Over the course of his still relatively young NBA career, we have seen a strong trend throughout almost every season superstar forward Jayson Tatum has played for the Boston Celtics: he starts off slow, and elevates his game to ever-higher levels by the end of the campaign.
And so far, at the start of his 2022-23 campaign with Boston, the St. Louis native is already white-hot out of the gate; is this the season that trend ends, or will he be an absolute behemoth of a player by season’s end? If you believe the proposition put forward by Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley that Tatum winning not just the 2023 Kia Most Valuable Player award, but that the Duke alum will also win the scoring title, you clearly are buying the latter.
But is this notion a hot take? Let’s look at the B/R analyst’s argument.
Could the former Sixers center be a potential option for Boston if their current depth bigs don’t work out? https://t.co/ObOEeLOW2c
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 31, 2022
“Could it be that Tatum stans are actually setting the bar too low at just MVP?” asks Buckley, pointing to Tatum’s absurdly sizzling start compared to past seasons’ slow going early.
“(It) looks like he’s leveling up—as someone who’s already played in three consecutive All-Star Games and started the last two. It’s possible (in some cases, probable) this production slows down at some point, although as a 24-year-old he should be still ascending toward his prime, so who knows?”
“What we do know is if he keeps this up, he’ll factor prominently in both the scoring and MVP races,” closes the author.
Tatum spoke on Coach K’s recruitment trip to his home in Missouri and a couple of times where the now-retired Hall of Fame head coach pushed some choice buttons to motivate the Celtics star. https://t.co/1Cg68X5G56
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 31, 2022
We’d like to say this is a reasonable take, but it’s quite a lot to put on his shoulders just yet. All signs point to the scoring title being in range, and the narrative is certainly there for those who believe it matters.
But doing one does not guarantee the other, and despite our inclination to see progress as linear, it isn’t. We won’t say it’s a sizzling hot take, but it’s the sort that will remind you of bare feet on a white sand beach on the sunniest of summer days.
We have to admit, they are solid comps. https://t.co/xk2okUDewu
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) November 1, 2022
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