4th as the second option, or next season.

[Phantom255x]

March 4 is my guess, or March 6 (also a home game). I feel like also, the lack of updates before today on Tatum is actually an encouraging sign, because it could mean he's ramping up and doing more stuff behind the scenes and off-camera. Like I don't think he started 5 on 5 activities just today, it's probably happened for a bit off-camera.

[Goldstar88]

First few weeks of March. Playoffs don?t start until 4/19 so that would give him 15-20 games to get under his belt before the postseason.