“I do believe Jayson Tatum can win an MVP, I do believe he can be the best player on a championship winning team” - NBA analyst says Jayson Tatum has top-5 potential, believes his inconsistency is holding him back
At just 24 years of age, Jayson Tatum has arguably one of the best resumés of anyone his age in NBA history. Tatum was selected to the All-Rookie first team and also has two All-NBA selections and three All-Star selections.
Tatum's career has trended upward ever since he left the Duke Blue Devils to join the Boston Celtics in 2017. He reached the Eastern Conference finals in his very first season in the NBA. An emphatic dunk on LeBron James during the series brought him some early fame.
Shannon Sharpe, on FOX Sports' "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," voiced his belief that Tatum has top-five potential. Sharpe believes Tatum could become one of the best players in the league given he manages to remain consistent, stating:
"I do believe Jayson Tatum can win an MVP. I do believe he can be the best player on a championship winning team. ... The thing I think that's holding Tatum back is consistency.
"I watched him go get 46 in an elimination game against Giannis, I watched him go get 39 on the road against Kevin Durant. He dropped 60 against your Spurs.
.@ShannonSharpe on T-Mac saying Jayson Tatum can be just as good as KD:
"KD is a Top 12 player currently and could move into the Top 10. The thing I think that's holding Tatum back is consistency. That's the next step in his career." https://t.co/zTwtja7RR2
"It's just consistency. I watch him go get 32, and then I watch him give me 12 with seven turnovers. That's the next step in the evolution and maturation process of Jayson Tatum becoming a full-fledged superstar.
"The next step is the consistency of Tatum doing what I know Jayson Tatum is capable of and he'll be right there."
Tatum averaged a career-high 26.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in the 2021-22 regular season.
Can Jayson Tatum and the Celtics win it all this season?
The Boston Celtics have made four trips to the conference finals in the last six seasons. With their admission to the 2022 NBA Finals, they made it to their first finals in over 10 years.
Although they have taken away the home-court advantage, their current state doesn't bode well for them going forward. The obvious gaps in their game can be elucidated by looking at the way they played their third-quarter. They had an average net rating of -72.15 in the third quarter through Games 1 and 2.
Jayson Tatum says, "If you win a championship, they can debate a lot of things, but they can't debate whether or not you're a champion."
Their best performances have come in the fourth-quarter, with an average net rating of +61.5 through Games 1 and 2. The pace has often been too much to keep up with. To win the series, the Celtics will have to dictate the pace and not play cat and mouse with the Warriors.