Cool piece on Tatum and slam. Not sure if it's already been mentioned here or not. Representing Duke!!!
https://www.slamonline.com/the-magazine/jayson-tatum-cover-story/
https://www.slamonline.com/the-magazine/jayson-tatum-cover-story/
Slam Magazine and Tatum
- Thread starter retiredsoldier
- Start date
Grant Hill is the best NBA player to ever play for Duke. But I'd be willing to bet that Tatum surpasses him easily and is hands down the best ever. I see Tatum as a 8-10 year All-Star, future MVP, and a guy in the "best player in the game" discussion throughout his prime. He was the best player on an Eastern conference finals team, AS A 19 YEAR OLD, that doesn't happen.
Kyrie could also pass Grant, it will be close, Kyrie needs to stay healthy. But I think Tatum has a MUCH better chance.
Jayson Tatum is gonna be a great ambassador for the Duke program, and a guy who should really help our recruiting (like we need any help) for the next 15-20 years.
Kyrie could also pass Grant, it will be close, Kyrie needs to stay healthy. But I think Tatum has a MUCH better chance.
Jayson Tatum is gonna be a great ambassador for the Duke program, and a guy who should really help our recruiting (like we need any help) for the next 15-20 years.
Anyone else notice who else's name is on that cover???
Right above a guy by the name of Lebron....
Got a feeling that won't be the last time his name is on a magazine cover...
Tatum is a helluva player. I'll always remember him for this.
OFC
OFC
Tatum is a helluva player. I'll always remember him for this.
OFC
Wasn't even fair. OFC
Ehhh... pump your brakes a bit, I think. Love Jayson, but he would really have to have quite a career to beat out Grant, much less beat Grant out EASILY. Grant is a Hall of Famer who went to three national title games, was the top All Star vote getter as a rookie and ended up being an all star seven times, and averaged 22, 8, and 6.
It's a tall order for sure. I was kind of thinking the same thing. But I do believe Tatum is capable of it. Will he? Who knows, but I would definitely not say it can't happen. Bold statement, but I believe possible
Imagine grant with zero injuries
Yeah, I agree. Better than Grant? Possibly. Easily better than Grant? Not likely, IMO.
While we're on the subject, I think Ingram might be in the best-former-Duke-player-in-the-NBA discussion pretty darn soon.
Agree with you on Ingram. I absolutely love his game. Brandon unfortunately was on Duke's least talented team since 15.
Of the one a done kids since 2011, Brandon and Tyus are my 2 favorites.
Don’t know I would say Tatum will be hands down best ever, just because all these recruiting classes are ridiculous and there several potential superstars to come. But otherwise, I think you are spot on. I would say he will be better than any other Dukie to come before him.
Grant Hill remains my favorite player all time. But Tatum will be better. For sure.
Tatum and Grant have played in the same amount of conference finals. 1.
But everyone is right, I shouldn’t have used the word easily. I get it..I’m here for the hot takes though. Of course Tatum still has a long way to go, he could very well be an all-star this year though while Grant would be a sophomore in college.
Let it be known too I love Grant Hill, he’s a big reason I’m a Duke fan today, fell in love with his game in 92. Grant is top 10 all time if he stays healthy, easy. Still think Tatum surpasses him though and is a top 25ish player ever.
Next year I’ll be talking about RJ passing Tatum as the greatest pro Dukie ever.
But everyone is right, I shouldn’t have used the word easily. I get it..I’m here for the hot takes though. Of course Tatum still has a long way to go, he could very well be an all-star this year though while Grant would be a sophomore in college.
Let it be known too I love Grant Hill, he’s a big reason I’m a Duke fan today, fell in love with his game in 92. Grant is top 10 all time if he stays healthy, easy. Still think Tatum surpasses him though and is a top 25ish player ever.
Next year I’ll be talking about RJ passing Tatum as the greatest pro Dukie ever.
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If he avoids injuries, Jayson is going to be a superstar. I won’t argue with that. Hard to make the comparison to Grant, though. That said, it’s not totally unreasonable. Jayson, like Grant was, is one of those other-worldly talents.
Kyrie is going to be 27. His prime is now upon us for the next four or five years. For him, it’s always about the injuries. He needs to stay healthy. Seven years in the NBA and he’s played less than 60 games four times, and never more than 75. No one needs to be reminded that he was injured at Duke, too.
Ingram is going to be very good in the NBA for a long time. I’m not sure I see Tatum-like potential, but he will likely make All-Star teams.
Kyrie is going to be 27. His prime is now upon us for the next four or five years. For him, it’s always about the injuries. He needs to stay healthy. Seven years in the NBA and he’s played less than 60 games four times, and never more than 75. No one needs to be reminded that he was injured at Duke, too.
Ingram is going to be very good in the NBA for a long time. I’m not sure I see Tatum-like potential, but he will likely make All-Star teams.
I like Tatum but I think people might be too high on him right now.
So many young players fall into impossible situations as rookies. Stephens is the biggest coaching name in all of basketball right now and is specifically known for getting the best out of players.
This year Tatum will see less time and his percentages will likely drop. That doesn’t mean he will be worse but he will be much less of a media darling.
Tatum is going to have a great career...but comparing his future to Grant on one year may be a little aggressive.
So many young players fall into impossible situations as rookies. Stephens is the biggest coaching name in all of basketball right now and is specifically known for getting the best out of players.
This year Tatum will see less time and his percentages will likely drop. That doesn’t mean he will be worse but he will be much less of a media darling.
Tatum is going to have a great career...but comparing his future to Grant on one year may be a little aggressive.
I agree he will be a "great ambassador" for the program, but NO ONE IMO can top Grant or Shane Battier in that department.
OFC
Eh. Of course Grant and Shane are excellent, they are 2 of the 3 best Duke players of all time. But breaking news, 18 year old superstar recruits don’t care about guys who were college superstars 20+ years ago. It’s just the way the basketball world works these days.
They definitely would be looking up to a guy in the “best player in the game currently” conversation though.
I don’t know if that means Tatum is our top “ambassador” or not (I only said he would be a GREAT ambassador, never said the top guy), but regardless...I think you get what I mean.
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I agree they are looking up to the "latest and greatest," but dont discount the memories the kids PARENTS have of the Grant and Shane types. I think "you get what I mean."
OFC
Still funny to me how much criticism Tatum got from DI members during his first month or two of college basketball... "We're more effective without him." Please. Kid was killing it in February and March.
"He should pack his bags and be on the next flight home to St. Louis."
Yeah he was.
And that team's seeding in the NCAA Tournament STILL pisses me off when I think about it. We got so freaking screwed.
I'll NEVER get over the fact that we got a 2 seed and had to play the 7 seed in their backyard.
Stupid NC laws.
Nova, the 1 seed in our bracket, lost that day too. We had a walk to the final-four. We would have played Florida in the Elite 8. The same Florida team that we easily beat in December in Tatum's 1st game back when he had zero legs under him.
Agreed. But on top of that, I still think we deserved the #1 seed over Carolina. The only thing in their favor was that they had one fewer losses overall. We beat them 2 out of 3, won the ACC Tournament, had a much tougher conference slate that year... I can't even remember all the metrics in our favor.
I don't think I've ever been angrier at a selection committee than that day. And the sad part is that's usually the biggest weakness of every committee. Every year at least a couple of teams are horribly mis-seeded.
We might be talking at cross purposes. If you want to talk about who is a better player, in a vacuum, that is one thing. Grant Hill by a mile. If you want to talk about having a better career, it gets dicey. Hill won more individual awards than I feel Tatum will win. But Tatum might play a very high profile role in achieving far more NBA team success than Hill did.
I saw a post on Facebook earlier today from one of those sports sites/pages (can’t remember the name) where they ranked the 25 most overrated players in the NBA and the writer clearly doesn’t know anything whatsoever about the NBA or basketball in general because they actually had Tatum on the list.
One other reason why we deserved a #1 seed: 15-3 in ACC play when we played with our full 7-man rotation (Grayson & Amile both missed two games). Include the Kansas game as well, which we almost won, and we see that 5 of our 8 regular season losses weren't even at full strength. I doubt the committee even considered that... Also, we led the country with 13 top 50 RPI wins. Come on, now!