Jayson Tatum: The Next Paul Pierce?

I remember going through Jayson Tatum’s high school highlight film and thinking to myself “man he plays a lot like Paul Pierce.”

It wasn’t until later that I began to notice other people shared my thoughts. After watching his tape I was convinced that a forward combination of Jaylen Brown and Tatum would be just want the C’s need. Of course, then I came across Markelle Fultz and I quickly changed my mind on who the Celtics should select. This doesn’t change the fact that Tatum’s game resembles future Hall of Famer’s.

The first of their similarities being in their body types. Both forwards are roughly 6’8. Pierce finished his career at a weight around 240, but when he first entered the league he was slimmer and closer to Tatum’s 205 pounds.

More from Celtics News

Tatum has a much more muscular build than Pierce ever had during his college or pro career, but they have similar athletic ability. Yeah, believe it or not Pierce used to be pretty athletic especially in his days at Kansas.

Both Tatum and (young) Pierce aren’t exactly known for attacking the rim, but when they do it’s often with authority. Just in case you don’t believe me below are some Paul Pierce highlights during his time in Kansas where he throws in down on his opponents.

In the video you probably noticed The Truth’s signature midrange game. Well, Tatum has that too. Tatum can do the hesitation, step back, pull up and the turnaround. Their games are built around this old school strategy. The eye test tells you the a college Pierce seemed to have a slightly better hold of his 3 point stroke, but Tatum actually had a slightly better 3 point percentage their freshman years (Tatum-30.6%, Pierce-30.4%).

Pierce proved his improvement behind the arc during his sophomore year where he had a 46.5 3 point percentage. I believe Tatum will have a similar improvement with the shot. Recently, a video surfaced of him hitting 3’s as if they were layups. Drew Hanlen, a basketball skills coach, posted the video.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUa_mZxAeMP/?taken-by=drewhanlen

Another similarity is their college stats. In his freshman year Tatum had stat line of 16.8 points per game, 7.3 rebound per game, 2.1 assists per game and a 45.2 field goal percentage. He did this as the main source of offensive in Duke’s starting lineup, so we will compare him with Pierce’s sophomore year because he was not as much as a focal point as a freshman. In his sophomore season Pierce averaged 16.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and shot 48.8% from the field. Obviously, these numbers are near identical which proves that their contributions to a team are alike.

Let it be known that this article isn’t saying that Tatum will be as successful as Pierce. I think it would be foolish to guarantee any player could replicate the type of career as a Hall of Famer. Just know that Tatum’s skill set is comparable to the Truth’s and if he continues to improve, it’s possible.

Next: Top Five Point Guards in the NBA Draft 2.0

It’s weird because I almost wish that Fultz wasn’t in this draft, so Boston could pick Paul Pierce 2.0. Unfortunately, that’s not that case. Instead, we will be forced to pick a player projected to be a future NBA All-Star. How unfair. Okay, maybe it isn’t THAT big of a problem, but still it’d be nice to have Tatum as well.

Home/Celtics News