But there's more

[DERRENMATTS]

We had one series sweep and three gentlemen's sweeps on our way to becoming champs, but honestly we did not play our best (namely Tatum).

It's scary to think that a team that went 64-18 during the regular season, and 16-3 in the playoffs, still has another gear to shift to and another level to reach.

But that's exactly what we have with this team. The Jays are only now entering their prime seasons, DWhite's game has only now blossomed (along with his confidence), and both Hauser and Pritch haven't been fully utilized yet.

And Joe is only going to get better as a coach too.

Where do you guys think we're going to be better at next season?

[CelticsLoyalist]

I think Tatum did a lot better than it seemed and we are starting to see that in real time as the dust is starting to settle from instant reactions and hot takes.

JT did just fine considering the Mavs and all the other teams have rightly long considered Tatum our best player and biggest threat. Which therefore Makes him the primary option to contain defensively (Mavs tried to lock him up with Luka lol).

All that really did was prove Jaylen is our best player. But so is Jayson. That's it. Nothing more there. No hidden story within the story that needs to be editorialized to death.

Tatum worked on his weaknesses and added new dimensions to his game. Growing every season until this very moment where he doesn't look like the JT of old scoring 30+ a contest. But instead has to find ways to help his team and know when to trust Brown to be the best player. Tatum has improved the intangible aspects of his game. Readying for this moment to get his playoffs revenge thus proving these pot-stirrers wrong. Winning a title by playing basketball the right way. Not to try to live up to some Superstar hype concerned with if yer the better Jay becuz some benchwarmers on a podcast need to get likes and clicks and views.

Unless somehow Tatum regresses next season we should expect Tatum to be an even more complete player alongside Jaylen and then all our very complimentary players supporting a repeat run. If anything Tatum picked up more skills as the finals went on and learned some things to apply next season. I am not worried at all.

[DERRENMATTS]

Jun 22, 2024 2:29:11 GMT -5 CelticsLoyalist said:

I think Tatum did a lot better than it seemed and we are starting to see that in real time as the dust is starting to settle from instant reactions and hot takes.

JT did just fine considering the Mavs and all the other teams have rightly long considered Tatum our best player and biggest threat. Which therefore Makes him the primary option to contain defensively (Mavs tried to lock him up with Luka lol).

All that really did was prove Jaylen is our best player. But so is Jayson. That's it. Nothing more there. No hidden story within the story that needs to be editorialized to death.

Tatum worked on his weaknesses and added new dimensions to his game. Growing every season until this very moment where he doesn't look like the JT of old scoring 30+ a contest. But instead has to find ways to help his team and know when to trust Brown to be the best player. Tatum has improved the intangible aspects of his game. Readying for this moment to get his playoffs revenge thus proving these pot-stirrers wrong. Winning a title by playing basketball the right way. Not to try to live up to some Superstar hype concerned with if yer the better Jay becuz some some benchwarmers on a podcast need to get likes and clicks and views.

Unless somehow Tatum regresses next season we should expect Tatum to be an even more complete player alongside Jaylen and then all our very complimentary players supporting a repeat run. If anything Tatum picked up more skills as the finals went on and learned some things to apply next season. I am not worried at all.

Tatum's jump shot was shaky throughout the postseason. But that didn't stop him from being effective in other areas (passing and driving to the basket). If anything, that may have helped him not to be so reliant on holding onto the ball too long and taking long jumpers with 5 seconds left on the clock.

And Jaylen has learned to bully his way to the basket more often. And his devotion to being a lockdown defender has been huge for us.

[jmost]

To me, the biggest change will be that we head into next season KNOWING that we can do it. We will have the confidence of champions and there is no substitute for that. I think one of the ways that translates is playing more relaxed. Not less intensely, but being more trusting in your abilities.

Tatum looked a bit gun-shy to me throughout the playoffs. I give him a ton of credit for recognizing that he was in a shooting slump and finding other ways to generate offense, but PEAK TATUM has the whole game going, the 3s, the driving, the mid-range turnaround jumpers.

Does anyone else think his 3 point shot has a lot of unnecessary motion to it? I think if he simplified his shooting stroke he'd be more consistent.

So yeah, we went through 4 rounds, went 16-3, almost all with Tatum struggling with his outside shot and the vast majority without KP at all. The rest of the league should watch out if we have both of those guys playing their best.

[DERRENMATTS]

I like that, JMost. We KNOW that we can repeat, but we have to beware of what can cause us to lose the championship and avoid those things.

[DERRENMATTS]

Though we won the chip this year, what is neat is that we're kind of in the same boat as other young teams trying to reach the top, like OKC and MIN.

Like SGA and Ant Edwards, Tatum would like to be league MVP and Jaylen would like to prove he's All-NBA worthy. I bet the Jays want to ward off these young guys trying to dethrone them.

So this team has fuel heading into next season already.

[CelticsLoyalist]

Jun 22, 2024 8:14:31 GMT -5 jmost said:

Does anyone else think his 3 point shot has a lot of unnecessary motion to it? I think if he simplified his shooting stroke he'd be more consistent.

His shot has changed subtly since he came to the leaguer as it appears to me anyway.

One of the things that you are rightly pointing out is there is some weird unnecessary movement there starting with him doing this thing where he brings the ball down around his midsection before bringing it up into a follow-through all in one motion almost like he's trying to sling it from a breadbasket catch. It's weird to me and also undoubtedly slows down his release. He has always done something like that in his shot but its gotten waaaay more pronounced and seems like he even reaches deeper down in that motion than previously.

It's like he's starting his mechanics at his waist and following through into a pretty standard release form once he gets it above his head. He could have such a quicker release that would almost be unstoppable if he corrected that one thing since he already gets his shot off at an elite level the way he's doing it. Great observation jmost!

Below is one of the best gifs i could find to show what I mean and watch how he brings the ball below the waist of his shorts and then awkwardly drags it up keeping it close to his body before slinging it through above his head in a fairly conventional release.

In coaching you teach players at a young age to catch the ball in a three point/triple threat stance. Knees bent, hands out and up ready for a catch and shoot, receive the ball at the chin, square up and then rise up, shooting arm 90 degrees, spread finger tips on the seams, guide hand to the side, then push up with the legs, follow through release with arch, flicking the wrist upon release to follow the hand though the ball and leaving your release arm in the follow through position until the ball is near the basket then pull the string.

Under no circumstances should you ever bring the ball down below your shoulders or very least chest level. The ball should always be in a shooting threat position right below the chin.

[jmost]

Wow, you know way more than I do about the correct shooting motion, CelticsLoyalist. I just knew Tatum's looks long and slow, and that the more motion involved in any athletic activity the higher the likelihood for error and inconsistency.

Even if he wanted to work on this, it probably won't happen this summer. With him playing in the Olympics he's not going to want to mess with his shot right now as it takes a while to really "groove in" a new motion. It can be done though. Remember how bad Smart's shooting motion was when he arrived? He never became a great shooter but his motion became much better.

[CelticsLoyalist]

Interesting you should bring up the idea of working on it to change it for the better. Hard thing to do and some players cant ever do it. There are two camps on fix it or leave alone and I think all agree, get it fixed early as possible and if they've reached a pro level and its successful leave it alone. Like in regards to Haliburton and his unconventional form and rotation shooting the rock. Apparently the story goes Steve Kerr told Luke Walton that if they draft Haliburton not to try to "fix" his shot.

“When I got drafted, Luke didn’t really know anything about me, and one of the stories he told me recently was that Coach Kerr had called him, cause I worked out for the Warriors. And Coach Kerr called him and was like, ‘We love that kid, don’t ever touch his jumper.’ And Luke was like, ‘Are you sure?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah yeah, don’t touch it.’ Luke just kind of let me do my thing and from there no one’s ever messed with me about it.”

In this case with Tatum, might be best to just leave it at this point. However, if there was a player I think could pull it off it would be him and any of the guys on this team cuz I think they just get it. And that's what champions do!!!!

[DERRENMATTS]

Tatum for years has been working with Drew Hanlan (who has many high profile NBA players as clients), and he's worked to fine tune Tatum's jerky shot. I don't think Tatum is going to tweak it much, but I'm sure they're going to work on something to improve his accuracy (which left him this season).