Bill Simmons weighed in on the Jayson Tatum situation on his podcast. He noted that Jayson Tatum is a player who always puts in effort on a nightly basis. When it comes to him being considered in the upper echelon of NBA players, Simmons doesn’t think Tatum will ever get there, comparing him to Celtics legend John Havlicek, who played his role very well but was never a superstar-caliber player or MVP contender.
“The NBA is about playing hard every night. I think that is a skill that Tatum, where if he is taking off a quarter in Charlotte, you really notice it, because of the level of intensity he has… He should get more credit for that. I don’t know if there’s an extra half-step for him. Maybe we will find out in the playoffs…”
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be as easy… I don’t know if Tatum is ever going to be at that level. To me, he’s more like a Havlicek type. He’s the Swiss Army knife that does all these different things for your team. He’s never the best scorer in the league, he’s never the best assist guy, but he’s just additive. And I think that’s the level that he’s gotten to.”
This is a fairly harsh assessment of Jayson Tatum’s ability. While comparing him to John Havlicheck is by no means an attempt to insult him, given Simmons’ massive Celtics fandom, it is a significant undermining of Tatum’s abilities and accomplishments throughout his career.
Jayson Tatum is an NBA champion and has earned six All-Star and four All-NBA selections in his career, including three All-NBA first-team selections. He is one of the 10 best players in the NBA but has never really taken the step to enter the coveted top 5 in the league.
As for John Havlicek, he was an eight-time NBA champion, a Finals MVP, earned 13 All-Star selections, 11 All-NBA selections, and 10 All-Defensive selections, but he never won an MVP award. Crucially, his big advantage over Tatum is that he won an NBA Finals MVP, which Tatum hasn’t because he lost out to his All-Star teammate Jaylen Brown.
However, while comparing him to John Havlicek might undermine his talents and skillset, Simmons might not be entirely wrong about Tatum’s career trajectory. The young forward is 27 years old and has yet to come close to winning an MVP award in his career.
In fact, Tatum hasn’t even finished in the top three during his time in the NBA, despite the Celtics being perennial contenders and always finishing near the top of the Eastern Conference.
The frustration of not having his efforts recognized with individual accolades seems to be getting to Tatum. In a recent interview, he claimed that he was underappreciated as a superstar in the NBA. He also added that he is best suited to be the next face of the league when the current superstars finally call time on their careers.
Tatum is an ambitious player, recently noting that he wants to be looked at the same way LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant are by the coming generation. Given that Tatum has yet to achieve what these mercurial superstars were able to as individuals, his goal might be very difficult to achieve.
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