Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at
Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you guys
Speaker 1: are having a great week so far. We are live
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Speaker 1: We are continuing our player rankings today with number seven
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. You guys know the Joe before we get started.
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Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, all right, let's talk some basketball. So I
Speaker 1: was torn between three guys for this spot, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: Joe El Embiid, and Jason Tatum. And all three of
Speaker 1: these guys are very very different players, and they all
Speaker 1: have cases to be over each other for one reason
Speaker 1: or another. Right Like Joel Embiid is by far the
Speaker 1: best offensive player in that group in terms of actual
Speaker 1: shot creation ability, right, Anthony Davis is by far the
Speaker 1: best defensive player in that group by a massive chasm.
Speaker 1: And Jason Tatum is the most dependably reliable and productive
Speaker 1: player of those three guys by far right, And so
Speaker 1: each of them kind of has a unique case. Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis had this kind of like revolutionary playoff run where
Speaker 1: his defensive ability warped every single playoff series he was
Speaker 1: in as he dragged that Lakers team from at like
Speaker 1: a very precarious situation in the standings and an injured
Speaker 1: Lebron to the playoffs and then all the way to
Speaker 1: the Western Conference finals. Joel Embiid literally is the reigning
Speaker 1: league MVP. And then again, Jason Tatum another season where
Speaker 1: he plays seventy plus games, averages a shit ton of
Speaker 1: point points, does it efficiently just like he always does.
Speaker 1: So it was a tough call for me, but I
Speaker 1: opted for Tatum at seven. We're going to get into
Speaker 1: the reasons why later, but the gist of it is
Speaker 1: for me personally, I'm always going to value a player
Speaker 1: ceiling or their singular elite skill more than the total package,
Speaker 1: because I think that that translates better to playoff success
Speaker 1: in the long run, and the important context here surrounding
Speaker 1: everything we discussed with Jason Tatum today because he does
Speaker 1: technically have more playoff success than both Anthony Davis and
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid in recent seasons, although Anthony Davis is a
Speaker 1: NBA champion from the bubble, which was an incredible stretch
Speaker 1: of ad basketball. But the simple fact is is that,
Speaker 1: and you guys know that have listened to the show
Speaker 1: for a while, I've said this consistently. I think the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics have had easily the most talented roster in
Speaker 1: the entire NBA over the last two years. So, you know, again,
Speaker 1: when it comes to evaluating the playoff success, a lot
Speaker 1: of that. That's what's interesting about the Celtics team is
Speaker 1: they've made the conference finals twice in the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: once in the last three seasons, and as we look
Speaker 1: at it, like it, it hasn't been overly impressive all
Speaker 1: the time. And you know, as as we a lot
Speaker 1: of times we come away from those series feeling like
Speaker 1: the Celtics underachieved in one way or another. There's absolutely
Speaker 1: no reason in the world they should not have beat
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat last year, right played with their food
Speaker 1: quite a bit against the Sixers, somehow managed to go
Speaker 1: down three to two before they hit the Jets and
Speaker 1: were clearly better. The Atlanta Hawks took them to six.
Speaker 1: Last year. The Heat had that sequence for Jimmy Butler's
Speaker 1: shooting a pull up three that could have sent them
Speaker 1: to the finals and sent the Celtics home early. The
Speaker 1: Bucks without Chris Middleton and extremely limited in their off
Speaker 1: ball shooting, just guarding Giannis with three guys every time,
Speaker 1: and that series went to seven games. Really, the only
Speaker 1: dominant stretch of basketball from Boston in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years was their sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, which
Speaker 1: was impressive for the record, and that was when I
Speaker 1: really came on board with the Celtics defensively, although they
Speaker 1: haven't been the same team. And so again that's the
Speaker 1: important context as we discussed Tatum today in terms of
Speaker 1: his team's success, not undercutting what he's done, but the
Speaker 1: reality is is with the amount of talent that has
Speaker 1: been on that roster, you could argue the Celtics have underachieved.
Speaker 1: And that is a big part of why I have
Speaker 1: Tatum down at number seven. A quick recap of this
Speaker 1: season thirty points, nine rebounds, and five assists on sixty
Speaker 1: one percent true shooting. Again, in parts of today's show,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be somewhat critical of certain elements of Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum's game, but when it comes to sheer production, there
Speaker 1: are very few players in the league that are as
Speaker 1: consistently available and productive as Jason Tatum is. As a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, this is crazy stat. Jayson Tatum has
Speaker 1: scored five nine and sixty three points in the last
Speaker 1: three regular seasons, which leads the entire NBA. So he
Speaker 1: is your total points leader over the last three seasons.
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic was in second place and Joel Embiid was
Speaker 1: in third place. For those of you who are curious,
Speaker 1: some play type data not very good compared to his peers.
Speaker 1: He was below a point per possession in both pick
Speaker 1: and roll and ISO's zero point nine to nine points
Speaker 1: per possession and pick and roll really just lowered by
Speaker 1: his own shooting. He only shot thirty eight and a
Speaker 1: half percent on field goals that he shot out of
Speaker 1: pick and roll. Watched a bunch of Tatum pick and
Speaker 1: roll this morning, about seventy five clips or so. And
Speaker 1: it just to kind of refresh myself. And really it's
Speaker 1: just he takes a lot of really tough shots when
Speaker 1: he attacks the rim and pick and roll. He's excellent
Speaker 1: when he passes out of pick and roll. Like I'm
Speaker 1: always blown away by Jason Tatum's passing. I'd say, among
Speaker 1: like the young forwards in the league that kind of
Speaker 1: have like a scoring archetype, I wouldn't put him as
Speaker 1: high as Brandon Ingram. I'd probably have him at the
Speaker 1: top of that list in term of the scoring mind it. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm not looking at guys like Luca there, but in
Speaker 1: terms of that kind of like wing archetype, I'd put
Speaker 1: Tatum probably second in terms of playmaking in that tier.
Speaker 1: So I wish he would kind of lean on that
Speaker 1: a little bit more. But he just took a lot
Speaker 1: of really, really tough shots. And we'll get to this
Speaker 1: when we talk about his shot making later on. But
Speaker 1: Tatum had a miserable shot making season, and that was
Speaker 1: a big thing to undercut him in a lot of
Speaker 1: these situations. So again, almost all of his peers are
Speaker 1: up over a point per possession in pick and roll,
Speaker 1: not Jason Tatum zero point ninety seven points per ISO,
Speaker 1: once again lowered by his own shooting. When Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: shot out of isolation situations, he only shot thirty four
Speaker 1: point nine percent. He was very effective in the post
Speaker 1: though this year, one point two to three points per possession,
Speaker 1: which is like outstanding okay volume. He only did it
Speaker 1: about a time and a half per game, but he
Speaker 1: shot really well fifty six percent field goals shooting out
Speaker 1: of the post, really good face up jump shot regardless
Speaker 1: of the pivot movie get to it. He could either
Speaker 1: turn kind of in a reverse pivot or and over
Speaker 1: the top pivot face rise up and knock down that
Speaker 1: you know, fifteen to eighteen foot jump shot. Good right
Speaker 1: shoulder fades, so when he would turn his back and
Speaker 1: he bump you with his right shoulder, he could get
Speaker 1: into that fade away kind of going over that right
Speaker 1: shoulder and make it pretty well. Also had some success
Speaker 1: in face up situations, just ripping through to the right
Speaker 1: and going hard to the basket. So he also, like
Speaker 1: in general, I liked how quick and decisive he was
Speaker 1: out of the post. Doesn't like sit and stare for
Speaker 1: a long time, just gets the ball and makes a
Speaker 1: quick decision and goes and has a couple of shots
Speaker 1: that he can count on there that he goes to
Speaker 1: he also passes. Again, Tatum's passing is always going to
Speaker 1: be one of the things that's kind of underrated with him.
Speaker 1: The Celtics scored thirty six points on thirty Tatum passes
Speaker 1: out of the post, which is again well over a
Speaker 1: point per possession. Again, not a good shot making season
Speaker 1: for Tatum. Really good catch and shoot sixty two percent
Speaker 1: effective fielgal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers when he
Speaker 1: was unguarded, seventy percent effective field goal percentage on catch
Speaker 1: and shoot jumpers, so like, if he got to really
Speaker 1: set his rhythm and get to his muscle memory, that
Speaker 1: shit was going in the vast majority of the time.
Speaker 1: But he was twenty eight point six percent on pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots according to Synergy, which is really really bad.
Speaker 1: Even if you wait it for threes, and again about
Speaker 1: seventy percent of the pull up jump shots that Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum took war threes, it still is just a forty
Speaker 1: percent effective field goal percentage, which, again in pull up
Speaker 1: jump shooting, like the minimum allowable for like a good
Speaker 1: pull up shooter, in my opinion, is in the high forties.
Speaker 1: The best of them are in the fifties, and then
Speaker 1: Steph obviously breaks the mold and is in the sixties,
Speaker 1: and I think Kd's in the low sixties as well.
Speaker 1: But forty percent is just this is really bad. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're talking about a twenty percent gap and an effective
Speaker 1: field goal percentage between him and Kevin Durant, for instance,
Speaker 1: in regular season pull up shooting. So a big part
Speaker 1: of that, in my opinion, is and again you see
Speaker 1: it when you watch Tatum, he just takes a lot
Speaker 1: of really really tough and as he's kind of cleaned
Speaker 1: up his shot variety to kind of limit himself to
Speaker 1: above the break pull up threes and going all the
Speaker 1: way to the rim, it's made him easier to guard too,
Speaker 1: and guys are kind of sitting on that shot now,
Speaker 1: which I think is a big part of why it
Speaker 1: didn't go in as much. He also shot just thirty
Speaker 1: nine percent on floaters, and he does not have a
Speaker 1: hook shot out of the post. He made just one
Speaker 1: all season. He was very good at the rim though,
Speaker 1: four point three restricted area makes per game, which is
Speaker 1: very good on seventy percent shooting, which is very good.
Speaker 1: So a lot like as you kind of look at it,
Speaker 1: he's like outstanding and catch and shoot situations and outstanding
Speaker 1: at the rim, but all of the other shot making
Speaker 1: stuff is pretty far below where his peers are, and
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the main reasons why he
Speaker 1: can get clunky sometimes in the half court. What does
Speaker 1: that all add up to. He's pretty average shot creator
Speaker 1: compared to most of his peers. He's an above average playmaker,
Speaker 1: but he's a blow average shot maker that kind of
Speaker 1: just comes together for the Tatum half court pass package.
Speaker 1: He does bolster his numbers, because again, how do you
Speaker 1: get to thirty points per game on sixty one percent
Speaker 1: thru shooting if you're just not very good in live
Speaker 1: dribble shot creation situations. And the truth of the matter
Speaker 1: is is when he does have an advantage, he's outrageously good.
Speaker 1: He was one point twenty six points per possession in
Speaker 1: spot up situations. Not just with the dead eye catch
Speaker 1: and shoot shooting like we talked about earlier, he's also
Speaker 1: very very good at attacking closeouts. There were thirty players
Speaker 1: in the NBA last year that logged at least three
Speaker 1: hundred spot up possessions, and Tatum ranked second behind Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior, who's the guy who I always reference, is
Speaker 1: the best at it in the league. So Michael Porter
Speaker 1: Junior is a best spot up player in the league.
Speaker 1: Tatum's number two, and that's a big part of why
Speaker 1: he has the scoring volume and efficiency that he has
Speaker 1: in catch and shoot situations. In catch and drive situations,
Speaker 1: he's insane. He also scored three hundred and ninety three
Speaker 1: points in transition this year. That was eighth in the
Speaker 1: entire league. So not only is Jaylen Brown one of
Speaker 1: the best transition weapons in the league, but Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: himself is one of the best trans weapons in the league.
Speaker 1: That's a big part of what drives that productivity. So again,
Speaker 1: if Tatum could figure out the on ball stuff, he
Speaker 1: could have some ridiculous scoring and efficiency seasons because he's
Speaker 1: so good already at the easier parts of the game.
Speaker 1: Had a super weird playoff run this year. It was
Speaker 1: kind of an outlier in a lot of ways. Last year,
Speaker 1: his playoff run was more in line with what his
Speaker 1: regular seasons were, like outstanding off ball shooting and outstanding playmaking,
Speaker 1: but on the ball stuff, the shot making wasn't good.
Speaker 1: That kind of continued from last year's regular season into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, into this year's regular season, but then in
Speaker 1: this postseason it was bizarre. His on ball creation actually
Speaker 1: went up a level in this postseason. He was forty
Speaker 1: seven percent effective filgal percentage on pull up jumpers, which
Speaker 1: is seven percent better than the regular season, made a
Speaker 1: higher percentage of his floaters, he was over a point
Speaker 1: per possession and pick and roll and ISOs and post ups,
Speaker 1: so he had a randomly good shot creation postseason, but
Speaker 1: all of his other stuff tanked. His rim finishing tanked.
Speaker 1: He shot just thirty three point eight percent on catch
Speaker 1: and shoot jumpers. So ironically, it was all the easy
Speaker 1: stuff this year that abandoned Jason Tatum, which was kind Again,
Speaker 1: that kind of tells me that it was probably an outlier,
Speaker 1: but we'll see as we as we progress forward into
Speaker 1: the future. Again, Tatum's only twenty five years old, and
Speaker 1: that's a big context thing that we're gonna have to
Speaker 1: keep in mind as we go forward. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny as we zoom out a little bit, like
Speaker 1: him and Jalen Brown, they're very different players. For the record, right,
Speaker 1: Like Jalen Brown's way more creative. I think in some
Speaker 1: of his shot making stuff, especially in the mid range.
Speaker 1: Tatum's a better defensive player, a better passer, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I think Jalen Brown has some scoring highs
Speaker 1: that are higher than Jason Tatum. But the two of
Speaker 1: them are. They're very different, but they have some similar issues, right, Like,
Speaker 1: both of them are absolutely top tier offensive players. When
Speaker 1: they already have an advantage, they'll kill you in transition.
Speaker 1: They'll kill you in spot up situations. Tatum's also like
Speaker 1: super active off the ball. He set one hundred and
Speaker 1: ten ball screens this year in large part because he's
Speaker 1: They would use that to manufacture dribil penetration with the guards, right,
Speaker 1: So they'd have it Derek White or Marcus Smart have
Speaker 1: the ball and Tatum set a ball screen and slip
Speaker 1: it and he would just catch the ball at the
Speaker 1: foul line and it would start a four on three
Speaker 1: and he would just make the passes out of that
Speaker 1: because he's such a good passer. That was something they
Speaker 1: used a lot. He was a very good cutter this season.
Speaker 1: Tatum made fifty one shots running off of screens this year,
Speaker 1: which was a point per possession. Boston runs a ton
Speaker 1: of sets where like it's five out spacing right, so
Speaker 1: you always have two guys in the corner, two guys
Speaker 1: on the wing, and a guy on the top. And
Speaker 1: Boston will run a lot of these like actions for Tatum,
Speaker 1: where like Tatum will be the ball will be like
Speaker 1: on the left wing and Tatum will either be at
Speaker 1: on the top with a guy on the wing, or
Speaker 1: Tatum will be on the wing with a guy at
Speaker 1: the top, and they'll just have that guy at the
Speaker 1: top screen for Tatum, and he'll come over the top
Speaker 1: and Marcus Muddle just hit him on the move and
Speaker 1: it'll be like Horford setting the screen and Tatum we'll
Speaker 1: just attack off the catch, or if the guy goes
Speaker 1: way under the screen, he'll just catch and shoot. And
Speaker 1: then they'll do the same thing as a flare. So
Speaker 1: he'll be at the top and Horford were flare screen
Speaker 1: for him, and Tatum will just kind of pop over
Speaker 1: to the wing and there'll be like a quick swing
Speaker 1: pass for either a quick three or quick drive to
Speaker 1: close out type of situation. But Tatum was really good
Speaker 1: in those situations. Like I said, made fifty one shots
Speaker 1: this year point per possession. But the reality is is
Speaker 1: while Tatum and Brown are both awesome in those situations.
Speaker 1: They're both below average and live drouble situations against the
Speaker 1: set defense, pick and rolls, ISOs when all ten eyes
Speaker 1: are staring at them in the half court. Both of
Speaker 1: them are a big level below where their peers are,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a big part of why their
Speaker 1: offense looks so clunky at times, especially in big moments,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. The Celtics lost six games in
Speaker 1: this year's playoff runt involving clutch situations, so when the
Speaker 1: score was within five with five minutes remaining. Again, no
Speaker 1: team in the end this year in the postseason lost
Speaker 1: more than four and the Celtics in clutch situations, and
Speaker 1: the Celtics lost six in A big part of that
Speaker 1: was their offense. They had an offensive rating of just
Speaker 1: ninety four in those six losses. That's thirty minutes of
Speaker 1: clutch basketball in total, and they just could never get
Speaker 1: their offense going in those situations, in large part because
Speaker 1: their two best shot creators are not great at that specifically,
Speaker 1: and that's just something that's going to continue to be
Speaker 1: a problem until they improve. But I do believe they
Speaker 1: will improve. We'll get to that a little bit later.
Speaker 1: A couple of specific issues I've noticed with Jason Tatum's
Speaker 1: approach offensively that I think lead to some of his
Speaker 1: half court issues. First of all, in an effort to
Speaker 1: become more efficient overall, Jason Tatum is basically cut most
Speaker 1: of the variety out of his game. Used to have
Speaker 1: a ton it used to be a very high volume
Speaker 1: post player. Used to take a lot of mid range
Speaker 1: jump shots. And you know, and I understand from an
Speaker 1: analytics perspective, cutting back on mid rain shooting a certain amount,
Speaker 1: but he's cut way back on it. Now seventy percent
Speaker 1: of his pull up jumpers are threes, and he's not
Speaker 1: actually making him at a percentage that's conducive to that
Speaker 1: particular shot profile. I a lot of you guys probably
Speaker 1: have seen me, like take screenshots of Tatum shot charts
Speaker 1: and like like, like the Celtics will lose a game,
Speaker 1: it'll be clunky offensively, tATu will struggle, and then you'll
Speaker 1: look at the shot chart and like it's a bunch
Speaker 1: of x's and o's at the above the break, like
Speaker 1: at the top of the key, and a little bit
Speaker 1: on the wing, and then a bunch of shots at
Speaker 1: the rim and there will be nothing anywhere else on
Speaker 1: the shot chart. And that's it's because he has cut
Speaker 1: out the post ups, like he's been steadily cutting back
Speaker 1: on post ups. Twenty twenty one he ran one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy two. Twenty twenty two, he ran one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty five. This year one hundred and thirty five. So,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, he's steadily removing that from his game,
Speaker 1: which is bizarre because it's been consistently his most effective
Speaker 1: play type. He was by far more efficient in post
Speaker 1: up situations this year than he wasn't pick and roll
Speaker 1: in ISO, and he's doing it less than he has
Speaker 1: since he was basically a kid. So it's confusing to me.
Speaker 1: He's removed the variety and he's made himself predictable. And
Speaker 1: so that's when you hear guys like Caleb Martin and
Speaker 1: other guy's on the heat and other guys around the
Speaker 1: league be like, we're getting up into Jason Tatum, like
Speaker 1: ball pressuring him, forcing him to his left, because when
Speaker 1: he goes left, he's about, you know, much more likely
Speaker 1: to take a pull up jump shot than he is
Speaker 1: when he goes right. When he goes right, he's far
Speaker 1: more likely to go all the way to the rim.
Speaker 1: When he goes left, he's far more likely to take
Speaker 1: a pull up jump shot. He probably doesn't want to
Speaker 1: take a pull up two. So like we could probably
Speaker 1: funnel him sideways instead of towards the rim, and then
Speaker 1: you're just baiting him into one of those really really
Speaker 1: tough pull up threes that he's been missing for the
Speaker 1: most part in recent seasons. Right, So I think I
Speaker 1: think that's a big thing for him to work on
Speaker 1: in the future, is just like really simplifying his approach
Speaker 1: offensively and using his physical advantages. It makes a lot
Speaker 1: of sense for guys like Damian Lillard and Steph Curry
Speaker 1: to take a ton of pull up threes because that's
Speaker 1: their ultimate elite, top tier skill, that's the thing that
Speaker 1: separates them from all their peers, and they don't have
Speaker 1: the amazing physical tools to bully their way to spots
Speaker 1: closer to the rim and get higher percentage shots. You're
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, You're six foot nine, you're built like a truck,
Speaker 1: and you've got a really good short, short to mid
Speaker 1: range jump shot. Use that clear the side. More work mismatches,
Speaker 1: work the posts, more add true variety to the way
Speaker 1: that you're attacking these defenses. Don't try to be Dame
Speaker 1: and Steph. That's a waste of your individual skill sets.
Speaker 1: So those are the things that I'd like to see
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum work on as he heads into his future.
Speaker 1: So just kind of in summary, I dropped Tatum below
Speaker 1: a D and embid for one main reason. Tatum doesn't
Speaker 1: really have that elite top end skill that he can
Speaker 1: dependably rely on, right, Like Anthony Davis has his defensive
Speaker 1: superpower that literally dominates the focus of every playoff series
Speaker 1: that he's in. Joel Embiid, you throw him the ball
Speaker 1: at the foul liner on the post, he's like well
Speaker 1: over a point per possession, like almost a point in
Speaker 1: a quarter per possession. So he's one of the very
Speaker 1: best individual shot creators in the league. Right. Even the
Speaker 1: diminished version of Embiid in this year's postseason run when
Speaker 1: he was injured was still well over a point per
Speaker 1: possession in those situations. Jason Tatum's really good at a
Speaker 1: lot of things, but he doesn't have that superpowered He's
Speaker 1: a good playmaker, but he's not a great one. He's
Speaker 1: pretty inefficient as a pull up jump shooter. He's pretty
Speaker 1: inefficient as a shot maker. In general, he's well below
Speaker 1: his peers and pick and roll and in ISO situations.
Speaker 1: He's a good post up player, but he doesn't do
Speaker 1: it enough. He used to be one of the best
Speaker 1: defenders in the league, but just like the rest of
Speaker 1: his team, he kind of let go of the rope
Speaker 1: on that side of the floor and the whole team declined.
Speaker 1: I remember those six clutch losses I was talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: and the offense was a huge problem there, but the
Speaker 1: defense was worse in those six clutch losses. In the postseason,
Speaker 1: the Celtics notched a defensive rating of one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty five. Like, you're obviously the offense is clunky and
Speaker 1: they need to figure that out, but like, that's not
Speaker 1: the same Celtics team that was winning in the playoffs
Speaker 1: last year. One hundred and forty five defensive rating from
Speaker 1: a team that allegedly as a defensive identity or at
Speaker 1: least used to that to me was a big problem
Speaker 1: as well. And I think I think Tatum and Brown
Speaker 1: in particular, were the two guys that really relaxed on
Speaker 1: that side of the floor this year. So as I
Speaker 1: look at again, it's a very small gap. And I
Speaker 1: want to acknowledge Tatum's dependability, in his availability, in his
Speaker 1: productivity while he's on the floor, but he's just not truly,
Speaker 1: unbelievably elite at any one thing on the basketball court,
Speaker 1: and that I think hurts him in some of the
Speaker 1: later rounds of the playoffs when he runs into some
Speaker 1: of these guys that have that level of ability at
Speaker 1: the very very top end. And again, I want to
Speaker 1: be clear, I know that he beat Embiid this year,
Speaker 1: and I thought he had a pretty big moment at
Speaker 1: Embiid's expense, particularly in Game seven, just cooking him on
Speaker 1: switches on the perimeter. But again, the Celtics have a
Speaker 1: significantly more talented roster. They were heavy, heavy favorites to
Speaker 1: win that series. Angeel Embiid was playing injured, which we're
Speaker 1: going to factor in when we get to him. And
Speaker 1: I struggled with Embiid a lot in where to put
Speaker 1: him on this list as well. But when I really
Speaker 1: zoomed out and looked at it in a situation where
Speaker 1: these were all very small gaps, I think that Embiid
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis's top end in the situations when they
Speaker 1: are healthy at the right time of year, actually gives
Speaker 1: them a much better chance to lead a team to
Speaker 1: a championship than Jason Tatum does at this point. But
Speaker 1: for the record, he is twenty five years old and
Speaker 1: he is improving. He just had one of his very
Speaker 1: best offensive half court creation postseasons in his career. Even
Speaker 1: with all the issues that the Celtics had, it was
Speaker 1: a better one relative to Tatum's past. I thought he
Speaker 1: showed a lot of growth in the second half of
Speaker 1: that Heat series, started to kind of demonstrate some of
Speaker 1: that surgical offensive approach there in games five and six,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of a bummer because he got
Speaker 1: hurt in Game seven and that prevented him from having
Speaker 1: an opportunity to close the deal Missoula give him some
Speaker 1: better spacing. In general, I thought he showed some growth,
Speaker 1: but he's got a ways to go, and I still
Speaker 1: continue to maintain that for the Celtics, their best pathway
Speaker 1: forward is just betting on Tatum and Brown improving as
Speaker 1: the years go by. Again, when Tatum is twenty eight,
Speaker 1: if he adds the efficiency and the on ball stuff
Speaker 1: to go with everything that he does as a guy,
Speaker 1: that can extend advantages and finish plays when other guys
Speaker 1: get him situations where he has an advantage, and if
Speaker 1: he regains his defensive identity that he had from the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two postseason, that's where he comes a candidate
Speaker 1: to be potentially the best player in the world. And
Speaker 1: I do think that that's on the table for Tatum
Speaker 1: in the future, but right now, at age twenty five,
Speaker 1: which is still impressive, I have him as the seventh
Speaker 1: best player in the world. All right, guys, that's all
Speaker 1: I have for today. I'll see you guys tomorrow for
Speaker 1: number six and we'll head it into the weekend. We'll
Speaker 1: go through five through one tomorrow. The volume