Jayson Tatum: High Potential But Highly Overrated

Jayson Tatum: High Potential But Highly Overrated

Jayson Tatum is a phenomenal player, who one day we could look back on and be glad we were fortunate enough to see him play. The problem many NBA fans run into with a player like Tatum is conflating potential and current impact into one mega-category, somehow sequentially placing him into the top 10 current NBA players. This is simply a flawed process, and NBA fans using this logic has caused Jayson Tatum to become overrated.

The Inconsistency Factor

By looking at Tatum’s per-game stats, it’s easy to think that he’s able to deliver for the Celtics on a nightly basis, as indicated by his impressive 26.2 points per game. He’s lacking something important, though, which is the ability to produce consistently at an efficient rate. The best players in the NBA are able to deliver every single night at an efficient rate, and on the nights they don’t, they’re able to help out their team in other ways. From January 15-January 21, Tatum shot 1-22 from the three-point line. His next two games he made 16 total threes. The two games after that? His three-point percentage went back down to about 28.6%. The Celtics simply don’t know what they’ll receive out of Tatum on any given night, whether it be 1 assist and 3 rebounds (Jan. 8) or 7 assists and 10 rebounds (back-to-back games on Jan. 21 & Jan. 23).

These inconsistencies have led to sub-par shooting percentages from Tatum this year, which has, in turn, led to inconsistent winning (which I’ll discuss more soon). This season, Tatum is shooting a career-worst 43.1% from the field, and that paired along with just 4.0 assists per game is not the mark of a superstar. His three-point percentage of 32.8% is worse than Wendell Carter Jr. and Mo Bamba, the two centers on the Orlando Magic that are not at all known for their shooting ability. If Tatum wants to level up his game, it all starts with being able to score at a consistent rate.

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A Lack of Winning

If the Celtics were a perennial Eastern Conference contender, it’d be easy to assume that Tatum does the little things to help make his teammates better, and in turn, win games. This simply has not been the case, the Celtics finishing with a .500 winning percentage last season and currently at .510 this season. Since getting rid of Gordon Hayward two years ago and placing the franchise in the hands of Tatum to lead the way, the team simply hasn’t looked the same. They’ve become known for collapsing in fourth quarters and are damaging their identity as one of the great franchises, especially because people know how good this arrangement of players can be. Tatum is yet to show that he can lead a team to a top seed, and until that happens, he (and Jaylen Brown) deserves to be questioned on his dedication to winning vs. personal statistical success.

At this point, Jayson Tatum is a very talented NBA player, but it’s hard to put him in the category of the elite young stars. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen currently have the Cavaliers ahead of the Bucks and the Nets in the standings. Ja Morant has the Grizzlies in the 3 seed in the West. Luka Doncic and Trae Young have led their teams to huge playoff series upsets. Although I’m not claiming all of those players to be better than him, he is yet to prove that he’s a winner as the clear best player on his team, making Jayson Tatum overrated.