- 2 days ago
After a poor showing in the opening game of the season, there’s an extra bright spotlight on Jayson Tatum moving forward. Rich, Ken, and Ted discuss if he has what it takes to be the undisputed leader on the Celtics.
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00:00What we saw from Tatum in the first game is not the first time we've seen him
00:04disappear at the end of games.
00:06Yeah, sure.
00:07So it's just a continuation of kind of what we've seen from him.
00:11You would agree.
00:11It's a whole new team.
00:12Like, this team has to gel.
00:14They've got to come together.
00:15They get Paul George's new sidecar.
00:17That doesn't have anything to do with how Tatum injects himself
00:20or doesn't inject himself into the end of these games.
00:22And his flaws are going to be, I guess there's going to be more of a focus
00:27on what he can't do because in some of those games where he was off,
00:31Jalen Brown could pick up the slack.
00:32And there's games where Jalen Brown was off and Jason Tatum could pick up the slack.
00:36And if you end up getting a win, people aren't looking back
00:38and they're not nitpicking and they're not complaining about the couple of shots
00:41that Jason Tatum didn't make.
00:43But now that he's the man, he's the guy, he's got to become a complete player.
00:49But is it fair to say he has no heart?
00:51I mean, that's a personal shot of the guy who's been here for a decade
00:54and won a title.
00:54It's just kind of shocking to hear that.
00:56You know what it is?
00:57Ken, I used to tell my daughter that she played in the low post
01:00in basketball in high school.
01:01Okay, here we go.
01:01Sorry.
01:02I got to just do this one.
01:04And I'd say, when you get in the low post, you got to demand the ball.
01:07Like, put your hand up.
01:08You know what?
01:09And, you know, if Tatum showed that he wants the ball at the end of games,
01:15people wouldn't be so critical of him.
01:17But it doesn't look like he demands the ball at the end of these games
01:22to, you know, to pull his team out of the rut.
01:25You're absolutely right.
01:26And listen, Jason Tatum, like, he's an incredible player.
01:28We know that.
01:29He's a champion.
01:30He's an elite scorer.
01:32One of the most talented players in the NBA.
01:33Nobody's disputing that.
01:34But there is something that people understand,
01:36and that is being a great basketball player
01:39and being a great clutch basketball player
01:41are two completely different things.
01:43Exactly.
01:43And the numbers back that up, by the way, with Jason Tatum, too.
01:46As a matter of fact, I looked it up last night because I was like,
01:48that to me is the one thing that's off with Jason Tatum.
01:51You can be a prolific scorer.
01:53You can, like, be a guy who's always putting up all the numbers
01:55that look great on an MVP voting ballot.
01:58But if you're not the guy that you want the ball in is,
02:01give me the damn ball guy at the end of a game,
02:03then you're not a complete player.
02:05He took some shots.
02:06It was more of took some bad shots.
02:07He took some threes that didn't go in.
02:08Right.
02:09But, I mean, if they don't go in there, he's not clutch.
02:11You've got to make the shot to be clutch.
02:12But don't you think this is Tatum 2.0 now?
02:14This is post-Achilles, post-Jalen Brown.
02:17You have to give this version of Tatum a little time to evolve.
02:20Of course you do, but he's been, he's been,
02:22he's had a lack of clutch for a while.
02:24And by the way, I have the numbers to back it up
02:26because everyone's going to point at one or two games.
02:27And I even said that yesterday.
02:28Just because you've seen someone make a couple big plays
02:31in a couple games does not mean that they are clutch.
02:34From 2019 through the 2025 playoffs,
02:36Jason Tatum shot 36% from the field in clutch situations,
02:40from three only 23%.
02:41And there was this study of high-volume clutch shooters
02:43from 2021 through 2025.
02:46Tatum ranked 19th out of 20 in field goal percentage.
02:5019th.
02:50And that's for a guy who's supposed to be
02:51one of the best offensive players on the planet.
02:53And you know what drives me crazy, too?
02:55Like, he's 6'8".
02:56He's a big dude.
02:56He's very strong.
02:57He can get to the basket.
02:58He can shoot over small defenders.
03:00He can pass.
03:01He has virtually every offensive tool that you would want.
03:03So why do so many of these late-game possessions
03:07and with him dribbling out the clock
03:08and taking a ridiculously difficult contested step back three?
03:13Dude, you are a monster.
03:15Get to the rim.
03:16And listen, I know he scored 51 points in that game seven
03:19against Philadelphia.
03:20It's one game.
03:22And I know he hit some enormous shots in game six.
03:24Those were incredible performance.
03:25But having clutch moments doesn't automatically make you
03:28a consistently clutch player.
03:30And that's the one thing about him that should drive you crazy.
03:35Because I'll tell you who's more clutch than him.
03:37Jalen Brown.
03:38Well, not in game seven last year.
03:39He wasn't, unfortunately.
03:40I mean, he had a chance to win a game.
03:42He was not.
03:43But then again, Tatum failed on.
03:43And by the way, I wouldn't even,
03:45although I would not classify Jalen Brown as a clutch player.
03:47I just think that I think I've seen him at the end of games
03:49do some big things.
03:50And I'm not saying that Tatum can't deliver under pressure.
03:53He's proven that he can.
03:53But don't you agree with me?
03:54This season is going to be so much more about Tatum
03:57than people aren't going to blame his supporting cast or Brad.
04:00It's going to be, now that we've gotten a glimpse of this,
04:03it's going to be, what did Tatum do?
04:05And then, oh, by the way, check the box score.
04:06What did Jalen do in Philly?
04:08For me, it'll be two things.
04:09It'll be what Jason Tatum does, but also Joe Mazzula's system.
04:15I'm going to be critical of that system
04:17as much as I will be of how JT plays.
04:20And by the way, the reason I'm criticizing him
04:22isn't because I think he's overrated.
04:24I think it's because he's so damn good
04:27that he should be better at that part.
04:29Like, he should be better at closing out games.
04:32I mean, but once again, he's already the best player on this team,
04:35but being the best player doesn't necessarily mean
04:37you're a guy I want taking the last shot.
04:39The problem with that, Rich, is he has the ability,
04:41but he doesn't have the mental, I think, bandwidth to do it.
04:45That's the problem.
04:46And so you're saying you've got to wait for him to evolve.
04:49It's new players.
04:50That has nothing to do with his inner kind of personality.
04:55Does he want to take the game over?
04:57Is he aggressive?
04:58That's never been his style, and it's not going to change now.
05:01But he never had to be.
05:02Don't you think it never had to be?
05:03He had his Batman and Robin.
05:06Some people would say that they underachieved
05:08with Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum.
05:10Okay.
05:10For nine years they were together, they won one.
05:12I'm kind of stunned at the severity or the strength
05:15of which people are saying he doesn't have it.
05:16He doesn't have this.
05:17He doesn't have that.
05:18He doesn't have hard, he can't finish, he's not clutch.
05:20Just because we've never seen him in this role
05:22as the lone guy with a supporting cast of not as good.
05:26If it was the first time we were saying these things,
05:27that's different.
05:28But we've been saying these same things
05:30about Jason Tatum forever.
05:31And by the way, he came off the Achilles.
05:33It took Halliburton a full year.
05:35He didn't play at all last year.
05:36He played last night for the first time.
05:37The guy broke down in the postgame.
05:39It was like, I've got to play this audio for you later.
05:41I don't know, did you see the Halliburton thing ever?
05:43He just started weeping openly afterwards.
05:45I'm like, wow.
05:46It was his first game back in a year.
05:47First game back off the Achilles.
05:48I'm not going to kill him for that.
05:50But he was just emotional because he was just excited to be back.
05:52Yeah, he was just emotional.
05:53I think it's kind of cool.
05:54Yeah.
05:55If that's what it was.
05:56Yeah, if it was just like, dude,
05:57I thought I might never play again and I'm back.
06:00Dude, I want that guy.
06:02Comparatively, Tatum tried to come back last year.
06:04I mean, he tried to come back.
06:05He looked good when he came back.
06:05Yeah, he did come back.
06:07And we were all praising him.
06:08Like, oh my God.
06:09It didn't look like any ill effects at all from that last year.
06:11Let's go to Kelly on line one.
06:13Kelly, what's going on?
06:13How you doing?
06:15Hey, guys.
06:15I'm doing great.
06:16You guys are sounding great.
06:17The only thing is, though, it sounds like we're having this conversation
06:21and it's like the game we just saw didn't happen.
06:24We're talking about the narrative which was going into this season.
06:27The narrative is Tatum now.
06:28He's the only guy here.
06:29He doesn't have any supporting cast.
06:30He's the best player in this team.
06:32None of those things are true in that game I just saw.
06:34So my question is this.
06:36I mean, Paul George scored 38 points and Tatum, as he has many, many times in the past,
06:41he kept chucking even though he was cold.
06:43He does that.
06:44He shoots us out of games.
06:45So my question is this.
06:46How long would it take?
06:48A week, two weeks, three weeks before we say maybe Tatum isn't the best player on the team
06:53slash maybe his usage rate should go down a little bit.
06:56That's all I got.
06:56All right.
06:57Well, Drake May, it took three games to start playing well.
07:00What's that comparatively in NBA games?
07:02We don't have nine years of a sample size.
07:05I'd give him 10 to 15 games, wouldn't you?
07:08So he's suggesting Paul George is the man.
07:10Some people are saying that.
07:11We got some audio of Coward talking about that.
07:15I think he had 11 assists.
07:16Is that right?
07:17Oh, Joe.
07:18Joe's coming at you.
07:19Great Breslow Joe.
07:20Wow.
07:21That's Breslow Joe.
07:22That's a good point.
07:23Boy, he had that stat ready to go, didn't he?
07:25Yes, he did.
07:26Questioning my guy.
07:27If you're saying Tatum has a long way to go to become Kobe, who's, you know, I would
07:32agree.
07:32I'm not disputing that.
07:33He's got stuff to prove.
07:34He'll never be Kobe.
07:36No.
07:36Never.
07:37You can say that definitively right now.
07:38Yes.
07:38Never.
07:39Never.
07:39There's one Kobe.
07:41Matter of fact, since Kobe's been here, I'm having a hard time thinking of anyone else
07:45who's been Kobe.
07:47Paul Pierce is a practice today.
07:49You know what?
07:49Look, an old expression from a coach used to say, look, if they don't bite when they're
07:53puppies, they won't win their big dogs.
07:55It's his nature to be.
07:57He's not going to become Kobe from a personality standpoint.
08:00We've never seen him without JB.
08:01On the court, we've never seen him without a change of thing.
08:03It doesn't matter.
08:04Put it this way.
08:05If he was Kobe, he would be Kobe already.
08:07Nine years in the league.
08:08You know by now.
08:09Now, the one thing I do think could happen is there might be aspects of his game that
08:12he never had to perfect because he was able to lean on having Jalen Brown there.
08:16Exactly.
08:16That's what I'm saying.
08:17And close.
08:18Exactly.
08:18That should have revealed itself already.
08:20But I do hope, and it would take actually some pretty decent tough love from Joe Mazzullo,
08:28and I don't know if he's capable of doing that, to be able to turn him into someone
08:32who, hey, be more physical at the end of games.
08:35You are built like an action figure.
08:38Take it into the paint.
08:39Get to the foul line.
08:41What's the age NBA players are in their prime?
08:43Probably like 28.
08:45Okay, he's just coming into his prime.
08:47He's just coming in.
08:48He's 28 years old.
08:49You keep telling me Jason Tatum's Kobe, and I keep telling you he's Pippen.
08:53Pippen, baby.
08:53By the way, Pippen's a great player.
08:55Yeah, I know.
08:55Pippen is a great player.
08:56But he's not Kobe.
08:57But he's not Kobe.
08:58Dude, you know.
08:59He'll never be Kobe.
09:00We haven't seen a Kobe since that happened.
09:01Who's been the closest to Kobe?
09:03I mean, Jordan.
09:05Steph Curry.
09:06Steph Curry.
09:07Steph.
09:07Guys that have that kind of just that, they just.
09:10Killers.
09:11And Kobe, there were games where he played position.
09:14I'll tell you who's close.
09:15Who's even close to Kobe?
09:17This dude who was guarding Luka last night?
09:19Well, I was about to say, I'll tell you who I've seen play before, and there's been moments
09:23where I've been like, oh my God, it's Kobe.
09:24But then I've also seen the flaws, and that's Luka.
09:27Like, I've seen Luka have games before, and I went, oh sweet Lord, that's Kobe, and somehow
09:30he's reborn.
09:31He's like Kobe, and he gets upset like Kobe, but he's just not as good of a player.
09:34He's like fat-winded Kobe.
09:36Yeah, yeah.
09:36Like, he gets like, he like, his energy runs out, but there's moments where I'm like, oh.
09:41But no, Kobe was a rare breed.
09:43He's rare.
09:44And yeah, no one's asking Tatum to be Kobe.
09:46Kobe is a one-of-one.
09:48But when Cowherd makes a thing like that, he's not Kobe, he's Pippen.
09:52He's not the guy that you can trust 100% to put the ball in it.
09:56Yet, he's been in the league for a decade.
09:58Okay, you want to hear a good sign?
10:00You know who is right next door to us over at the Celtics field, or the Centralist Court
10:04over here at Arbok Center?
10:06Paul Pierce.
10:07Right, he was there today.
10:08Paul Pierce.
10:08For a reason, probably.
10:09He's the best person he should sit down with.
10:11That's great.
10:11Kevin Garnett.
10:12You want to talk about clutch?
10:14By the way, somebody on the text said, isn't there a stat that shows that Tatum is the
10:18most clutch Celtics player of all time?
10:19And I think I want to, I don't know who this person is, but I'm just telling you.
10:23Like, between Larry Bird, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen.
10:28What are we doing?
10:29Come on.
10:30That's crazy talking.
10:30Do you think they traded the wrong guy?
10:32Good question by a texter.
10:34207 text.
10:36I would have said that before I heard JB at the end of the season say, this was my favorite.
10:42Wasn't that the dog?
10:43Isn't that the heart that you want to see from Tatum?
10:45That was, come on.
10:46Are you serious?
10:47Really?
10:48I'm just trying to figure you guys out.
10:50I don't think they traded the wrong guy.
10:52I don't.
10:53But I do, and I've said this for a while.
10:55There are parts of Jason Tatum's game that he's got to get clutch.
10:59Sure.
11:00He's got to figure out a way to close out a whole new team and a coach that probably should
11:03be fired.
11:04Because he's the man now.
11:05You better, you better figure this out quick.
11:07Stop being scared, Tatum.
11:08At the end of the game.
11:09Let's go.
11:09Exactly.
11:10617-779-7937.
11:12Yeah.
11:12Pierce was a killer.
11:13Yeah.
11:13Pierce was one of the, I mean, you want to talk about an era where Kobe was around.
11:17There's a handful of guys, maybe like four or five that you're like, that mother
11:20effort needs the ball in their hands.
11:21If we're being honest, he didn't win anything until Garnett came.
11:24He did, but he was, you knew he had it in him from the early days.