Jayson Tatum's ability to level up hinges on his ability to transcend his greatest influence. Boston won last year's title because they were finally deep and talented enough to ride out the roughest aspects of Tatum's Mamba Mentality cosplay. For them to win again this year, they'll need him to shed his skin.
To the chagrin of every non-Dunkin’ drinker, last year’s Boston Celtics were one of the most impressive teams in NBA history. For eight uninterrupted months, they pummeled any and all comers to a practically unprecedented degree. Theirwas the third best of all-time, while their +10.9 mark in the postseason was sixth. Their approach was built on a foundation of cynical nerd-ball, but they played so gracefully that analytics started to feel like intuition.
From a purely Basketball Reference point of view, Tatum is just about as good as any 26 year-old has ever been. In just seven seasons, he’s compiled a Hall of Fame-level resumé. With All-NBA first-team nods in each of the last three years, he’s already equaled the total of Bill Russell and surpassed inner-sanctum Celtics legends like Paul Pierce and Dave Cowens; his 2,711 postseason points are the most that any player has ever scored through their age-25 season.
Most of all, he has a fatal lack of aura. If an objectively less good player like Anthony Edwards can surf a wave of charisma past any criticisms, Tatum’s shortcomings are magnified by his stiff awkwardness. Even during the biggest moments of his career , he has an unfortunate habit of making his cringey antics, not his accomplishments, the center of attention. the way that Kobe posed. Like the canned humor of a Marvel movie, he confuses merely winking at something and actually embodying it.
To wit, Tatum is among the league’s best slashers, shooting 57 percent on drives . During the playoffs, he had his best games when he simplified approach and used his innate unguardability heading towards the rim to create shots for his teammates, sucking in help defenders and then spraying the ball to Boston’s shooters. In his three best games in the playoffs by Game Score, Tatum averaged 9.3 assists; in his three worst, he averaged just 4.3.
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