Would Tatum Make The All-Time Celtics Starting Five?

[LilRip]

I love the Truth but Tatum is already a better player than Pierce and already has a better career than Pierce. I do not think Tatum needs to win MVP to edge out the Truth, who only got All-NBA 2nd team once in his career.

[Csfan1984]

I love the Truth but Tatum is already a better player than Pierce and already has a better career than Pierce. I do not think Tatum needs to win MVP to edge out the Truth, who only got All-NBA 2nd team once in his career.

There were a lot better SG/SFs during Pierce's run than Tatum. We can understand Pierce not making 1st or 2nd All NBA a bunch of years vs who he was up against for the rewards. That's also not factoring the popularity of some players and some guys were making it on defense alone during his run. So quality of players was up, defense alone could get you on all NBA and there were guys getting popularity votes. Tatum ain't dealing with that to the level of Pierce.

[LilRip]

I love the Truth but Tatum is already a better player than Pierce and already has a better career than Pierce. I do not think Tatum needs to win MVP to edge out the Truth, who only got All-NBA 2nd team once in his career.

There were a lot better SG/SFs during Pierce's run than Tatum. We can understand Pierce not making 1st or 2nd All NBA a bunch of years vs who he was up against for the rewards. That's also not factoring the popularity of some players and some guys were making it on defense alone during his run. So quality of players was up, defense alone could get you on all NBA and there were guys getting popularity votes. Tatum ain't dealing with that to the level of Pierce.

Hard disagree. The politics, popularity, reputation, and all that is still alive and well. Probably even worse because of the rise of social media. The reason Tatum is not dealing with that the way Pierce was is because Tatum is better than his peers. Tatum is the one pushing the other players out of 1st team.

And I will repeat: requiring Tatum to win MVP just so he can surpass Pierce is crazy and not a reasonable benchmark.

[wiley]

I know career wise he's not in the discussion, but I think Rondo over a two year period had some of the best post season numbers in
Celtic playoff history.  Am I wrong that he set some records?

In other words, if we could have that Rondo over a longer period I'd put him at point guard.