Jayson Tatum (2,961) has a chance pass Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook and Klay Thompson in career playoff points this postseason, which would place him in the top 25 all-time.
Incredible how little this injury may have taken away from his career.
Link
Thought about this watching today’s game, but is Philly trading up for the #1 pick just to pass on Tatum an underrated all-time blunder? I know Fultz was pretty consensus #1, but to whiff on him and then watch Tatum toast your team in the playoffs year after year has to be pretty devastating lol
It was a huge flex by Ainge. He said I know who the 6ers and Lakers (took Lonzo) are taking and they dont know ball.
Lol one of the biggest take em out put on em the table moves of all time - I’m a celtics fan and remember being pissed in the moment, I was so psyched to get the #1 pick and loved Fultz. But after watching Tatum’s rookie season through the playoffs it was so clear he was the right pick
Yeah we had such a high of being in the ECF and having the number 1. But I trust ainge and he delivered. Fultz messed up with his workout and interview
[deleted]
Different years, we were in game 7 with Tatum. The year we got Tatum we lost in 5
Idk bro… maybe they should’ve taken kuzma
6’9” all-tool wing was a no brainer always. Sixers fell in love with Fultz, and reality is an undersized guard will always be dependent on his shot (unfortunately it fell off due to injury way early), while the ball family suckered the braindead LAL
brain dead take, consensus top two around the league was fultz and ball, tatum wasn’t even third. fultz isn’t undersized either he’s 6’4. celtics made a great trade and pick but it wasn’t no brainer like you’re saying
Ainge is still in a well paying nba job.
RIP Danny Ainge
IMO it’s the single smartest draft decision of all time. Just a nice zag to the consensus at the time which worked better than anyone could imagine.
Unfortunately the pick the Celtics got only yielded Romeo Langford.
They were able to include Langford as part of the Derrick White trade, but it wasn’t quite the heist they thought when acquiring a future Sacramento 1st.
Still an amazing decision to choose Tatum over Fultz and Ball when nobody else would have done the same
I’ll take Tatum and 50% of DWhite for Markelle Fultz lol thank you very much
Id take 50 percent of dwihte over Fultz let alone jayson fucking tatum
Haha, yeah, it definitely worked out. The Celtics were even able to sell high on Romeo freaking Langford
We nearly had Hali but instead got Nesmith!
wasn’t quite the heist they thought when acquiring a future Sacramento 1st.
I was so pissed. The Kings had their first halfway competent season in over a decade and then went back to sucking again for the next three years.
And we were taking Herro if not for the lottery coin flip.
Red Auerbach traded the #1 pick (Joe Barry Carroll) for Robert Parish and the #3 pick (Kevin Mchale). That was brutally one sided.
I mean who do you think ainge learned it from?
I feel like its almost brutal that people just choose not to talk about it - like watching someone you know get their ass kicked in a fight or something lol - you just gotta move on and not talk about it at some point cuz its too awkward lol
the fuck is this stupid shit they traded down two spots – “almost brutal that people just choose not to talk about it” … you must be trolling
How often do you hear people talk about that trade? Compared to other trades like the SGA or Luka deals
Those trades involved massive hauls and active players, this at the end of the day was just 3 picks total and a major factor was injury
Fair but still completely redefined 3 franchises and you hardly hear a peep
I mean I hear about it every damn time we play Boston, but I see what you mean for the NBA at large
Hahah fair, didn’t mean to rub it in brother
All good lol, sore subject
Boston only made that trade because they knew the 76ers wanted Fultz and the Lakers wanted Lonzo. Had they any doubt that Tatum would still be there with the 76ers’s pick at 3, they wouldn’t have made the trade at all.
Good context for sure. I still feel like Philly blundered in not assessing Fultz well enough - Bos was that turned off by him that they were willing to swerve so drastically from the consensus - feel like PHI definitely has some responsibility for not picking up on that
Colangelo knew there was something wrong with Fultz after a disaster of a pre-draft workout in Philly, but decided he’d rather save face and pick him anyway.
Wow, didn’t know that tbh - that’s pretty damning. Also explains why we never heard much from that guy again lol
coangelo did way worse than that. philly was as stacked up as okc was a while ago and its actually INSANE what coangelo and elton brand did to that team
exactly. boston made that trade with full confidence tatum would still be sitting there at 3. philly basically did them a favor.
This is true, but it was still a hell of a gamble.
He knew Tatum was their guy, and had no way of being 100% certain the Sixers or Lakers wouldn’t take him. He could have played it safe and selected him #1.
But he took a risk and not only got his guy anyway, but got assets out of the trade. Ballsy move.
Hindsight is always 20⁄20. Lakers passed on Tatum too for Lonzo.
True but at least they didn’t give anything up for that pick lol
To be fair, the celtics only traded with the sixers because they knew the sixers weren’t taking tatum no1.
The real mistake is the lakers pick.
Crazy because Tatum was dying to play for the Lakers too lmao they really passed on the next face of their franchise - getting Doncic and LeBron definitely help heal those wounds a little lolll
Yeah. You can’t really blame the sixers because if they wanted Tatum, they wouldn’t have gotten the pick to begin with. Celtics front office would have been happy to take Tatum at 1 if needed.
Lol I see what you mean but I’m still going to blame both of them lol picking two dude who never made an all-star team over a future hall of fame is a pretty big failure in scouting
Only one is a Big Baller tho
LMAO I take it all back
And Lonzo ended up being part of the AD trade which got them a championship. Hard to be too mad about a draft blunder when you win the chip 3 years later
I appreciate that optimism lol
How about Simmons @ 1 and then JB being available? In hindsight, huge miss
I was so mad when the Celtics traded the pick. I thought Fultz as a sure fire thing and I thought Tatum had a good, but not great, ceiling.
Same brother - that’s when you realize sometimes we really don’t know shit as fans lol
If it makes you feel better that’s often the case for front offices as well lol
Hahah yeah 50% of FO’s are probably just fans who tried really hard
Bro I wanted them to pick Kris Dunn or buddy hield over Jaylen brown 💀
Even more so that the Celtics said after the draft that they were gonna take Tatum at one if they didn’t trade back. Lakers probably still take Lonzo so the 76er would’ve had Fultz at 3 anyway.
Regardless, the Celtics used that 6ers 2018 draft pick on Romeo Langford so they really didn’t even benefit from it at all.
Even though Langford never worked out, the fact they were able to flip him & the future first for DWhite was incredible. I still consider that a big dub just for being able to use Langford as a trade chip for a guy like White
nah reports were the lakers liked fultz more, front office just knew the sixers wouldn’t pass on him
Fultz getting the yips is moreso bad luck for Philly
Kinda makes me wonder if Fultz just wasn’t built to be a NBA player or something - there was definitely talk about him having an abnormally shy personality and being a little too concerned with chic-fil-a in draft interviews lol - wonder if it was just never in the cards for him. When weird mental stuff like the shooting yips happens it always makes me wonder if there’s something subconscious going on…
Well his “yips” turned out to be Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Just the kind of crazy bad health luck that seems to disproportionately affect Sixers players 😭
I guess, but feel like the fact that he’s functionally never been heard from again indicates there was might have been more going on there
That was a BS diagnosis that his mom was determined to get from like 7 doctors.
they only diagnosed him with that after he went to like a dozen doctors, more likely fultz’s people didn’t want to admit he had the yips and went around until a doctor told them something they wanted to hear
Feel like it’s like my hawks getting zacc, hindsight is 20⁄20, but at least zacc is young.
“My hawks”
Are you new to sports forums or sports conversations in general?
No, I’m not. About 1 in every 500 fans says “my [insert team here]”, and I cringe every time
Why lol that’s a pretty normal and non weird way to articulate that
This has always been a thing so you should start getting used to it.
Your account is named after a player that has been in the league for 3 seasons btw
Was that supposed to be a clap back wtf?
Lmao I grew up watching Tim Duncan brother. 1999 nba finals were the first basketball games I went to. That was cute by you though.
What do you know about Arnie Risen bud
Fair but can but can you confirm with 100% accuracy that Character-Milk-8528 doesn’t own the Hawks?
Tbf Celtics take Tatum 1, lakers then take fultz. 76ers probably end up with lonzo
Lakers were taking lonzo no matter what, even at no. 1
no reports were lakers like fultz more, they just knew the sixers weren’t gonna pass on him
The Sixers probably wouldn’t have taken Tatum #3 even if they hadn’t made that trade.
It’s rough in hindsight but I think it’s less of a mistake on the Sixers and more a crazy good move from Ainge.
What think they go Josh Jackson instead?
There were a lot of people that had Josh Jackson above Tatum at the time. If that happened, that would have been really bad haha
I actually thought Jackson had the higher ceiling. I didn’t trust Tatum’s 3pt shooting or potential as a creator and those are 2 of his best qualities now!
yeah he was consensus #3 in the draft
Kind of, but Ainge has basically said that if there was an inkling of doubt in his mind about who Philly and LA would take, they’d have just stayed at 1 and taken Tatum. I don’t think Tatum was ever going anywhere but Boston.
I think we’d have to get more perspective on what execs did or did not know. Fultz had an incredibly unfortunate injury and maybe even the yips. Tatum has become what some people expected and what some others doubt he would. I think looking back Fultz would still be the pick for 76ers because they were in “win now” mode without the need for another project. To their own demise they ended up getting the opposite of that. Bad scouting, unfortunate turn of events, could have should have would have.
Can’t hit on every pick and I’m sure glad the Celtics did in back to back drafts.
Ironically I wanted Tatum bc I thought he fit the win now mold better, literally only reason I preferred him over Fultz at he time
If I had to guess the 76ers already had enough bigs so a stretch SF/PF didn’t fit their lineup as well as a PG. I was obviously not in their drafting room.
My memory is a little hazy, but I think we were full commit on Ben Simmons as point guard not point forward going into the draft. It could have been right before then tho
I think Simmons and Fultz were drafted back to back by the 76ers. 2016 and 2017 respectively. It was the same years as Brown/Tatum. Simmons had back injuries still so they were looking for a piece to complete their roster. Huge swings but very unfortunate misses.
This should be held as prime example that draft number isn’t as important as the selection and player development
Sixers have historically been a terrible franchise on both counts, while Boston is among the best on both counts.
Selecting a consensus pick shouldn’t good enough if the pick is not good. Sixers whiffed. Journalists and TV analysts are not accountable for the picks. Sixers were and they fell in love with a bad pick.
Sixers entire “trust the process” tank was a colossal fail
But also a lot of this goes farther back to that absurd Nets trade that basically built this entire Celtics era
I still don’t hate the fultz pick; the medical team failing to properly diagnose him is wild, they also had him change his shooting form before they eventually got it right.
The amount of skill regression and relearning he had to do after they eventually got it right over a year later cannot be understated.
I don’t think he would have been better than tatum, but it wouldn’t look nearly as bad.
Testament to both his immense talent and him being with a very competent franchise that was ready to win immediately. A perfect match really
Reminds a bit of Tim Duncan in terms of being a “boring” player who landed on a great org and just quietly wins on the regular. Like maybe if you put Luka on the Celtics and Tatum on the Mavs, Luka also makes 4x ECF and wins 1x rings by this stage of their career. Maybe Ainge and the supporting cast deserve a lot of the credit in a team sport, but it’s certainly interesting how actually getting it done can be valued less than maybe possibly someday winning. You never see anyone outside the Celtics fandom trying to shoehorn Tatum into top 3 or top 5 conversations. Just sitting here on the opposite coast as someone with no stake in the East, it’s impressive how often Boston gets down to the important games. It’s been the case for most of Tatum’s time there.
Bro Duncan is such a good comp for Tatum! - freaking really good at everything but not spectacular at anything (Duncan’s defense was pretty spectacular tho) - Duncan was obviously the better player overall, but I feel like both were misunderstood in their time in terms of how they affected winning – Both are great not because they dominate at will per se but because they’re such good foundations for their team and do what it takes to win. Both basically leverage the fact that they have no real weaknesses to boost their team overall while also being capable of big time performance. Also both are pretty boring and low key dudes lol the main difference is Tatum puts himself in the spotlight a little more.
Cool to hear you make that comp because been saying that forever but everyone think I’m crazy cuz they’re nothing alike on the surface, but I feel like it’ll reveal itself more over time
Duncan was never misunderstood when it comes to winning. He had dominant playoff runs early. Tatum has been a lot more inconsistent in the postseason. Tatum ofcourse is still an excellent player, the only guys that consistently are better than him are clear mvp candidates
That’s fair, Tatum is def not on Timmy D’s level, esp since Timmy has an MVP and could easily have another - mostly meant that fans didn’t apprecaite Duncan’s game in the same way compared to other guys like Dirk Kobe and KG in his time, even though he was winning all the time (similar to Tatum)
The issue with these Luka comps is that he’s had strong teammates for pretty much his entire career and there hasn’t been much there outside of a finals loss (to Tatum) that was mostly driven by role player shooting luck (kinda like the 2023 heat where Caleb Martin shooting got them into a series where they were brutally outclassed).
Kristaps, Brunson, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Austin reaves are basically all elite scorers if you give them the ball.
Yea nobody blames him for losing in the first round as a sophomore, but taking the L vs the Timberwolves because he couldn’t defend a random role player 1v1 (McDaniels) and was too fat too box out despite being the second best player on the team (LeBron was the best player on the court when you take into account defense) is not really something that you can wave off.
Yep that a classic case where traits outside skill and talent can define your ceiling as a player - Tatum’s made the concerted effort to play hard on defense and do whatever it takes to help the team, whereas Luka has seemingly assumed his immense talent will overcome those flaws - sometimes things that have nothing to do with basketball skill and intangibles can define a career
I say constantly it must be fucking miserable to be Luka’s teammate and almost every player he’s played with has been better without him. This will be the reason he never wins a chip.
Luka on the Celtics with his defensive liability and whining? Let’s slow down lol, Tatum is at least a better defender than Luka.
Luka is on the Lakers, maybe he can finally win a championship
Maybe, but the Lakers have been a pretty mediocrely run franchise for a while who benefitted from a unprecedented trade and the fact that LeBron likes LA lol maybe will change with the new ownership tho
Point being MJ himself was shit with the Wizards. Why is it that only Tatum’s achievements get put under a microscope?
Lmao that’s a million dollar question - think it has to do with him contending at such a young age and the expectations that come with it, and the way he kind of puts himself out there but he doesn’t necessarily have a very exciting personality to go with it - basically people have been left wanting more for some reason or another
My personal nickname for him is The Wing Fundamental
Kinda insane for a 19-year old player to already be top-25 in playoff points
It’s an old meme sir but it checks out
The meme is older than Tatum
It helps that both him and his team are good since his first season. He’s already at 1⁄2 point mark on passing MJ for 2nd place in playoff points and he’s probably not even at 1⁄2 point mark in his career, so barring any big mishaps, I see him having a chance on passing MJ in this list.
RemindMe! 10 years
ok
Tatum/Brown going to rival LeBron’s playoff records relatively soon enough if things keep going well. So many deep runs.
Brown? 0% chance Tatum…2% chance, probably less
Tatum is barely ahead at the same age and LeBron went onto to average like 29-30ppg for 7-8 more finals runs or something insane. Tatum would have to play ~195 more playoff games and average 28-29 to match him.
It’s possible but just so unlikely. And LeBron is still adding
Yeah they’re not passing him but they could get close. Just hard to not see several more deep runs for this Boston core in the coming years.
Lebron is uncatchable. Tatum probably finishes at or just inside the top 10 playoff points wise barring injuries. Brown has a good shot to finish inside the top 20. Scheierman will obviously finish top 1 one day.
They just need to keep it up for like 10+ years lol
More playoff points than James at this same age, though his PPG is lower.
Difference between being drafted by a 1 seed and the 2003 Cavs.
Doesnt matter. Tatum was the best playrr on the team during 2018 playoff run
Why doesn’t that matter? LeBron would also be the best player on that team.
This is valid, but barely. Being drafted onto a superteam doesn’t guarantee anything. Look at Kuminga.
It wasnt a superteam. Isaiah got traded, Kyrie was out, and Hayward had his ankle fracture. 2018 playoff run was tatum and friends
You don’t have to tell me that, I fully agree. People on the outside def think it is one tho and I was giving that concession to prove my point.
Celtics had the first overall pick the year they drafted Tatum. But yes, the 2000’s Cavs completely failed to put a competent team around LeBron
They had the first overall pick while also being in the ECF.. Obviously it wasnt like most other teams picking in the top 3. It was the Nets pick
…Brooklyn got the #1 overall pick, we received it in a trade. Celtics were already a playoff team when we drafted Tatum.
Only 200 something days after he tore his Achilles. Impressive
He’s never missed the playoffs. Quite a streak!
1st ballot HOFer undisputed. Jb fighting for all nba, while tatum already has 3. This is a testament to how solid he’s been
doesnt he have 5?
He does. 4 first team, 1 third team.
Five overall, four first team.
Is Tatum the greatest 19 year old to play in the NBA of all time? To do all this before your 20th birthday is something else
Tatum didn’t lose a step coming back from an ACL injury. Really impressive.
*Achilles
And yeah great to see him looking more and more like his pre injury self.
Will go down as an all timer
Fun fact, 6 of the current top 10 in career NBA playoff points played for the Lakers at some point: LeBron, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, West, Malone (eww)
Other 4 are Jordan, Duncan, Durant, Curry.
Surprised that no Celtics players appear until Bird at #14
For the lazy: how come Wilt’s number is so low (relatively obv)?
Postseason was shorter before they switched to 7 game series.
probably got bodied by bill russell in the first round a lot too
Looking at the list, Jaylen Brown could be right behind him if they make the finals.
He’s currently at 44th, with 2608.
If he averages 25 a game (28.7 on the season, 22.1 last year, so doable), and if they play an average of 5 games per round, that would be 500 more points, putting him at 3108, or just past Manu (3054), and right behind Kevin Johnson (3116), peeking at Kawhi (3133) for 25th (or 26th, behind Tatum)
The biggest surprise to me is that Tatum has only played 121 playoff games, while Klay has 158, with 4 rings and 2 more finals appearances… and only has 3032.
oh, damn, for real??
Looks like he could go up to 23rd all-time right behind Wilt. Depending on how long this run goes, has a chance to set himself up to pass Wilt and a few other guys next year.
At only 19 years old? wow
He’s no Josh Jackson that’s for sure
How little? Wtf?
Wdym
Its still a pretty devastating injury. Passing a couple people on a scoring list doesnt make his Achilles pristine.
yeah, he missed a few games and that seems to be all. no different than going down with a rolled ankle from a playoffs perspective.
Celebrate his wonderful return, but the achilles is rightfully considered the worse injury possible. It is not a rolled ankle.
it is, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect on his playoff scoring totals
Its one game.
I should just not die on this hill probably. Its still weird that people seem to think the injury hasn’t affected his career. Optimism.
yeah I’m not fighting about it. it’s just that when it happened, it seemed like his career might be at a crossroads with the best being behind him, and here he is performing at his old level (granted, one game). it’s a positive spin.