What do you think makes Tatum Special

[KG Living Legend]

 This is both an answer and a question. First what do you think makes him special one of a kind type of player.

 My take is he makes incredibly difficult in your face shots look easy. He's an advanced shot Maker at the likes we don't see often at this age.

 Kevin Durant was the last time I've seen a kid this good this Young with that type of size, albeit Durant is a solid 3" taller.

 Tatum's midrange out to 18 feet is feathery soft, and this includes One legged fadeaways, step back, fadeaways, you name it he shoots it. 

 He's such an intelligent scorer it's Incredible. His combination of Size, length, and quickness is displayed frequently when driving to the rim.

 He generally beats them with his Ball handling and quickness, feels the defender with his body and he's so long and he uses that length to extend and lay it in. His guy won't block him often on drives to the rim.

 Heard a trainer that's worked with Jayson since around 15. He said the two things you should look for in His shot are 1, A wide base make sure he has his feet wide enough.

 Two, he developed a bit of a bad habit of bringing the ball to far behind his head to avoid getting blocked when he was young.

 He wants it further foward so he has a strong sight line with his eyes.

[Surferdad]

He's got a very good head on his shoulders.  Doesn't get rattled.  High BBIQ.

[2short]

He's got a very good head on his shoulders.  Doesn't get rattled.  High BBIQ.

He seems to be a rookie who the game slows down for him when he's on offense

[BDeCosta26]

His progress on the Defensive end is what will mostly determine if he becomes a Paul Pierce kind of guy, or a DeMar DeRozen type of guy. Both are great players, one is a guy that headlines a championship team.

He'll be good though. His ability to get a decent shot up almost anytime he wants is seriously advanced for his age.

[JBcat]

His progress on the Defensive end is what will mostly determine if he becomes a Paul Pierce kind of guy, or a DeMar DeRozen type of guy. Both are great players, one is a guy that headlines a championship team.

He'll be good though. His ability to get a decent shot up almost anytime he wants is seriously advanced for his age.

Also Pierce was a good passer.  Tatum could probably improve in that area.

[Fan from VT]

Tons of talent, tons of natural skill, especially for his age, and some fine creativity, touch, and footwork.

There are still many things that will determine his ceiling:
1. Passing. Will he be Pierce/Durant/Olympic Carmelo or will he be NBA carmelo?
2. Defense.
3. Adapting his game to maximize TS%. Good FT shooter already, so probably can become a good 3 pt shooter. If so, he needs to take shots from 3 and from close (he has good touch in the paint already) and decrease those turnaround 18 ft fadeaways.
4. Drawing fouls. I hope he trends more Pierce than KG in that regard. I always thought, in a way, that the unblockable/undefendable nature of some of KG's fadeaways did him harm; because he knew they were unblockable and he could always get them off, he would. And he could make a decent amount of them. But a "decent" amount of fadeaways is nothing comparing to the Pierce/Harden FT generating machine. Tatum will be a better pro if he goes more that direction.

[tarheelsxxiii]

His eyes.  He tells a long, deeply emotional story with his eyes. 

[CelticsElite]

His shooting ability is very nice. Decision making shows high bb IQ. Needs to:

1. Improve passing and assist ability

2. Increase range to be able to spot up 3.

3. Play with more toughness and fearlessness

these are doable.

[Boris Badenov]

Is he special?

Not trying to be a downer but at this point he's done nothing that warrants that adjective, to me.

Adam Morrison had a great step-back 18 footer and killed it in summer league too.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Is he special?

Not trying to be a downer but at this point he's done nothing that warrants that adjective, to me.

Adam Morrison had a great step-back 18 footer and killed it in summer league too.

Didn't follow him closely enough to even have an opinion about his talent at this level, but he was an insulin-dependent diabetic.  Can't imagine trying to manage that as a pro athlete.  And if it was brittle Diabetes, I'm not sure it'd even be possible. 

Agree he hasn't done anything to earn that adjective yet, but his skill set and size is pretty darn impressive.  Doesn't seem unreasonable to wonder whether he'll be an all-star someday, and I wouldn't say that about Jaylen to this point. 

[Tr1boy]

Swagger

Size + handles the ball like a guard

Takes care of the ball

Clutch shot maker

[Beat LA]

Ask Jenna Dewan.

[KG Living Legend]

Is he special?

Not trying to be a downer but at this point he's done nothing that warrants that adjective, to me.

Adam Morrison had a great step-back 18 footer and killed it in summer league too.

 Yeah your right, Adam Morrison is a great comparison, just fantastic. Bravo.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Ask Jenna Dewan.

She literally changed my life in Step Up.  Clearly his, too.   But, Jayson's turnaround fade-away may end up being prettier than both of them.

[Atzar]

Not ready to call him special yet.  Summer league means little.

He appears to have a great combination of skill and length, with enough athleticism to make it all work.  But I need to see him stretch his range out to the three-point line and also work on generating some easier looks.  Hard to live in this league on contested deep twos.  That can be part of the package, but not the whole thing.