Jayson Tatum’s success without the three point shot is demonstrating how complete his game is going to be
It did not take long for Jayson Tatum to absolutely shatter any rookie expectations in his first season with the Boston Celtics. He was immediately comfortable in the starting lineup, a positive on defense, and somehow managed to lead the league in three point shooting for a little bit.
He brought a level of efficiency that you rarely see from the top veterans in the league, and he took everything Brad Stevens asked of him in stride. Tatum pretty much did everything better than anyone expected, but his three point shooting really was the most impressive part of his game.
The reason is because of what an incredible standard he set. Tatum spent a lot of time above 45 percent from deep, and finished the season with a ridiculous mark of 43.4 percent. Tatum was the most trusted three pointer shooter on the team, and everyone was just waiting to see what he could do in higher volume.
No one expected Tatum to have to be more than that efficiency off ball player in his rookie year, and chances are he would have maintained that role if the injuries did not pileup. Now he is a primary instigator, and the most consistent scorer on the team.
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The most amazing thing about what he is doing is the fact that he has now scored 20+ points in six straight games, is one of the highest scorers in the second round and he has not even been close to his standard from three point range.
For whatever reason, Tatum is clearly leaving points off the board during the best stretch of his career, and the points he is missing are what people expected to be the easiest to come for him.
The degree of difficulty in the shots certainly makes a difference, and the higher volume will have an impact. Nevertheless, he is still missing too many easy looks, and no amount of volume should cause his percentages to drop all the way down to just 31 percent.
Tatum is expected to create a lot more space than he was during the regular season, and that will explain some of the shooting. The problem is with the open looks, and he is missing more of those than anyone expected coming in.
Yeah, that is correct, Tatum is on the best stretch of his entire career, even though the biggest strength of his regular season has declined by over 10 percent, and that is a truly staggering dip. Tatum’s success really goes to show how much more he has done that he scoring has improved so much despite leaving all the points off the board from deep.
Tatum is showing how well rounded his game can get, because everyone knows the shooting will eventually come around. He is still adjusting to the role, because he has hesitation and timing issues from deep at times. In any case, nothing has happened to his shooting form, and the more time he gets comfortable in this role, the more he will be able to get back from deep.
Tatum is showing the exact kind of play that the Celtics needed with all these injuries in the playoffs. He is instigating in a special way, and is making sure he will always bring the scoring, no matter how bad the shooting is.
The Celtics are a team built to try and win when they do not shoot well, and Tatum has become a part of that in these playoffs. You would have though that three point shooting would be his biggest strength if he brought this kind of scoring in the playoffs. All that means, however, is that there is still a tremendous amount more than he can do, even in the role he is playing right now.
Other than losing his handle on drives, Tatum’s offensive game is coming together in a special way in the playoffs, and the more we see how many different ways he can attack, the less concerned we will be with the three point shooting.
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Tatum has already proven that he has the potential to be the best pure three point shooter of this generation and core, but we already knew that coming into the playoffs. With his performance in two rounds so far, he is showing everyone everything else he can do, and there are absolutely no limits whatsoever on what he can do as a scorer.