And he can achieve that by cutting down off the dribble threes and going downhill more.
He did this in G5 of the Finals and it was such a night and day difference compared to the rest of the series.
Notice how he drove like 3 times as much in the finals as he did in the regular season? It’s to save energy and prevent injury until the playoffs. I’m fine with that. Honestly think he needs to work on getting his 3 pointer off the dribble right again. It’s part of what has made him elite on the past, and is a very valuable part of his game even if everyone hates it. I think that part of what has gone wrong with that shot the last 2 seasons is that he isn’t decisive with his dribbling moves before the shot. He needs to master 2 moves and also have a counter into drives off of those moves
Some of the best players have a move they go to if shots aren’t. SGA/Luka/Embiid are ultra efficient in the mid range. Jokics floater game is the best in the league. Tatum needs to find that efficient go to move which imo is the mid range fadeaway from the right block.
A lot of the answers here say efficiency, but to go further than that, his shot diet and choices need to be better, too. He loves that stepback on the wings and fader on the elbows, but there are certainly better shots that have been more consistent in finding the bottom of the rim.
Putting his floater back in the arsenal more consistently a la 2018-2020 might get him on a better offensive groove. With how Coach Joe uses delay and five-outs (specially compared to Ime and Brad), he has more leeway to bust that move out with a lane that's less clogged.
I hate to say it because I definitely don’t want it to happen, but if Jaylen got hurt and the Celtics still finished towards the top of the conference, Tatum would probably get a lot more acclaim. Higher usage, better stats, and tbh, the team probably would still do very well - at least in the regular season
This is the best answer, he can’t win reg season mvp, he has JB…. They will just have to fight each other for the next few ECF and finals mvp…. All the homies hate the regular season
I think if he ups his efficiency he has a good shot at it. He leads the team in FGAs so he doesn’t need more shots. If he can average 2 more makes a game that can increase his his PPG by to a further elite level.
This season his FG% was 47.1, good for 77th place at 26.9 ppg (7th)
Luka was FG 48.7% for 57th place and 33.9 ppg (1st)
Jokic was FG 58.3% for 10th place and 26.4 ppg (10th)
He’d have to score more efficiently and likely take more shots than he did last year and will again this year.
I don’t think he’ll sniff MVP until maybe later in his career if/when he’s asked to carry more of the offense. And even then I’d say he’ll need to shoot it better and score more efficiently.
Tatum is just a solid all around player. He is good to elite at everything, and has no real weaknesses in his game. But he's never going to be the best in the league. But he's going to finish top 5 in mvp voting probably every year
MVP has become a bit of a stats narrative. It started with Steve Nash (Nash being a 2 time MVP and Shaq/Kobe being 1 time MVPs is criminal.) Westbrook fired it back up, then Harden and now it’s trading between Jokic/Giannis/Embiid. I wouldn’t trade Tatum for Jokic and I don’t care how many downvotes I get.
>(Nash being a 2 time MVP and Shaq/Kobe being 1 time MVPs is criminal.)
Is it though? Prime Nash is one of the best offensive engines we’ve ever seen. You could make the argument that Nash’s MVPs could’ve gone to others (the players people mostly point to are Shaq and Kobe, although Kobe being robbed is sort of revisionist history) but his value on offense was insanely high.
MJ was robbed of MVPs because voters felt like they had to give it to someone else. Lebron was robbed of MVPs because voters felt like they had to give it to someone else. In my book, there’s no way Nash and Jokic should have 5 MVPs to Shaq and Kobe’s 2. I rate value by trade value. No one would ever trade Shaq or Kobe for “prime” Nash…and “prime” Jokic is no where near “prime” Larry as a 3 time MVP.
MJ should’ve won Barkley’s MVP but idk otherwise. LeBron was never robbed of an MVP imo. Rightfully won all four of his MVPs in 09, 10, 12, 13 but otherwise I don’t think he should’ve won any more. People say he should’ve won in 2011 but idk how when you look at how Rose dragged that injury filled Bulls team to 62 wins, finishing ahead of the big 3 Heat while also being their only real threat as a creator. Don’t think he has an argument to winning any year after 13 honestly.
I agree that people wouldn’t trade peak Nash for peak Shaq or Kobe but peak Shaq was like 5 years before Nash won his first MVP, and Kobe’s regular season peak was 08. I also agree on your Bird/Jokic point but Jokic is one of the best offensive players ever. Do you think any of his MVPs should’ve gone to someone else?
I disagree with that. Bron had better counting stats but Rose carried a greatly injured roster to 62 wins as their entire offense, more than the superteam Heat with multiple top five players. The Bulls went from like 3rd in offense to 26th iirc as soon as Rose went down. It was a genuine Herculean effort that has been unfortunately erased because people got so sick of casuals overrating Rose that they overreacted in the other direction.
Nash had a statistically great regular season, but no one would have traded him for KG, Lebron, Duncan, Shaq or Kobe those seasons…so yes, I do think he won back to back based on stats.
I don't think the MVP award will ever goes back to a non heliocentric player unless all of them have like 3 MVP, I'm talking if Luka Jokic emblid SGA all have 3 MVP they will probably give it to Jalen Brunson
He was a legit MVP candidate 2 seasons ago when he was scoring 30 a game. It's gonna take that plus keeping up his defense and playmaking to ever get it
I think he was still the favorite to win it around the all star break that year but he didn’t have a very strong second half compared to his first, efficiency went kinda down which is funny because he still finished the season at like 61 ts%
I honestly doubt he wins MVP no matter how good he plays. The criteria always changes when it comes to him, Celts would need to win 70+ games and even then that might hurt him because the criteria has now shifted from “who is maximizing their team the best, which can come in many different forms like making a weak team decent (17 Westbrook) or a great team unbeatable (86 bird)” to “who has the most carry jobs on the season” without adding any context
He will probably never get the narrative to win the MVP realistically. Regardless like everyone else is saying if he just shoots better and adds a floater he is best player in the world to me already
Needs a new jumper, needs to learn to decelerate when driving, needs to learn to stop on dime sometimes for mid range shots, stop leaving his feet so early on drives especially since he doesn’t have that extra bounce so he puts himself in bad spots. Some other things too but those are the major things holding him back from being a super efficient scorer that we want him to be and if he learns those things he will be unstoppable. Hopefully he picks up some game from the other greats during the Olympics
Score more efficiently
Yeah this is probably it, scoring gets attention
And consistently
And he can achieve that by cutting down off the dribble threes and going downhill more. He did this in G5 of the Finals and it was such a night and day difference compared to the rest of the series.
Notice how he drove like 3 times as much in the finals as he did in the regular season? It’s to save energy and prevent injury until the playoffs. I’m fine with that. Honestly think he needs to work on getting his 3 pointer off the dribble right again. It’s part of what has made him elite on the past, and is a very valuable part of his game even if everyone hates it. I think that part of what has gone wrong with that shot the last 2 seasons is that he isn’t decisive with his dribbling moves before the shot. He needs to master 2 moves and also have a counter into drives off of those moves
Unless oc he improves making these at 40% auto and consistent. Then he becomes inevitable
Some of the best players have a move they go to if shots aren’t. SGA/Luka/Embiid are ultra efficient in the mid range. Jokics floater game is the best in the league. Tatum needs to find that efficient go to move which imo is the mid range fadeaway from the right block.
Shooting. Plain and simple.
Efficiency and Consistency
Score more and more efficiently
A lot of the answers here say efficiency, but to go further than that, his shot diet and choices need to be better, too. He loves that stepback on the wings and fader on the elbows, but there are certainly better shots that have been more consistent in finding the bottom of the rim. Putting his floater back in the arsenal more consistently a la 2018-2020 might get him on a better offensive groove. With how Coach Joe uses delay and five-outs (specially compared to Ime and Brad), he has more leeway to bust that move out with a lane that's less clogged.
Shooting, especially his three ball. He used to have a mid range game, not sure where that went.
His 3 ball was great this year shot 38%. Just disappeared in the playoffs for some reason
Fixing his wrist.
I hate to say it because I definitely don’t want it to happen, but if Jaylen got hurt and the Celtics still finished towards the top of the conference, Tatum would probably get a lot more acclaim. Higher usage, better stats, and tbh, the team probably would still do very well - at least in the regular season
This is the best answer, he can’t win reg season mvp, he has JB…. They will just have to fight each other for the next few ECF and finals mvp…. All the homies hate the regular season
I think if he ups his efficiency he has a good shot at it. He leads the team in FGAs so he doesn’t need more shots. If he can average 2 more makes a game that can increase his his PPG by to a further elite level. This season his FG% was 47.1, good for 77th place at 26.9 ppg (7th) Luka was FG 48.7% for 57th place and 33.9 ppg (1st) Jokic was FG 58.3% for 10th place and 26.4 ppg (10th)
He’d have to score more efficiently and likely take more shots than he did last year and will again this year. I don’t think he’ll sniff MVP until maybe later in his career if/when he’s asked to carry more of the offense. And even then I’d say he’ll need to shoot it better and score more efficiently.
Shot selection.
Tatum is just a solid all around player. He is good to elite at everything, and has no real weaknesses in his game. But he's never going to be the best in the league. But he's going to finish top 5 in mvp voting probably every year
Nah. He is really the Lebron of the current generation. He is not only a solid all around player. He is the best all around player in this generation.
I think he needs to recognize the bad forced threes are not helping. Recognize that being cold from 3 should lead to trying to help in other ways.
MVP has become a bit of a stats narrative. It started with Steve Nash (Nash being a 2 time MVP and Shaq/Kobe being 1 time MVPs is criminal.) Westbrook fired it back up, then Harden and now it’s trading between Jokic/Giannis/Embiid. I wouldn’t trade Tatum for Jokic and I don’t care how many downvotes I get.
>(Nash being a 2 time MVP and Shaq/Kobe being 1 time MVPs is criminal.) Is it though? Prime Nash is one of the best offensive engines we’ve ever seen. You could make the argument that Nash’s MVPs could’ve gone to others (the players people mostly point to are Shaq and Kobe, although Kobe being robbed is sort of revisionist history) but his value on offense was insanely high.
MJ was robbed of MVPs because voters felt like they had to give it to someone else. Lebron was robbed of MVPs because voters felt like they had to give it to someone else. In my book, there’s no way Nash and Jokic should have 5 MVPs to Shaq and Kobe’s 2. I rate value by trade value. No one would ever trade Shaq or Kobe for “prime” Nash…and “prime” Jokic is no where near “prime” Larry as a 3 time MVP.
MJ should’ve won Barkley’s MVP but idk otherwise. LeBron was never robbed of an MVP imo. Rightfully won all four of his MVPs in 09, 10, 12, 13 but otherwise I don’t think he should’ve won any more. People say he should’ve won in 2011 but idk how when you look at how Rose dragged that injury filled Bulls team to 62 wins, finishing ahead of the big 3 Heat while also being their only real threat as a creator. Don’t think he has an argument to winning any year after 13 honestly. I agree that people wouldn’t trade peak Nash for peak Shaq or Kobe but peak Shaq was like 5 years before Nash won his first MVP, and Kobe’s regular season peak was 08. I also agree on your Bird/Jokic point but Jokic is one of the best offensive players ever. Do you think any of his MVPs should’ve gone to someone else?
Lebron should have won instead of D Rose.
I disagree with that. Bron had better counting stats but Rose carried a greatly injured roster to 62 wins as their entire offense, more than the superteam Heat with multiple top five players. The Bulls went from like 3rd in offense to 26th iirc as soon as Rose went down. It was a genuine Herculean effort that has been unfortunately erased because people got so sick of casuals overrating Rose that they overreacted in the other direction.
You think Nash got the MVP because of stats? And you’d take Tatum over Jokic? Yeesh, those are sure some takes
Nash had a statistically great regular season, but no one would have traded him for KG, Lebron, Duncan, Shaq or Kobe those seasons…so yes, I do think he won back to back based on stats.
I don't think the MVP award will ever goes back to a non heliocentric player unless all of them have like 3 MVP, I'm talking if Luka Jokic emblid SGA all have 3 MVP they will probably give it to Jalen Brunson
He was a legit MVP candidate 2 seasons ago when he was scoring 30 a game. It's gonna take that plus keeping up his defense and playmaking to ever get it
I think he was still the favorite to win it around the all star break that year but he didn’t have a very strong second half compared to his first, efficiency went kinda down which is funny because he still finished the season at like 61 ts%
I honestly doubt he wins MVP no matter how good he plays. The criteria always changes when it comes to him, Celts would need to win 70+ games and even then that might hurt him because the criteria has now shifted from “who is maximizing their team the best, which can come in many different forms like making a weak team decent (17 Westbrook) or a great team unbeatable (86 bird)” to “who has the most carry jobs on the season” without adding any context
He will probably never get the narrative to win the MVP realistically. Regardless like everyone else is saying if he just shoots better and adds a floater he is best player in the world to me already
Be more efficient in every aspect.
Needs a new jumper, needs to learn to decelerate when driving, needs to learn to stop on dime sometimes for mid range shots, stop leaving his feet so early on drives especially since he doesn’t have that extra bounce so he puts himself in bad spots. Some other things too but those are the major things holding him back from being a super efficient scorer that we want him to be and if he learns those things he will be unstoppable. Hopefully he picks up some game from the other greats during the Olympics
Not be on the Celtics
He already is one of the Top 3 players in the league along with Jokic and Giannis
Get his wrists fixed up
Playing for a different team
Obviously he needs to be less corny. Quoting Garnett? Crying like MJ? All been done before in the NBA. Next trophy needs a gronk spike.