How Jayson Tatum Became The NBA's Punching Bag

from 2022 to 2024 Jason Tatum was the worst clutch shooter in the NBA making just 35% of his shots Tatum made two NBA Finals but he's the second least efficient player in NBA finals history it's not just that Jaylen Brown is out playing Jason Tatum Drew holiday's out playing Jason Tatum You could argue Derek White's out playing Jason Tatum Chris STS in limited minutes you could argue is out playing Jason Tatum fans and the media trash talking Tatum isn't new you know what I'm so over Jason Tatum especially after the 2022 finals lost to the

Warriors and the complete meltdown against the Miami Heat in 2023 and then Tatum won a championship which was supposed to shut everybody up but it didn't people kept saying that Jaylen Brown was better they kept saying Tatum was corny for getting a tattoo of himself or for imitating other people during the Celtics title celebration and nobody really liked how he was still messaging Kobe Bryant 2 years after his death something that he's continually clowned about to this day he text Kobe right before game seven and said I got you however the ultimate disrespect Tatum received

wasn't from some fan it was from Steve Kerr team USA's head coach at the 2024 Olympics two months after he won the NBA title Tatum got glued to the bench in the Olympic opener in the semi-final against Serbia ker benched Tatum again not giving him a single second of playing time in the most important game game of the tournament you don't not play Jason Tatum that man just won NBA championship cover of NBA 2K cover of Sports illust Illustrated saying cheers and when I think about what he did to Jason Tatum during the summer olympics

it is inexcusable damn near unforgivable this is a first team all NBA player the last three years this is a reigning defending NBA champion it was the storyline that divided the us as some people believed Jason was being heavily disrespected While others clowned Tatum saying he had no right to play over the other players on the team but what's the real reason this keeps happening why do people hate and disrespect Jason Tatum so much if we look at his numbers and accolades Tatum's one of the most accomplished young players ever he works extremely hard and

is never involved in any kind of drama since Jason got drafted in 2017 no other player has won more games than him both in the regular season and the playoffs also since he came to the NBA nobody scored more points in the playoffs than him and Tatum leads this category by a sizable margin scoring about 600 more points than LeBron and Steph Curry and 700 more than Yannis and tenta kmo before turning 25 Tatum had scored 9,429 points the seventh most for any player in NBA history during his 2024 Championship run JT reached another big

milestone becoming the the all-time playoff scoring leader under the age of 27 passing up his Idol Kobe Bryant and in 2024 Tatum became just the sixth player in NBA history to win a title and Lead his team in points rebounds and assists over the entire playoff run Boston's offensive rating was 120 with Tatum on the court and 101.7 when he was on the bench by far the highest margin on the 24 Celtics and before he turned 27 Tatum made the Conference Finals five times and NBA Finals twice with one title in comparison Michael Jordan made

just two Conference Finals before his 27th birthday both times losing to the Pistons however Tatum's most impressive ability is his availability in the age of load management and deliberately missing games Jason has been one of the most durable players in the NBA who always wants to play help his team win and put on a show for the fans since he came to the league only five players have played more games than Tatum in the regular season and only Demar D rozan played more minutes in the playoffs so far JT logged 4,43 minutes in 113 playoff

games and the only players in NBA history to top either mark before turning 27 are Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker he's there for every single practice every single game loves being coached your franchise player has to be the Cornerstone of what you do and he makes everyone's life easier so to sum it up since he's been in the league Tatum's made more conf Conference Finals than anybody has more wins than anybody has the most playoff points he won a championship has two Olympic gold medals and he's never missed a playoff game so why do people

still hate this guy well there's five major reasons why Jason tatums disliked by fans the first of which happened before he even entered the NBA when he was playing for Duke Duke has been the most hated College basketball program in the country since the days of Christian leer in the early 90s and even though most of the hate during Tatum's time at Duke went toward his teammate Grayson Allen who was one of the most loathed Collegiate players of all time being on a team with Allen definitely didn't help Tatum's popularity either and then Tatum got

drafted by the Boston Celtics another historic and historically disliked franchise nearly all opposing players that come to Boston get savagely trash talked by the Celtic fans and the majority of players will tell you that Boston is the team they love to beat the most and since Boston is the most successful NBA franchise ever with 18 NBA titles they've crushed the dreams of opposing fan bases many times so rarely do neutral fans ever cheer for a Celtics player and if Tatum got drafted by the Suns for example who had the fourth pick in the 2017 draft

he would have likely been much more popular with the general public and while Celtics fans seem to specialize in trash talk and Bash ing any opposing player who enters their Stadium even they could benefit from just having someone to talk to which is why this video is brought to you by better help during basketball season it's easy to lose track of what matters most yourself we're also concerned with whether or not our team will get a win or if this is the year they'll actually make a deep playoff run or maybe you're just a Sixers

fan and for that I'm sorry but there's really no better way to treat yourself than therapy therapy can have so many positive impacts on your life like improved mental health better self-awareness and coping strategies for life's many challenges like your team blowing a fourth quarter lead it's also great for strengthening relationships because we all have that friend who just won't stop talking about their team being the best so if therapy sounds like something that could be good for you give better help a try it's entirely online and designed to be convenient flexible and suited to

your schedule all you have to do is fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and your able to switch therapists anytime for no additional charge so let the Gratitude flow with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com nonstop sports today to get 10% off your first month that's better help hp.com sports but playing for the Celtics wouldn't be such a problem if Tatum's personality was slightly more engaging and outgoing unlike Anthony Edwards for example who's a quote machine a straight talker and is unapologetically himself with with the media I have not been to Minnesota

in probably 20 years bring G ass you don't get that same Vibe with JT if you watch Tatum's press conferences you almost always get the same not too high not too low answers his tone of voice is soft his answers are predictable just trying I guess enjoy the moment I kept saying wow and watching his pressers can lull you to sleep now there's nothing wrong with that and there have been plenty of superstars who aren't very going and give Bland answers to the media Tim Duncan John Stockton Derrik Rose and kawh Leonard certainly fall into

that category well I mean I don't really judge my you know game like that as not everybody wants to win the popularity contest however with Tatum it seems like he was media trained too well and it doesn't come off as genuine as some other players yic also doesn't like speaking to the media that much and we all know that he'd rather be with his horses than answer basketball questions but if you look at his press conferences they're often hilarious and unquestionably genuine I didn't hear one word that you say and you simply don't get that

feeling with Jason furthermore if you asked many NBA fans to describe Tatum's personality with one word that would probably be corny hours before the Celtics faced the heat in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022 Tatum sent a text to Kobe Bryant's phone number that read I got you today JT would come true on his promise scoring 26 points 10 rebounds and six assists as the Celtics won and advanced to the NBA finals for the first time in 12 years and after the game Tatum paid another tribute to Bryant taking a picture with

his hands on his head in the Eastern Conference championship trophy At His Feet this photo mimicked Bryant's iconic bathroom photo with the Larry O'Brien trophy after the Lakers won the 2001 NBA Finals however due to Kobe passing away and Tatum only winning the Conference Finals and not the actual Championship many people considered it a really weird flex and JT didn't win many fans with that stunt especially after the Celtics lost the NBA Finals to the Warriors a few weeks later several months later before the start of the 2023 season a reporter asked Tatum about the

most frustrating moment of 2022 clearly wanting Jason to talk about the finals loss however Jason said something completely unexpected the toughest moment for me was blowing that 25-point lead and in New York and then RJ Barry at the game when it shot over me that was the tough that was the lowest moment for me this was another weird answer and Celtics fans didn't appreciate him being more upset about a regular season game than the NBA Finals fast forward two years later and the Celtics finally did win the championship defeating the Dallas Mavericks four games to

one in the finals and then Tatum did his best to copy previous famous celebrations which were clearly pre-planned and again made him seemed disingenuous first he copied kg's legendary anything is possible straight after winning the title anything's possible anything's possible we did it we did it then in another on court interview he used Steph Curry's what they going to say now quote what are they going to say now what are they going to say now what they going to say now what they going to say now in the locker room it was time for another

Kobe imitation now with the Larry O'Brien trophy which Tatum would later tattoo on his back and finally during the championship parade Tatum switched to pop culture citing Kanye West everybody want to know what I would do if I didn't win I guess we'll never know I know everybody would wonder what would happen if we didn't win [Applause] I guess we'll never know so if you want an original quote from Jason you might have to wait until he wins a few more championships and uses up every famous quote from other stars but the fifth and the

biggest reason why Jason can be irritating is his play which has been consistently inconsistent from the moment he came to the NBA a part of the reason for that is that Tatum set really high standards for himself from the jump averaging 18 points on 47% shooting as a rookie during the 2018 playoffs including the iconic dunk on LeBron James in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals a photo which would later end up hanging in Tatum's home and from that moment everybody expected big things from Tatum thinking he'd take the throne from LeBron and become

the greatest player in the NBA in a few years but it didn't happen like that Tatum's shooting efficiency regressed in the next four seasons especially in the playoffs as Tatum fell in love with his turn around jump shot clearly imitating Kobe JT often took hard contested shots instead of passing the ball to an open teammate or driving to the basket and getting to the free throw line when his jumper was falling Tatum really could look Unstoppable like game seven of the second round against the Sixers in 2023 when he scored 51 points skip did you

see what this man did yesterday cuz youve been talking Reckless I told you to stop talking about JT like that however when his jumper wasn't going in Tatum often kept shooting and missing even more not willing to mix up his offense he also often got criticized for being too passive without the ball especially in the fourth quarter as there were plenty of stretches in big games where he didn't have any impact seemingly just doing cardio and playing your turn my turn basketball with Jaylen Brown their former teammate Marcus Smart best described this following the finals

loss in 20122 every team is programmed and studied to stop Jason and Jaylen I think everybody's scouting report report is to make those guys pass the ball they don't want to pass the ball but being so young and expected to win from the get-go wasn't very realistic mistakes and mental letdowns were to be expected as both Tatum and Jaylen Brown were still learning to play with one another and Lead their team together and in 2024 they did exactly that Tatum's offense became more rational and his shot selection got better but what has really blossomed the

most is his court awareness instead of playing here Z ball and playing one-on-one against a set defense he's now recognizing how his mere presence creates advantages Elsewhere on the floor it's not all about scoring I can be the guy rebounding and getting assists and drawing attention maybe you don't score all the points but you do all the things that put your guys in the best position to win in the 2024 playoffs Tatum led the Celtics in passes and Boston generated four more points per game off his assists than anyone else on the team JT also

became one of the best rebounders at his position and one of the most versatile defenders in the NBA I think Tatum got it all I mean to be honest get to the line enough for you I said I said I said this and I think after last year's playoffs he surpassed Kevin Durant Tatum is an invaluable defensive asset for the Celtics because he's able to switch on any screen protect the rim as a help Defender and seal off seven-footers when they Rush the offensive glass he doesn't take plays off and has become better better at

reading opposing offensive sets before they happen stolen by tat while there are still games where we see glimpses of old Tatum like game two of the 2024 NBA Finals when he shot 6 for 22 from the field those games are becoming less frequent and yes it's true that Tatum's shot disappeared during the 2024 playoffs at times and that he's currently the second worst shooter in NBA finals history in terms of field goal percentage it's also true that he has always played on stacked team teams and that the 2024 Celtics had by far the deepest roster

in the NBA and he didn't win the finals MVP nor the Eastern Conference Finals MVP both Awards going to Jaylen brown but if you're focusing on the negative it's easy to miss the forest for the trees because Tatum has become so versatile on both ends of the court and he draws so much attention his impact outweighs the missed shots and he was still the best player on a team that won the championship despite Jaylen Brown's greatness Tatum had the best plus minus rating of all players in the 2024 playoffs which clearly indicates how well he

played despite his shooting struggles who do you think is the best player in the NBA right now uh myself the problem with Jason is that he's operating in a really unique and bizarre cycle when his shot is falling Tatum really looks like the best player in the NBA but then he gets into those stretches when his shot isn't fall and people forget get about all the other good qualities he has but in all honesty Tatum is not the best player in the NBA he's up there arguably top five and certainly in the top 10 but

not the best because he was so good and so successful early on in his career by now the fans expected him to become the next LeBron or KD or Kobe but it's easy to forget that Tatum is still only 26 years old and that LeBron KD and Kobe also didn't reach their Prime at that age if he manages to get more consistent with his shot Tatum will remove the last weakness from his game and the NBA should be scared of that version of Jason Tatum thanks for watching and if you like this video we've got

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