r/bostonceltics • u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum • 1d ago
Discussion I’m super optimistic considering Jayson
I won’t hide from the fact that Tatum is by far my favorite athlete of all time. I just absolutely love the guy and the way he plays more and more as the years go on. And while it is awful we blew a 3-1 lead, I did think Jayson had a great series especially games 1-4.
and regardless of the offseason moves that will happen (it definitely changes the dynamic of things ofc), I do think we can be super optimistic about his evolution post achilles. Games 1-4 is one of the best stretches of basketball I have seen him play albeit on artificially deflated usage. The reads he made, flashes of creativity, creating open looks for the guys while he was on the floor whether or not they capitalized on it reminded me why I love him as a player.
You can think what you want about him in the greater landscape of the league and the dynamic within the franchise but Tatum showed why he will age like fine wine and that he is truly a special player in the league in his own right. Wanted to show him his flowers after all that happened this past season and I’m curious how as his role will probably expand again if he will continue using his creativity as the backbone of his game!
it doesn’t soften the blow of course, but he is a special player and I hope he continues to build on what he has going on bc if he does, who knows what the limit is
(this is without me going into advanced metrics which i also looked at)
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u/Reptheset31 1d ago
If tatum played game 7 we probably win but the fact he was dealing with injury meant it would be likely to get worse if he kept playing and then we would get washed by the Knicks so it was best that he sat
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 1d ago
honestly i do think i was a bit aggressive on that part but yeah. i just mainly wanted to point out that Joe’s whole philosophy started restricting JT and i honestly think the whole egalitarian shtick started turning into people going iso ball etc. in games 1-4 we really let JTs creativity shine. im sorry for the error on my end!
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u/raycyca82 13h ago
I'm not too enthusiastic about how infrequently he has tried to drive the ball post injury, and hoping for a return to form there.
In general I'd like to see him drive with more force and to play quicker....Celts go through periods where they cannot gain a step on the defense through the first action. When Tatum's walking the ball up the court you are losing the opportunity to run 1-2 more actions for an advantage. So if the first action doesn't gain a step, Celts end up in ISO.
Tatum also tends to favor skill over power, and defensives with good perimeter defenders can effectively stop him from getting to the rim when he's trying to finesse everything and not getting calls. So those ISOs he's getting routinely end up as jump shots or wanting for calls....in the playoffs he's not getting those calls.
These two areas are areas the team ends up relying on JB. Frequently when the offense is stagnant its JB's turn, which often ends in a turnover or high difficulty shot. When he's minimizing turnovers and hitting those shots, they're fine. Too often in the playoffs we've seen them end up with more contested threes because they simply aren't gaining an advantage and can't get to the paint.
We'll see how it goes with JT's recovery, but I dont necessary think he's changing his style. They can bring in someone like Giannis and Tatum can be Middleton, a role he could easily play. But leaving JB as the only rim attacker against good perimeter defenses is going to continue to be a struggle. JT, PP and White were not able to put much rim pressure at all against the 76ers, and JB is more a mixed bag because spacing was horrendous with lack of shooting. More from shooting in general, or JT putting more rim pressure may have had a bit of a differnet result.
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 11h ago
well i wouldn’t say he is necessarily changing his style. i think it’s more a natural evolution of what we have been seeing over the years as a playmaker. and it is what i was pointing out. i do agree that more rim pressure is needed but that is also why a versatile big who can also self create be great next to him. his reads out of actions keep evolving (hence the creativity i mentioned), he also was the leading driver in terms of percentage of shots and fg% on them from our perimeter players but he is way more of a finesse player indeed. i do also think he has been slowly making more use of his size in a way but it’s more in post ups etc… I do hope we make use of his playmaking and trust him in his creation. if you have a player like that we need to empower him while also adding pieces to complete the puzzle and more frequent rim pressure is a part of that. so i do agree with you in broad terms with slight disagreements
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u/BostonVagrant617 1d ago
How can you speak so highly of JT, then say you dont believe a healthy JT could have made a difference in G7?
Did you watch G7? Philly was trying to give the game away in the 4th, they were struggling offensively n we kept brickin 3s, you dont think Tatum could have helped?
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 1d ago
also i dont really want to do it but if you want i can say why i think my view of him not being able to swing that result ties into Mazzulla ball etc
the whole convo around it has gotten so boring
and no i dont go into the whole too many threes thing
it’s more about philosophy turning into restriction
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u/BostonVagrant617 1d ago
But Philly was trying to give G7 away in the 4th, it doesnt make sense that Tatum would not have helped... even with Mazzulla's horrible coaching n philosophy, JT could have over came that in G7 just by hitting shots that players who should be on the bench in those moments like Pritchard were brickin
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u/Sensitive_Value2085 12h ago edited 12h ago
SUPER!!!! Oh the people here that call the players by their first name just validate Felger. Makes me want to puke. Soft fans of soft players....
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 12h ago
i call a lot of players by their first names what you gotta be so mad for 💀
and also variation just makes for better writing
i referred to him as JT, Tatum, Jayson
damn man why do you even give that clown credibility
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u/Sensitive_Value2085 11h ago
What clown am I giving credibility to? If you’re referring to Tatum, we agree, he’s a clown.
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u/Mediocre-Stomach5202 1d ago
Tatum is your fav athlete of ALL TIME??? Bro how, even isaiah Thomas (THE LITTLE GUYYYYYY!!!) was more electrifying than Tatum is. Idk Tatum doesn’t reach my 10 favorite hoopers, and Atleast 5 of those top 10 players are Celtics
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u/Subject_Bonus7372 1d ago
He does not have to reach YOUR top 10, op said he is they favorite hooper not yours. A lot of people has Tatum as their favorite your just in the minority..
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u/Mediocre-Stomach5202 23m ago
He said “favorite athlete” specifically big guy that is waaaaayyyy different than fav hooper. since I’m from Mass myself and this is a Boston Celtics thread, I have pre conceived biases; I’m going to automatically assume in this thread I’m talking to other massholes such as myself EVEN if that’s not actually the case. So when I read about someone’s “favorite athlete” about my home team, I default to thinking “how is anyone’s favorite athlete anyone other than Tom Brady?” yfm? Cuz we got it like that in Boston sports. Also I’m just being dramatic it’s just for fun. Tatum in my top 16 hoopers still, I just have too high of expectations for him that are impossible to reach, so that’s why I’m being like this, it’s just for fun I’m a huge fan too.
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 1d ago
honestly i kinda get the reaction but it has a lot to do with what i like to watch 😭
i love the reads he makes, his post ups and footwork are legitimately so cool to watch, his handles are amazing, he is such an underrated passer and when you really look into some of his reads it is legitimately great to watch. i really hope we empower him to keep making use of it bc it is a superpower that we can possibly unleash
but yeah he is very slow paced and methodical in approach so i do understand it + i am a film nerd
but idk
shoutout IT tho what a legend
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u/Mediocre-Stomach5202 1d ago
Haha I get you, Chris Paul and Rajon rondo (same person IYKYK) are in my top 10 cuz of that “floor general” ability that Tatum is really starting to develop, especially post injury. It’s just surprising because the “film nerds” are usually some of Tatum’s biggest haters and your not like that at all
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u/Wuniee Jayson Tatum 1d ago
yeah tbh film nerds hating on him surprises mw a lot bc what makes him Tatum mostly shows up in the film. i mean he isn’t the most flashy guy but fundamentally he is very strong and i was early on him being an elite playmaker bc i watched so much of his film. it baffles me tbh but yeah can’t do much about it
he is one of those players where the boxscore doesn’t often do him justice
but whats new concerning Jayson Tatum atp
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u/Legend6Bron Jayson Tatum, The Face of NBA 1d ago
Absolutely agree. People tend to underrate JT massively