Quote Originally Posted by Billy Dat View Post
It's pretty amazing the way Tatum is being discussed based on his play in these playoffs...possible future MVP, one of the few "untouchable" players in the NBA in terms of whether or not he could be traded, etc. While some of it may be hyperbole, it's an amazing run he's been on.

In the 4th quarter, I think Lebron was just trying to see if he could get some guys going because he knows they can't win even when he puts up 40-10-10 performances unless other guys keep the defense honest. Jackson and Van Gundy, though, were talking a lot about the Cavs sniping at each other on the court and generally being disconnected while the Celtics were hyper-connected. One of Lebron's weaknesses can be his lack of unifying a team in those kinds of situations.

I agree and for a more mundane reason, it's just really hard to keep doing it year after year. The Pat Riley "disease of more" starts to creep in, key injuries happen, etc. Whenever a pundit says, "X move sets this team up for the next 10 years" I always laugh. What the heck lasts that long in pro sports anymore, let alone the NBA. I feel like 5 years is kind of the max. GSW are in year 4.
There's a great article in the WSJ today praising Tatum for how great he is at an early age - and how he got that way. It was sort of startling to discover that they covered his development from when was about seven years old right up through any periods he's sitting on the Boston bench getting a breather. They managed to cover his accomplishments and never once mention that he did get what might have been some beneficial exposure to Coach K and the Duke staff.

What the article focuses on by the way is the fact that throughout his entire life, he's been able to study great players (mainly Kobe) on You Tube.

Just kind of surprised to not see a single mention of his time at Duke.