double OT
if we can have a zion thread, we should have a tatum thread....
he is balling out against the clips....
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
double OT
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
observations:
1 - i hated kemba on the hornets....love him now..
2. hayward almost took our ring - love him now
3. the east is gonna be cray cray this year...
4. kawhi can't do it all by himself.
5. tatum - 39 pts...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
It's amazing how mature he looks. To think that he could still be a senior at Duke.
Tatum is out of this world this year. He's a clear All-Star, despite the media saying he didn't deserve it. And that's fine.
Tatum has always been an offensive stud. His ability to shot and get to the rim have always been there (finishing at the rim is a different story, although that too is getting better).
Where Tatum has improved leaps and bounds is defensively. i'd argue that, right now, Tatum is a top 10 defensive player in the league. He is currently third in Real Plus/Minus this season behind Lebron and Kris Dunn (and I guess that's why this metric isn't fully recognized as a good stat). Last night, he held Kawhi to 3-11 shooting when Tatum was guarding Kawhi. His positioning is excellent and he's got a knack for steals.
There is no doubt in my mind that he's, by far, the best Duke defensive player in the league and the best two-way Duke player in the league. I'm not ready to anoint him the best Duke player (I think Kyrie is a hair better but I'd take today's Tatum over today's Ingram or today's Zion. Tomorrow's Zion is a different story).
That said, I could see Tatum being the best Duke NBA player once his career is said and done (he's got 3 years on Grant Hill and Hill had those terrible injuries in his prime).
BTW- what ever happened to the Duke defensive NBA players? The best NBA players - outside of Tatum - are bad-to-mediocre defensively right now: Kyrie, Ingram, Zion, Redick, Jah, Jackson. Winslow is a very good defensive player, but he can't stay healthy.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill
President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club
He was also incredibly efficient last night - 39 points on just 23 shots. Compare that to Lou Williams, whom the announcing team kept saying was "unstoppable" and "on fire" but needed 33 (!) shots to get to 35 points
His “beard” is absolutely pathetic though. Have to shave that thing off.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
tatum sitting on 41 against the lakers....
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese
An efficient 41, too. With KI, Tatum, Zion, and BI, has Duke ever been flush with all world NBA talent like this? We have had plenty of great players in the NBA...Grant, Elton, etc but we not only have a lot of guys in the league now but some of the absolute best players playing the game today. Gotta love it.
well, he did whack the player in the throat right before the shot...so, there's that...
"One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese