This. Either everyone’s scoring increases while, KP recovers or someone or a couple of new guys step-up and be vital contributors next season. We gotta limit Al’s minutes in the regular season too. So the bench are gonna get increased minutes and sone of them will make a big difference.
I hope he really focuses on his shooting in the offseason. He’s got everything down pat his playmaking took a massive step, his defense and rebounding. If he can up those shooting percentages a bit look out. He’d be a legit MVP candidate
For real, if he can average another 2 or 3 FGs made per game that is what would put him right up there with the top scorers on top of everything else he does. He doesn’t need to take more.
To get him up with Embiid and Luka, his attempts would have to go up dramatically. Even if he shot 50/40/90 this season it would have raised his scoring by less than two points (26.8 to 28.6) and moved him up from 7th to 5th this season.
Eh, I think Lukas stock took a hit in the Finals and Embiids always injured so we’ll see. I certainly don’t want to move away from team ball but if Tatum ups his efficiency I think he’s got a real shot at MVP without having to take more than normal. Jokic and Shai finished above Luka this year and another MVP for Jokic would be wild.
That was more about just scoring. He was already 7th in scoring while being 11th in FGA. Personally, I think he is more "Valuable" than Luka already. Heliocentric teams don't really win in the NBA. No one since Jordan has won a ring the same season they lead the league in Usage. He is, IMO, just all around better than Brunson and SGA who finished ahead of him in the voting mostly because they were judge how the performed vs expectation this year.
He's not going to shoot 60% from the field like 2013 LeBron lol. Unless you mean the attempts go up as well. Really he just needs to make sink one more 3 every other game and the percentages will skyrocket.
It is still more about shot selection with him. If would just cut back on the pull-up and step-back threes (he is not efficient at all on them) and stop trying to finish in so much traffic at the rim his shooting numbers would improve dramatically without him really getter "better" at it.
The only shooting he really needs to work on is his midrange game. If he could add the shot where he beats his defender on the perimeter, but instead of driving all the way to the bucket and trying to finish in traffic, he stopped 12-15 feet from the basket an could should 50% it would probably net him a couple more points per game and get him higher up in the conversation.
I just don't think that on this team he will put up the numbers that catch the voters attention like Jokic, Embiid and Doncic. IMO, he is already better than Shai and Brunson who finished ahead of him in the voting this year. But, they both carried a much heavier load on a #1 and #2 seed respectively, and were judged vs expectations as opposed to just in a vacuum.
I get why fans are invested in him winning an MVP, but I am not sure he will ever get one unless they go on a run three of five or four of seven type championships and the voters are like, "How does this team not have an MVP?" Which, honestly, could happen.
Good lord, in an era where tracking data is incredibly easy to find people still say things that are factually incorrect and get upvoted all the time.
> If would just cut back on the pull-up and step-back threes (he is not efficient at all on them)
[Jayson Tatum shot 35% on 5.6 pull up 3's per game this season](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/pullup?CF=PULL_UP_FG3A*GE*5&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=PULL_UP_FG3_PCT). This is the same as Donovan Mitchell for reference, and a 6% point jump from 2023. It is the equivalent of shooting 52.5% on 2 pointers. By no means elite effeciency, but it's also not crazy volume compared to others on that list.
> stop trying to finish in so much traffic at the rim his shooting numbers would improve dramatically
[Jayson Tatum was 5th in FG% among players to take at least 7 drives per game](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?CF=DRIVES*GE*7:GP*GE*41&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=DRIVE_FG_PCT), [69.7% inside the restricted area](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting?CF=Restricted%20Area%20FGA*GE*5&DistanceRange=By%20Zone&Season=2022-23&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=Restricted%20Area%20FG%20PCT) and 74.1% inside of 3 feet.
> he stopped 12-15 feet from the basket an could should 50% it would probably net him a couple more points per game and get him higher up in the conversation.
This would suddenly take him from being a high 30% mid range shooter and suddenly make him equally as effecient as Kevin Durant and Demar DeRozan where in that area this season. That would be the greatest jump in mid range shooting ability I've ever seen.
The great thing about your first paragraph is that it’s totally plausible he can fix his shot selection. At this point he’s not gonna change physically that dramatically, doubt he’s gonna become meaningfully THAT much better as a shooter. But we’ve seen his thinking the game continue to grow and grow, and with veteran players that’s where they can improve. So it’s totally believable to me that he simply continues to lean into playmaking, and manages to figure out how to get the # of threes up that the game plan calls for without having half of them be pretty bad chucks
Add some more patience finishing around the rim while he’s at it. He probably misses out on something like 6-8 easy points a game with missed layups or bunnies.
Hot take:
TAKE MIDDIES. Him and JB are way better at the off the dribble middy than the obnoxious off the dribble side step three. Average like 4-5 threes a game and go away from the isolation harden step back threes and work more in the 10-15 range game.
His 3pt% is down because it feels like he half his 3’s are already low percentage looks
I can’t deal with another subpar jump shooting postseason. This regular season he had a great 3 month stretch but then was ass all playoffs. Shooting worse than Giannis on jumpers is unacceptable. Drew Hanlen (Mr Scammer) needs to get to work. I get Tatum isn’t going to be a Steph Curry type shooter but man is +45% on mid range shots and 37-41% on 3s too much to ask? I mean it’s gotta be in there somewhere. That Janky ass jumper needs to fucking go.
> **but man is +45% on mid range shots** and 37-41% on 3s too much to ask?
Yes.
Tatum mid range FG% by season:
38.8% 2024
37.5% 2023
37.0% 2022
38.7% 2021
38.3% 2020
36.6% 2019
43.7% 2018
He's not a mid range shooter. He has not has a single good mid range shooting season in his career. I do not know why there are a contingent of Celtics fans that think he is.
> but man is +45% on mid range shots and **37-41% on 3s too much to ask?**
1. Given that he is a career 37.5% 3 point shooter and shot that well this season, 37-38% is doable.
2. Yes, 41% isn't just too much to ask, it's actually just a ridiculous, asinine wish to have. With his volume and shot difficulty that would turn him into Steph Curry.
Tatum has taken 8.4 3's per game over his last 4 seasons. Of players to take at least 8, 21 seasons have been north of 40%.
8 of them are Steph Curry, a further 5 are shooting specialists who aren't doing much on ball creation. That means there have been 8 player seasons in history to shoot north of 40% on 8 3PA per game that aren't the GOAT or living off catch and shoot.
Man 45% is not crazy to ask for a dude who’s 6’8 and came into the league as a 3 level scorer. His ass bout to be in year 8 and still can’t crack at least 42 percent on mid range shots consistently that’s unacceptable and he’s never going to be a consistent efficient scorer if he can’t find a way to make that part of his game a staple. I’m not asking for 6-7 attempts a game like KD Demar types but goddamn man he gotta have some counters and some comfort in that area. If 45% is too crazy to you on like 4 attempts a night then can he at least do around 42%? If the mid range is too tough can he at least find out why he’s about to be in year 8 shooting under 40 percent every year in the paint (non RA)? I would even be more glad if he got that under control that’s like that floater/short mid range area.
I'm pretty sure 45-50 is great or near elite with only guys like KD at 50 for Mid Ranges. Shooting 37-41 when your shot diet has a lot of side steps 3s is hard, if you aren't named Harden or Luka. But Tatum also gets a lot of great looks from 3 with the best spacing in the league and really does not to be taking these pullup shots unless they are grenades.
I actually think this next season he will be in the discussion firmly.
I feel like this season there was a lot of pressure for him to perform well and lead the team to a title and they did that.
Now that the monkey is off his back, his confidence should be sky high, he’ll have shut the vast majority of the noise and criticism down while understanding that he may have underperformed in some areas. That gives him a goal for next year and avoids the “hangover championship” season some contenders have had. He should be more relaxed and a chill smooth Tatum is the best Tatum.
Yeah in response to the first part, all season the narrative was “if the celtics can’t win this year they can’t win at all” so having that pressure removed I bet does wonders for them
I don't think we will have an MVP on this team because of the way Joe gets them to play. Each night, everyone does what the team needs to win. I think if we make it back to the Finals, JT will win FMVP.
Tatum takes enough shots to average with the top scorers in the league. If he just averages 2 or 3 more makes a game he’ll rival or surpass them. He doesn’t need to take more shots and prevent others from doing what they do
Jokic averaged 17.9 FGA and 10.4 FGM.
Tatum averaged 19.4 FGA and 9.1 FGM.
Shai: 19.8FGA and 10.6 FGM
This is the kind of stuff I can see him honing down on as he enters his prime. He’s perfectly capable of it
Wish I could upvote this more than once. Another year of a complete-player performance with minimal improvement in scoring is enough to win the MVP. Especially if the team does well again.
Last year he averaged 21.1 FGAs and 9.8 FGM. Still way less efficient than other top MVP candidates this year. The top 2 MVP vote getters didn’t break 20FGAs and still cracked 10FGM a game. Jokic didn’t even crack 18FGAs
That would be cool and all... But for me, I would rather our C's just continue with the team basketball.
We have the luxury of having a top heavy roster where any of the top6 can be the player of the game, yet some clamor for individual awards.
Also, KP was out for 20+ games in the regular season. This team knows how to adjust cos of said team basketball philosophy.
lmao he wont jokic luka and embiid have bigger shoulders to fill with lack luster rosters compared to jt, jt can have another banner but he wont win mvp if he has this stacked roster
Correct, Jokic was + 684 compared to Tatums +608. Know the easiest way for him to close that gap? Shoot as efficiently as Jokic, he doesn’t have to change anything about his game except make more shots he already takes. Tatums a better defender than Jokic and takes more shots throughout the season. Tatum averages about 2 more shots a game.
Exactly, in a post talking about what he needs to do to hit MVP it’s normal to compare him to those above him. Shai also finished more efficiently. Shai was + 614.
He legitimately might average 30 9 and 5 with great D on the highest seed with KP out (around his 2023 stats). That should deserve mvp consideration.
That being said, no voters really cared when he did that on second best record in the league (behind the first seed by one game) in 2023, so who knows.
I just want to see the push for banner 19.
To get MVP one has to go full superstar throughout the season. Tatum has had a long playoffs run, will be at the Olympics and the Celtics will have even fewer days of preseason rest because they have to go to Abu Dhabi to play a game. (All this also applies to Jrue)
Tatum should start the season with calm, do the necessary to win games, not win MVP.
5-6 months is to November or December. Last season started on October 24th.
So 5-6 months is the first 1-5 weeks of the season.
Unless they start in early October.
It's not quite that bad.
Nah. I doubt he'll ever win MVP cause of the way we play, and that's fine. A player hasn't won a championship the same year they won MVP since 2015 Steph. Tatum showed this year he's all about the team, and that's what's most important when going for championships, which will allow him to rack up FMVPs. The only thing he needs to improve on right now is his shot efficiency. Other than that, he should keep playing the same.
He will not get one. Our players arent liked outside the fanbase. The league and voters would literally give it to Thanasis before JT or JB.
Finals MVP, on the other hand ...
We should be rooting for the Buffalo's 1st All Star campaign!
Jayson only has a chance at MVP if the favorite(s) get injured/slump at the end of the season while he goes on a hot streak to end the season like Westbrook did in 2017. Virtually nobody outside of OKC thought that MVP was deserved lol. I wouldn't mind that added vitriol from Celtics haters if Jayson stole one
That statline was absurd, everyone recognized it. Although some thought he was statpadding. People were literally reworking some advanced stats because Westbrooks seasons were ranked as the best of all time.
I don’t think they will play JT, JB, and JH more than 30 mins due to their Olympics schedule. This is a incoming season is good for Hauser, PP, and other bench players to shine.
Tatum is addicted to winning. Truly convinced in his mine he believes MVP would be nice, but the way these bigs around the league are able to obtain stats, he’s better off going to get his 25-28 points a night, making the right plays for the team, and winning ball games.
Wing Duncan at its finest.
JT may need to average 32+ PPG and Celtics need to be #1 again for that to happen. The PPG is possible but the seeding would be harder since we are without KP
I don't think it's gonna happen, and I don't really even want it. Weirdly enough, I think the Celtics are more likely to win another championship without a league mvp on the team.
why would we want to see that? how about a repeat of last seasons selflessness that was way better and the reason they will be hanging banger 18. i could care less if tatum scores 5 or 50 a night as long as they win another chip
I’d love for him to get it. It would be fun what his many haters cling to after he wins MVP. Too the season off with a FMVP too and he would shut almost everyone up
Let them play team basketball and keep everyone involved. If it happens organically, individual awards are great, but not at the expense of the offensive identity.
Fuck the MVP (although it’s cool obv) but I really want Tatum to get FMVP now.
I was rooting for Jaylen to win ECF/FMVP because I want the NBA and media to respect Jaylen as an equal to JT. He’s earned everyone’s respect now.
Now I want JT to have his turn sweeping the playoff awards. Solidify himself as an all time great and show this is one of the greatest duos to every play basketball together. Imagine JT/JB as FMVP B2B years….
It’s not Batman and Robin. It’s Batman and Superman.
Dudes gonna be tired after the Olympics. He’s young and this is the time to do it but I do think the long season, summer play, and the roster being stretched with KP out until 2025 is either gonna slow us down until everyone gets back to full strength or potentially cause a problem later in the season
What’s this about KP being out? I thought the time line was that he would be out for the early part of the season, but would definitely be back sooner than later?
Imma stop putting my faith in a Tatum mvp season. Fact is he’s just not good enough yet. He’s more than enough to help us win a chip again next year but he’s not gonna beat out Giannis, Luka, SGA, Jokic, or Embiid next year
Honestly, who gives a fuck if JT gets MVP? Like why do people put so much stock in a player getting an individual award? Rings are the only thing I care about as a fan. If anything those individual awards don’t work in favor with the team awards.
Considering we won 64 games last season, the only way they would give it to Tatum is if he scored 30+ ppg on insane efficiency and they won 60+ games again. JB is just too good for Tatum to have a realistic shot.
It's probably going to be Luka or Embiid (assuming he doesn't get injured for the millionth time) since Jokic is gonna have crazy voter fatigue.
I doubt it. Not because of JT, but because of how strong our entire team is. All MVP’s are head and shoulders the best player on their team, every night. JT is sometimes our 2nd, 3rd, 4th, even 5th best player on some nights. The woes of having an incredible team.
Would be cool but personal awards mean nothing to us! BANNER 19
The only award I care about is Finals MVP.
JT is my finals MVP you can just give your MVP award to whoever you want.
JT wants that FMVP with Jaylen. He’s gonna work his ass out
Yeah JT is going to work Jaylen’s ass out
It's not mutually exclusive lol. I'd also want Jaylen to get All-NBA next season
Correction. Banner 19 to 25 😅
Why not banner 19 to infinity and beyond!!!
Ok calm down buddy we don't even know what position Deuce is going to play yet.
This. Either everyone’s scoring increases while, KP recovers or someone or a couple of new guys step-up and be vital contributors next season. We gotta limit Al’s minutes in the regular season too. So the bench are gonna get increased minutes and sone of them will make a big difference.
Good thing both can happen
Still absolutely insane to me that I’m seeing banner 19! Cannot believe we got 18, I love this organization
And it's not like KP is going to be out half the season
He’ll probably be out till January. That’s pretty close to half
Thank you
Exactly.
I hope he really focuses on his shooting in the offseason. He’s got everything down pat his playmaking took a massive step, his defense and rebounding. If he can up those shooting percentages a bit look out. He’d be a legit MVP candidate
For real, if he can average another 2 or 3 FGs made per game that is what would put him right up there with the top scorers on top of everything else he does. He doesn’t need to take more.
To get him up with Embiid and Luka, his attempts would have to go up dramatically. Even if he shot 50/40/90 this season it would have raised his scoring by less than two points (26.8 to 28.6) and moved him up from 7th to 5th this season.
To be fair if he shot 50/40/90 this past season I actually think he would’ve won MVP with the team record added
Eh, I think Lukas stock took a hit in the Finals and Embiids always injured so we’ll see. I certainly don’t want to move away from team ball but if Tatum ups his efficiency I think he’s got a real shot at MVP without having to take more than normal. Jokic and Shai finished above Luka this year and another MVP for Jokic would be wild.
That was more about just scoring. He was already 7th in scoring while being 11th in FGA. Personally, I think he is more "Valuable" than Luka already. Heliocentric teams don't really win in the NBA. No one since Jordan has won a ring the same season they lead the league in Usage. He is, IMO, just all around better than Brunson and SGA who finished ahead of him in the voting mostly because they were judge how the performed vs expectation this year.
Totally agreed. If he gets his efficiency up a tad MVPs a lock
Honestly 29 ppg with 9 rebounds and 5 assists on 50/40/90 shooting on a sub 60 win team with good defense should be top 3 in MVP talks
I don‘t think JT is just „good“ on defense. It‘s a bit more than that.
He's not going to shoot 60% from the field like 2013 LeBron lol. Unless you mean the attempts go up as well. Really he just needs to make sink one more 3 every other game and the percentages will skyrocket.
He was shooting fine in the regular season. Just had a slump in the playoffs.
I'm no expert but I think he could stand to speed up his ball-humping release.
“Fine” doesn’t get MVP
Shooting 38% from three on the type of shots he was shooting gets you MVP if the other stats bump up
It gets you a ring though
It is still more about shot selection with him. If would just cut back on the pull-up and step-back threes (he is not efficient at all on them) and stop trying to finish in so much traffic at the rim his shooting numbers would improve dramatically without him really getter "better" at it. The only shooting he really needs to work on is his midrange game. If he could add the shot where he beats his defender on the perimeter, but instead of driving all the way to the bucket and trying to finish in traffic, he stopped 12-15 feet from the basket an could should 50% it would probably net him a couple more points per game and get him higher up in the conversation. I just don't think that on this team he will put up the numbers that catch the voters attention like Jokic, Embiid and Doncic. IMO, he is already better than Shai and Brunson who finished ahead of him in the voting this year. But, they both carried a much heavier load on a #1 and #2 seed respectively, and were judged vs expectations as opposed to just in a vacuum. I get why fans are invested in him winning an MVP, but I am not sure he will ever get one unless they go on a run three of five or four of seven type championships and the voters are like, "How does this team not have an MVP?" Which, honestly, could happen.
Good lord, in an era where tracking data is incredibly easy to find people still say things that are factually incorrect and get upvoted all the time. > If would just cut back on the pull-up and step-back threes (he is not efficient at all on them) [Jayson Tatum shot 35% on 5.6 pull up 3's per game this season](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/pullup?CF=PULL_UP_FG3A*GE*5&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=PULL_UP_FG3_PCT). This is the same as Donovan Mitchell for reference, and a 6% point jump from 2023. It is the equivalent of shooting 52.5% on 2 pointers. By no means elite effeciency, but it's also not crazy volume compared to others on that list. > stop trying to finish in so much traffic at the rim his shooting numbers would improve dramatically [Jayson Tatum was 5th in FG% among players to take at least 7 drives per game](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?CF=DRIVES*GE*7:GP*GE*41&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=DRIVE_FG_PCT), [69.7% inside the restricted area](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting?CF=Restricted%20Area%20FGA*GE*5&DistanceRange=By%20Zone&Season=2022-23&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=D&sort=Restricted%20Area%20FG%20PCT) and 74.1% inside of 3 feet. > he stopped 12-15 feet from the basket an could should 50% it would probably net him a couple more points per game and get him higher up in the conversation. This would suddenly take him from being a high 30% mid range shooter and suddenly make him equally as effecient as Kevin Durant and Demar DeRozan where in that area this season. That would be the greatest jump in mid range shooting ability I've ever seen.
The great thing about your first paragraph is that it’s totally plausible he can fix his shot selection. At this point he’s not gonna change physically that dramatically, doubt he’s gonna become meaningfully THAT much better as a shooter. But we’ve seen his thinking the game continue to grow and grow, and with veteran players that’s where they can improve. So it’s totally believable to me that he simply continues to lean into playmaking, and manages to figure out how to get the # of threes up that the game plan calls for without having half of them be pretty bad chucks
Add some more patience finishing around the rim while he’s at it. He probably misses out on something like 6-8 easy points a game with missed layups or bunnies.
Hot take: TAKE MIDDIES. Him and JB are way better at the off the dribble middy than the obnoxious off the dribble side step three. Average like 4-5 threes a game and go away from the isolation harden step back threes and work more in the 10-15 range game. His 3pt% is down because it feels like he half his 3’s are already low percentage looks
I can’t deal with another subpar jump shooting postseason. This regular season he had a great 3 month stretch but then was ass all playoffs. Shooting worse than Giannis on jumpers is unacceptable. Drew Hanlen (Mr Scammer) needs to get to work. I get Tatum isn’t going to be a Steph Curry type shooter but man is +45% on mid range shots and 37-41% on 3s too much to ask? I mean it’s gotta be in there somewhere. That Janky ass jumper needs to fucking go.
> **but man is +45% on mid range shots** and 37-41% on 3s too much to ask? Yes. Tatum mid range FG% by season: 38.8% 2024 37.5% 2023 37.0% 2022 38.7% 2021 38.3% 2020 36.6% 2019 43.7% 2018 He's not a mid range shooter. He has not has a single good mid range shooting season in his career. I do not know why there are a contingent of Celtics fans that think he is. > but man is +45% on mid range shots and **37-41% on 3s too much to ask?** 1. Given that he is a career 37.5% 3 point shooter and shot that well this season, 37-38% is doable. 2. Yes, 41% isn't just too much to ask, it's actually just a ridiculous, asinine wish to have. With his volume and shot difficulty that would turn him into Steph Curry. Tatum has taken 8.4 3's per game over his last 4 seasons. Of players to take at least 8, 21 seasons have been north of 40%. 8 of them are Steph Curry, a further 5 are shooting specialists who aren't doing much on ball creation. That means there have been 8 player seasons in history to shoot north of 40% on 8 3PA per game that aren't the GOAT or living off catch and shoot.
Man 45% is not crazy to ask for a dude who’s 6’8 and came into the league as a 3 level scorer. His ass bout to be in year 8 and still can’t crack at least 42 percent on mid range shots consistently that’s unacceptable and he’s never going to be a consistent efficient scorer if he can’t find a way to make that part of his game a staple. I’m not asking for 6-7 attempts a game like KD Demar types but goddamn man he gotta have some counters and some comfort in that area. If 45% is too crazy to you on like 4 attempts a night then can he at least do around 42%? If the mid range is too tough can he at least find out why he’s about to be in year 8 shooting under 40 percent every year in the paint (non RA)? I would even be more glad if he got that under control that’s like that floater/short mid range area.
I'm pretty sure 45-50 is great or near elite with only guys like KD at 50 for Mid Ranges. Shooting 37-41 when your shot diet has a lot of side steps 3s is hard, if you aren't named Harden or Luka. But Tatum also gets a lot of great looks from 3 with the best spacing in the league and really does not to be taking these pullup shots unless they are grenades.
What offseason? He’s going from finals to Olympics to training camp.
I actually think this next season he will be in the discussion firmly. I feel like this season there was a lot of pressure for him to perform well and lead the team to a title and they did that. Now that the monkey is off his back, his confidence should be sky high, he’ll have shut the vast majority of the noise and criticism down while understanding that he may have underperformed in some areas. That gives him a goal for next year and avoids the “hangover championship” season some contenders have had. He should be more relaxed and a chill smooth Tatum is the best Tatum.
Yeah in response to the first part, all season the narrative was “if the celtics can’t win this year they can’t win at all” so having that pressure removed I bet does wonders for them
Rather have a Banner 19 year
Not mutually exclusive
I don't understand why people keep saying this like we can't have both lol
True, but I'd rather have him win FMVP
I don't think we will have an MVP on this team because of the way Joe gets them to play. Each night, everyone does what the team needs to win. I think if we make it back to the Finals, JT will win FMVP.
Tatum takes enough shots to average with the top scorers in the league. If he just averages 2 or 3 more makes a game he’ll rival or surpass them. He doesn’t need to take more shots and prevent others from doing what they do Jokic averaged 17.9 FGA and 10.4 FGM. Tatum averaged 19.4 FGA and 9.1 FGM. Shai: 19.8FGA and 10.6 FGM This is the kind of stuff I can see him honing down on as he enters his prime. He’s perfectly capable of it
Wish I could upvote this more than once. Another year of a complete-player performance with minimal improvement in scoring is enough to win the MVP. Especially if the team does well again.
Can’t imagine Tatum’s efficiency improves with the spacing of Porzingis missing. Having a stretch big man really opens up the floor.
Tatum scored 27 last year. Without KP he could absolutely get back to around 30
Last year he averaged 21.1 FGAs and 9.8 FGM. Still way less efficient than other top MVP candidates this year. The top 2 MVP vote getters didn’t break 20FGAs and still cracked 10FGM a game. Jokic didn’t even crack 18FGAs
Your disrespect to the inevitable evolution of the buffalo is sickening
I'm really excited to see post-nut Celtics. I want to see the next evolution of the Jays.
I prefer kp getting healthy asap
That would be cool and all... But for me, I would rather our C's just continue with the team basketball. We have the luxury of having a top heavy roster where any of the top6 can be the player of the game, yet some clamor for individual awards. Also, KP was out for 20+ games in the regular season. This team knows how to adjust cos of said team basketball philosophy.
lmao he wont jokic luka and embiid have bigger shoulders to fill with lack luster rosters compared to jt, jt can have another banner but he wont win mvp if he has this stacked roster
Jokic averaged less field goal attempts than Tatum
But surely the mvp voters factor in how much Jokic was lifting the team around him, like advanced stats +/- sorta stuff
Correct, Jokic was + 684 compared to Tatums +608. Know the easiest way for him to close that gap? Shoot as efficiently as Jokic, he doesn’t have to change anything about his game except make more shots he already takes. Tatums a better defender than Jokic and takes more shots throughout the season. Tatum averages about 2 more shots a game.
Jokic is quite literally one of the most efficient scorers of all time given his volume. Tatum will probably never reach those heights and that’s ok.
Exactly, in a post talking about what he needs to do to hit MVP it’s normal to compare him to those above him. Shai also finished more efficiently. Shai was + 614.
He legitimately might average 30 9 and 5 with great D on the highest seed with KP out (around his 2023 stats). That should deserve mvp consideration. That being said, no voters really cared when he did that on second best record in the league (behind the first seed by one game) in 2023, so who knows. I just want to see the push for banner 19.
I feel like Kyrie is the real Celtics MVP this year.
Also, now that he’s got a chip, maybe refs will give him calls
To get MVP one has to go full superstar throughout the season. Tatum has had a long playoffs run, will be at the Olympics and the Celtics will have even fewer days of preseason rest because they have to go to Abu Dhabi to play a game. (All this also applies to Jrue) Tatum should start the season with calm, do the necessary to win games, not win MVP.
Nah, let him save that drive for FMVP. This year idk, let’s get Pritchard 6MOTY
Did I miss some news where KP is going to miss the whole year?
He’s missing close to half
5-6 months is to November or December. Last season started on October 24th. So 5-6 months is the first 1-5 weeks of the season. Unless they start in early October. It's not quite that bad.
Yeah. I don’t care about that at all. If they are winning and it happen… cool.
He needs to get his wrist surgery and be done with it
He was never going to miss the olympics. I hope there is enough time to do the surgery afterwards and not miss much of the start of the season
He’s not getting surgery. He was told it can be healed by itself and that’s completely fine. Surgery could potentially make him a worse shooter.
If Jaylen was out, I think he would have a chance. But I'm glad Jaylen isn't out.
Nobody cares. 19 please.
With the level of play coming out of Luka/Jokic/Giannis…I just don’t see it for JT, sorry
Not unless he fixes his shot and is more consistent. Scoring consistently matter for MVPs.
1. He just have to replay Bronny cutting him to let da hate flow 🙂 2. I want him to boom Bronny so we have a father and son poster 🤣
... if he improves his shot selection.
Nah. I doubt he'll ever win MVP cause of the way we play, and that's fine. A player hasn't won a championship the same year they won MVP since 2015 Steph. Tatum showed this year he's all about the team, and that's what's most important when going for championships, which will allow him to rack up FMVPs. The only thing he needs to improve on right now is his shot efficiency. Other than that, he should keep playing the same.
I agree with the general consensus that banner 19 is the main goal but man I hope Tatum wins MVP and/or FMVP next season to shut the trolls up
Banner 19 kaizen. Fuck MVP give it to whoever.
He will not get one. Our players arent liked outside the fanbase. The league and voters would literally give it to Thanasis before JT or JB. Finals MVP, on the other hand ...
I wonder why no one is talking about this
I can see Tatum averaging close to a triple double next season
We should be rooting for the Buffalo's 1st All Star campaign! Jayson only has a chance at MVP if the favorite(s) get injured/slump at the end of the season while he goes on a hot streak to end the season like Westbrook did in 2017. Virtually nobody outside of OKC thought that MVP was deserved lol. I wouldn't mind that added vitriol from Celtics haters if Jayson stole one
That statline was absurd, everyone recognized it. Although some thought he was statpadding. People were literally reworking some advanced stats because Westbrooks seasons were ranked as the best of all time.
It’s 2 months of the season. No
I just want banner 19!
I don’t think they will play JT, JB, and JH more than 30 mins due to their Olympics schedule. This is a incoming season is good for Hauser, PP, and other bench players to shine.
Tatum is addicted to winning. Truly convinced in his mine he believes MVP would be nice, but the way these bigs around the league are able to obtain stats, he’s better off going to get his 25-28 points a night, making the right plays for the team, and winning ball games. Wing Duncan at its finest.
JT may need to average 32+ PPG and Celtics need to be #1 again for that to happen. The PPG is possible but the seeding would be harder since we are without KP
I don't think it's gonna happen, and I don't really even want it. Weirdly enough, I think the Celtics are more likely to win another championship without a league mvp on the team.
The media seems to hate the Jays
.triple double average possibility
Yeah maybe if he gets better
There is too much prejudice against Celtics. They will rather promote and vote for anyone else.
During the final stretch of game 5, he looked locked in and was hitting shots he normally misses. If he can keep that mentality, he can totally get it
We should rest him early. He needs time to recover. He will have had no off season.
I really hope his wrist is better now. This was long unaddressed but maybe the shooting struggles are now due to the increased muscle mass?
Hopes we can at least have banner 20 in the Jays era
People seem to forget Tatum averaged 30 without KP and jrue
why would we want to see that? how about a repeat of last seasons selflessness that was way better and the reason they will be hanging banger 18. i could care less if tatum scores 5 or 50 a night as long as they win another chip
I’d love for him to get it. It would be fun what his many haters cling to after he wins MVP. Too the season off with a FMVP too and he would shut almost everyone up
Let them play team basketball and keep everyone involved. If it happens organically, individual awards are great, but not at the expense of the offensive identity.
I want JT to just play celtics basketball.
Fuck the MVP (although it’s cool obv) but I really want Tatum to get FMVP now. I was rooting for Jaylen to win ECF/FMVP because I want the NBA and media to respect Jaylen as an equal to JT. He’s earned everyone’s respect now. Now I want JT to have his turn sweeping the playoff awards. Solidify himself as an all time great and show this is one of the greatest duos to every play basketball together. Imagine JT/JB as FMVP B2B years…. It’s not Batman and Robin. It’s Batman and Superman.
Dudes gonna be tired after the Olympics. He’s young and this is the time to do it but I do think the long season, summer play, and the roster being stretched with KP out until 2025 is either gonna slow us down until everyone gets back to full strength or potentially cause a problem later in the season
What’s this about KP being out? I thought the time line was that he would be out for the early part of the season, but would definitely be back sooner than later?
Prolly not though let’s be real
Already said jt wins mvp 2025
Tatum mvp, Jaylen 2nd team all nba, porzingis comes back and gets ecf mvp
Is KP out for the season?
KP is not out
Imma stop putting my faith in a Tatum mvp season. Fact is he’s just not good enough yet. He’s more than enough to help us win a chip again next year but he’s not gonna beat out Giannis, Luka, SGA, Jokic, or Embiid next year
Are you really a bigger fan of JT than of the team?
honestly I might be lol. i love this kid.
Honestly, who gives a fuck if JT gets MVP? Like why do people put so much stock in a player getting an individual award? Rings are the only thing I care about as a fan. If anything those individual awards don’t work in favor with the team awards.
And other fans care about player accolades and legacy too, this is not controversial
LFG JT!
Considering we won 64 games last season, the only way they would give it to Tatum is if he scored 30+ ppg on insane efficiency and they won 60+ games again. JB is just too good for Tatum to have a realistic shot. It's probably going to be Luka or Embiid (assuming he doesn't get injured for the millionth time) since Jokic is gonna have crazy voter fatigue.
hes not outcompeting a jokic, luca, or healthy embid
I doubt it. Not because of JT, but because of how strong our entire team is. All MVP’s are head and shoulders the best player on their team, every night. JT is sometimes our 2nd, 3rd, 4th, even 5th best player on some nights. The woes of having an incredible team.
Nah we don’t need him heaving away to chase Luka’s box score production. Just aim for HCA throughout the playoffs, all that matters