Comments on: Knicks Morning News (2018.05.10)

By: Z-man

Z-man — Fri, 11 May 2018 10:15:12 +0000

I don’t think he regresses (other than perhaps a modest decline in his 3-pt shooting, which was steadily well over 40% all year but on relatively low volume and he is only shooting .311 from 3 in the playoffs) because he has a very intelligent and mature approach to the game, and is athletic enough to be a factor on both ends. The one thing to consider is that he had a usage of 19% all year. It’s reasonable to ask whether he can sustain his numbers at a higher usage, but we won’t find that out for a while at least because when Hayward and Irving come back, his usage might actually go down! One fair question to ask is: how would he have done on the Suns or Kings had he dropped a spot or two?

By: JK47

JK47 — Fri, 11 May 2018 04:52:21 +0000

I didn’t love Tatum as a prospect myself, I figured him as a high volume pointzz guy who probably wasn’t going to be real efficient. I was thinking Rudy Gay. He wasn’t really a great shooter in college, he was merely okay.

He had a very good rookie year but it wouldn’t surprise me if he regressed as a soph.

By: Z-man

Z-man — Fri, 11 May 2018 03:22:06 +0000

Also, DX (so sorry it’s defunct) showed strengths and weaknesses for every player, so for Tatum they had to say something. While the weaknesses may be “legit,” they are not uniformly reliable or well-documented. Tatum went where he was projected to go despite a limited body of evidence, in a way, like Kyrie did.

By: Z-man

Z-man — Fri, 11 May 2018 03:13:02 +0000

I think that even at 36% from 3 he’s a hell of a player, and his scouting report was heavily skewed by missing time with injury. But the video evidence clearly showed the upside, just not the consistency.

By: Bruno Almeida

Bruno Almeida — Fri, 11 May 2018 02:17:39 +0000

I mean, there were legitimate concerns. Draftexpress talked about him as iso-heavy, somewhat inefficient and having an old man’s game, more smooth than explosive, not advanced with his handle and having a hard time creating off the dribble, all things that he has more or less proven them wrong on in his first season. He was projected as a lesser athlete than Jackson and a significantly less promising defender than Isaac.

Props to Ainge on going against it all and picking the guy anyway, because he seems to be a hell of a player, but I wouldn’t be too hard on ourselves Z-Man. If we knew he had the ability to shoot 43% from 3 when he never had showed that level before I don’t think any of us would have had him as a bust.

By: Z-man

Z-man — Fri, 11 May 2018 01:18:47 +0000

JK47 taht’s reasonable, but I think his game is more like Melo’s except less selfish and more intelligent. He’s not as explosive as Grant Hill was, nor the ball-handler. He has the same smoothness and finesse to his game as a young Melo and similar athleticism(although Melo was thicker, both in the body and the skull!)

Thing is, only the folks here were rating Tatum as a potential bust. He was a consensus top-5 pick, and some had him going #3. Here was SI’s take:3. Boston Celtics: Jayson Tatum, F, Duke | Freshman

Expect more trade discussions to take place involving this selection, but if the Celtics keep their pick, expect them to draft a wing. This could be Josh Jackson (who may have greater value in a deal), but the better fit for Boston would be Tatum, thanks to his potential to space the floor, play some power forward and become a go-to scorer down the line. Jackson’s well-publicized decision not to work out for the Celtics is worth noting.

Reid Forgrave from CBS said this:

“3. Celtics via trade with 76ers
Jayson Tatum, SF, Duke

As I predicted more than a month ago, Jayson Tatum fits the Celtics to a T. Fultz does not. It may prove to be the smart decision, seeing that the Celtics have plenty of flexibility in the near future. (If things break the right way, there’s a chance the Celtics could have high lottery picks from the Nets and Lakers next season.) Tatum is a natural scorer from all three levels, the type of player the Celtics need. Plus he has one of the more mature heads on his shoulders of any teenager I’ve met. He’ll be able to step in and make an immediate difference”

So the consensus beyond KB was that Tatum was a stud; only the braintrust here (and idiots like me) overthought things and essentially saw a poor man’s Melo. I would say that “Melotrauma” is the main reason why most here didn’t want to believe in his potential.

By: Stratomatic "Porzingis, Ntilikina, and one of the Bridges will take us to the promised land"

Thu, 10 May 2018 23:53:40 +0000

All I know is that I wouldn’t trade with the Celtics. If you do, it’s very likely Ainge is getting the best of the deal on its face value, the player you get is going to disappoint, and the player Boston gets is going to improve.

By: JK47

JK47 — Thu, 10 May 2018 22:11:59 +0000

Tatum reminds me a lot of Grant Hill. Same size, similar well-rounded skill set. Hill was a better passer, but didn’t have the great outside shot like Tatum has.

By: thenamestsam

thenamestsam — Thu, 10 May 2018 21:25:16 +0000

I think if I was forced to pick I’d probably say Brad Stevens is the best coach in the league at this point but I do think there’s truth to the idea that under a different set of circumstances people would look at this Celtics team and see a very talented young group studded with lottery picks and other first round talent making the leap a little earlier than expected instead of giving so much credit to the coach. I mean Jaylen Brown and Tatum are pretty comparable in pedigree to Embiid and Simmons, they have a veteran all-star on their side, and Rozier and Smart were both high 1st round picks in the last few years and yet there’s the perception that Boston is the scrappy underdogs. Philly was in a similar spot – they’re also heavily reliant on inexperienced stars, they also had a serious injury (obviously Fultz is way less of a known quantity than Kyrie or Heyward but he was expected to contribute this year for sure) and yet the narrative around them is pretty different and Brett Brown ends up with a lot less of the credit.

By: Bruno Almeida

Bruno Almeida — Thu, 10 May 2018 20:21:26 +0000

Tatum is just so complete. I thought his “veteran”, controlled mid range style in college was covering a lack of athleticism and shaky 3 point shooting but oh boy, was I wrong. There was one possession last game where he picked up a turnover or a rebound in the paint and sprinted past the entire Sixers team right down the middle, outpacing even Simmons, who eventually fouled him. He’s going to be a terror to deal with.

At least his 3pt shooting has dropped quite a bit in the playoffs from his insane 43% on the regular season, but he’s still doing so much.