Lauri Markkanen scores at practically the identical fee as Jayson Tatum – 26.8 factors per 36 minutes vs. 29.1 (per Basketball Reference), and he does so extra effectively, sporting an absurd 64.3% true capturing as in comparison with Tatum’s 60.1% mark.
Every participant’s general impact on their respective crew’s offense has been comparable this yr. The Utah Jazz have averaged 119.3 factors per 100 non-garbage-time possessions with Markkanen on the court docket, 5.6 factors higher than when he sits (per Cleansing the Glass). The Boston Celtics have scored 120.2 factors per 100 in Tatum’s minutes, for an much more spectacular +7.5 offensive on/off break up.
Regardless of their statistical similarities, no certainly one of sound basketball thoughts can be prone to recommend that Tatum and Markkanen are the identical class of gamers. Massive Deuce is a greater defender and performs a extra central function in Boston’s offense than The Finnisher does in Utah’s. He’s able to creating off the bounce in ways in which Markkanen can’t match, and he’s more and more able to leveraging the eye he attracts to create offense for his teammates.
Tatum has posted a 20.7% help share this yr, greater than double Markkanen’s 8.5% fee, per Cleansing the Glass. That distinction in facilitation potential might be sufficient to beat Tatum’s deficiency in comparative particular person scoring effectivity, however he’d nonetheless stand a reduce above Markkanen even when the margin was nearer.
If establishing an NBA roster is like constructing a home, then Markannen is a very nice toolbox. Tatum is a carpenter, and a superb one.
There are many theoretical carpenters within the NBA, however having the ability set to operate as an offensive focus doesn’t robotically imply you may have extra worth than gamers with out that potential. Having an awesome toolbox could also be preferable to using a low-tier carpenter.
Markannen is, for instance, a extra worthwhile participant for a contender than DeMar DeRozan, one other carpenter in our house-building metaphor, however one who solely is aware of easy methods to construct you a pleasant sturdy duplex and never your dream house. There’s nothing incorrect with that.
The issues that DeRozan does for an offense – environment friendly isolation scoring, stable facilitation, and hard shot-making – are all extremely spectacular, and arguably tougher to drag off than Markannen’s bread and butter (spot up capturing, attacking closeouts, mashing mismatches, and ending on rolls and cuts).
The edge for being the offensive centerpiece on a title crew is simply extremely excessive. Prior to now decade that mantel has been worn by Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kawhi Leonard.
That’s the entire listing.
Whether or not or not Tatum has the flexibility to hitch such a prestigious group of champions is an open query. In the mean time, he lives in a purgatory of potential lead canines on a title crew with the likes of Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, and Luka Doncic.
Tatum advantages from the truth that he may flip himself from a carpenter into the nicest toolbox possible if wanted. Cut back his creation burden and he’d rework into a good higher model of Markannen. The entire level of a variety of his friends’ video games is to be the solar round which their groups’ offenses revolve. Tatum fills that function, however has a malleability to his sport and the defensive chops to be a high-end contributor while not having the ball to movement by way of him always.
The Celtics are hoping they gained’t have to ask him to take a backseat to anybody, and so they might not. Tatum led Boston to The Finals simply final yr, and he’s been the first engine for an offense that’s at present the fourth finest within the NBA. It’s attainable he’s an elite-level carpenter. We’ll discover out quickly sufficient.