From the Mamba to the softest star in the playoffs, you are not even a second-in-command with 30 million

There is no 24th in the rivers and lakes

2024-05-10 19:04Posted in Henan Sports Creators

In competitive sports, it is very normal for the old and the new to alternate, and any athlete will be gradually replaced by a new person at the end of his career due to age and injury. This season is like the league's façade of the past decade, Jankudu, among whom James and Durant were eliminated in the first round, and Curry's words failed to even make the playoffs, even if their state is not too old to play, but compared with those young superstars of the moment, Giankudu has slowly come out of the spotlight.

However, the replacement of the old and new in this year's playoffs is also a little too obvious, like the stars of the Mesozoic generation who have not completely taken over the league and seem to be overtaken by the young people behind, such as Brother Alphabet, Embiid, Jokic, and now only Jokic has not been eliminated, but in the face of the 22-year-old Timberwolves led by Edwards, they are currently on the verge of elimination.

The current most promising teams are all very young, with Edwards of the Timberwolves and Brunson of the Knicks, who are also two of the best players in the playoffs today. However, the most favored team right now is still the Celtics, who are the only team in the league in the regular season this season, and their roster has almost no shortcomings, but Tatum, as the leader of the team, has been so bad that his form has become the biggest variable on their way to winning the championship.

So far, Tatum has averaged 21.7 points, 10 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game in the playoffs, shooting 40.7% from the field and 26.8% from three-point range. Tatum's offensive state in the playoffs this year is his worst performance in the past four years, except for free throws, he has no means of stable scoring at all, especially his current offensive effect with the ball is even far less than his off-ball, but as the team's big man, he should be the most active player on the offensive end of the Celtics, and now he not only can't do a big package, he even needs players such as White and Holiday to create a simple scoring opportunity for him.

Tatum has played in seven playoff games, shooting below 40% from the field and 3 from three-point range, including 0-of-5 shooting against the Cavaliers. It can be seen that Tatum's offensive touch is quite unstable now, whether the team wins or loses, he cannot guarantee that he can contribute a stable scoring production, so the team can only rely on other players to break out in the playoffs, fortunately, White and Brown have played well in this year's playoffs, and they are also the two players with the highest points per game for the Celtics now.

Many people will defend Tatum, saying that although he has a bad hand, he has also made a lot of sacrifices in order to win, such as non-stop defense on the defensive end, protecting rebounds and other dirty work. But the team's salary cap of 163 million to Tatum is not just for him to be a blue-collar worker, the meaning of the star is that when the team is in adversity, he can step up and take over the game, and more often than not, the star has to use his containment to create better opportunities for his teammates, but in the Celtics this is completely reversed.

If Tatum can't find regular season form in the later games, the Celtics' chances of winning the championship will be greatly reduced, and it is not impossible to even fall in the Eastern Conference semifinals. On the other hand, the Green Army's opponent Cavaliers, their leader Mitchell showed what is the real star, the series G2 Mitchell scored 23 points in the second half to help the team directly cost the Green Army, and when Mitchell scored wildly, Tatum could not respond, and he only scored 9 points in the second half.

Seeing Tatum's current performance, fans are also very embarrassed, thinking that he was a player that even Kobe Bryant was very optimistic about. When Tatum participated in the draft in 2017, Kobe Bryant strongly recommended that the Lakers select him, so many fans also ridiculed that although Tatum was selected by the Green Army, he was also a Mamba heir. In the first season of entering the league, Tatum's performance was also quite amazing, the 19-year-old averaged 18.5 points per game in the playoffs, shooting 47.1% from the field.

Six years later, Tatum has not only failed to retain this advantage at that time, but he is now getting softer and softer, and he has become one of the worst performers among the young stars this year, and if it weren't for the balanced roster of the Celtics, they would certainly not be so favored. The current Tatum leads the team's No. 1 annual salary of 32.6 million, but his role is not even as good as that of Brown and White, and if it continues like this, it is a fool's dream for the Celtics to win the championship.

If the Celtics fail to win another championship this year, then they can really restructure the roster, and next season Brown should execute his 300 million contract, and Tatum is also eligible to sign a contract with the team for a similar amount. However, the strength of these two people is completely unable to bear the position of the leader of the Green Army, judging from Tatum's style of play, he likes to do dirty work so much, then the Green Army might as well get another player who is good at scoring and attacking, such as Mitchell, Durant and other stars who may appear in the trade market in the offseason.

However, it will not be easy for the Green Army to want to trade, except for Tatum, Brown is definitely their best bargaining chip, but his contract is too big, and it is likely to become a premium contract later. Holiday and Porzingis and others have contracts that are not small, and considering their strength, age and style of play, they are not particularly sought-after in the trade market, so it is still very difficult for the Celtics to trade for a deserving superstar, unless they are willing to send away White, who is now in his prime, and his annual salary does not exceed 20 million.

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