What’s the stat that says Tatum is a better shooter than Luka or SGA? Both of them score more with better percentages and higher usage than Tatum.

lol at Kawhi being a “low hold time” guy. Have you ever seen him play? He’s a dominant one on one scorer, but when he gets the ball it’s stopping with him way more often than not.

... and then Jordan traded him for Stackhouse

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Yes and Jordan always had a bad eye for talent, which is why he drafted Adam Morrison or Kwame, and always praised Pippen's play..

It's the way Tatum is scoring, such as catching the ball at the elbow and squaring up against the defender from the triple-threat position (pre-dribble, stationary position) - and then popping a jumper without having to dribble.. Or catching the ball on the baseline in a post-up situation, and then spinning quickly for a dunk..

You don't see "down-hill" skillsets like SGA or Luka score this way - they usually have an extended live dribble before scoring, which hinders the capacity for ball movement, chemistry, and ultimately, great-performing casts, aka great teams.

And don't get me wrong - I like Luka a lot - he has the mamba mentality (takes it seriously - truly loves the game and the competition aspect in particular).

Looks like I didn't need to see much Ant to know that he was vastly inferior to Jordan - too short - too limited - he averaged 18.7 on 29.8% for the last 3 games..

These are in critical, series-deciding games.. If only Ant was averaging 5 more PPG and 8 more percentage points in efficiency like Jordan's worst 3 games of his career (garbage time of the 96' Finals after he cinched the series with an all-time Game 3).

And if only Ant had viable stamina - I could tell from barely watching him that he didn't take everything as seriously as Kobe or MJ did... that was another tell of his vast inferiority.. Everything was funny or a joke.

And the gifs of MJ show specifically the types of shots that Ant cannot make, such as the shot over Ehlo that Ant could've used last night instead of turning it over.. Ant isn't very good at pulling up on a dime off a hard dribble in part because his drives aren't polished - baby steps that can't get to the rim off one dribble and weak shot diversity in the paint area as a whole.

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The polish, sophistication, grace and length required to do this in the halfcourt - 1-dribble;

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Another fugazi:






The real deal;

Ant last 3 games at age 22:

18.7/8/7 on 30/31/93 splits (2 TO/gm), 19 FGA, avg game score 14.5

Team record 1-2

MJ last 3 games 96 Finals:

23.7/5.3/3.3 on 36/11/87 splits (3.7 TO), 20 fga, avg game score 13.3

Team record 1-2

The truth hurts.

As fallguy attested to: Jordan wouldn't be able to see it

Can someone please just make some gifs of Jordan bricking open looks or something please

MJ's first three games against the Knicks in 93 were pretty bad.

Fortunately had his ass saved in Game 3.

When I point out how Ant averaged 18.7 on 30% and you respond with a stretch where MJ averaged 10 more points on better efficiency, this means you lost the argument.

The same goes for anyone pointing to Jordan averaging 5 more points on better efficiency in garbage time - the last 3 games of the 96' Finals - a series that he already clinched by averaging 31 on 46% to get a 3-0 lead.. His performance in Game 3 is underrated - the most important game of the series and MJ made sure to end it.

Curry won 3 chips in 4 years, or Duncan won 3 in 5, or Kobe and MJ 3-peated, while Lebron never had a stretch where he mostly won with a cast and mostly lost with every cast.. 21 years proved that he mostly loses, regardless of cast.

So when you guys brag that Lebron won with 3 different types of co-stars, you're misguided because he underachieved with 3 different types of co-stars by never having a stretch of mostly winning with any cast, while also losing with favored talent such as preseason favorites, homecourt advantage or 2 all-star teammates... Lebron was literally destroyed with each co-star, such as record loss or sweep loss.

So when did winning once and then getting demolished every other year or being a perennial underdog and loser with favored talent (preseason favorites) a goat-caliber level and something to brag about?.. Again, 21 years confirms that Lebron mostly loses (loses most years), regardless of cast.

Still doesn't mean that he wasn't bad.

fyi

1) Lebron needed teammates that made the Finals without him (Wade, Kyrie), or he needed to be 2nd option to AD (AD led Lakers in scoring for 2020 RS & PO)

2) Lebron never won a title as 1st option without 2 perennial all-stars as teammates and also sidekicks that made the Finals without him.,

3) Lebron underachieved expectation with every co-star that he teamed up with, such as going 1/5 with AD, or 1/4 with Love or Wade (except the Allen miracle) - this is underachievement with every cast that he ever had (mostly losing with every cast)

MJ faced the greatest defensive attention, yet the worst performance that you could find was still 10 points more than the person he's being compared to...

this demonstrates his goatness.. everyone wet the bed except him.. he wasn't capable of playing "badly" by the standard that everyone else had.. Jordan's worst play wouldn't be considered "bad" if it were someone else - if Ant was averaging 28 on 33%, no one would be saying he's playing "badly" given that many people are defending his 19 on 30%.. They especially wouldn't be knocking Ant if he had zero help like MJ had - MJ didn't have a 4x DPOY or a sidekick that made All-NBA on his own (unlike Pippen, KAT made several All-NBA without winning titles first), nor did MJ have additional studs like McDaniels or Conley and others.

Luka is so clearly the best player in the NBA right now. The points he creates for teammates with secondary setup passes are ridiculous.

Luka will lose in the Finals and therefore have low team ceilings because he's just a ball-dominator - his brand of ball is "down-hill", which isn't 5-man basketball and cannot develop the great chemistry needed for great-performing casts, aka great teams.

So he will have a weak Finals record beginning this season when he loses to expert jumpshooter Tatum..

Tatum's skillset allows the ball to move, so if I'm starting a team, I would take Tatum all day long because his game has the stable chemistry to develop over time.. He didn't need a bunch of upheavals like Luka had with Porzingas, Brunson and now Kyrie..

Ball-dominators like Luka and Lebron impose spot-up roles, thereby needing ready-made stars to win (can't win organically).

If there's anything Tatum does better on offense than Luka then it's most definitely not jumpshooting - Luka has a better FG% from every distance than Tatum does on a significantly higher number of attempts overall. Luka is the better jumpshooter by pretty much any metric you could come up with.

Can Luka live off a double pin down?

I rest my case

Luka is a ball-dominator, which isn't an expert jumpshooter..

In addition to coming off screens, Tatum routinely catches the ball at the elbow and squares up against his man from the triple-threat - then he just pops a jumper without even dribbling... These things are expert jumpshooting that allow the ball to move.

Ball-dominant jumpshooting isn't expert jumpshooting and yields weaker chemistry - we'll see it first hand in this year's Finals when the Celtics with 3 straight games to close out the Mavs (they will figure out Luka-ball just like opponents figured out Bron-ball and won the last 3 games of basically every series that he lost)

Ok I stand corrected, if you decide to define jump shooting in a way that doesn't mean how good they are at taking jump shots then I guess you can come up with a way in which Tatum could be a better jump shooter.

And to be clear, Tatum doesn't even take many catch-and-shoot shots. He averages 2.5 a game to Luka's 2.0, and 2.2 of them are from 3 so the idea that he's taking lots of elbow jumpers without dribbling is, as so often, complete nonsense.

I sympathize with your point, but it shouldn't be omitted that LeBron overachieved in both runs with the Cavs.

Nothing against Luka. He's one of the best players to watch, if not the most fun, but I don't see how you can place him over Jokic yet.

What are your thoughts of the Mavs always outplaying their seeding?

You know, if Celtics beat the Mavs it will be most likely because Celtics have more of the better players than the Mavs. Not because Tatum > Luka.