Jayson Tatum: The Perfect Wing Player For Today's Game of Basketball (Full Breakdown)

Jayson Tatum continues to make major jumps as a player every year, and he's established himself as the centerpiece on a team that can make a run for a title, breaking down his game. He truly is the ideal wing player in today's game of basketball and somebody that younger players can learn a lot from by watching. Let's get into it. What makes Jason Tatum such a tough player to guard is the fact that he needs a very little amount of space to get his shot off. And not only can he create a shot with very little room whenever he wants, but he also hits those shots at a high percentage and he's able to still be efficient despite shooting shots like this. One of his go to moves to create a little bit of separation is this little sidestep dribble. He loves to utilize this sidestep coming off of a ball screen and he's going to wait to feel out his defender. As soon as he knows that defender is on him and it's slow down their momentum, he's going to use that little sidestep to create separation and that shot's going to be off before that defender can even get a good contest. He also likes to go to this in post up situations where he's going to catch the ball usually face up and then go right into that side step to create just a little bit of space that he needs in order to get his shot off. He's incredibly versatile and can do this going either way. If he ends up going to his right, then he's going to turn, he's going to face up and then give that one dribble to his right side, take that step. He can also do this going to the left side, using more of a traditional step back instead. This is a more comfortable shot and it's especially effective when going against a smaller defender. He's also comfortable shooting this shot behind the arc as well, and the fact that he's a 40% three point shooter presents major problems to defenses trying to stop him. The defense has to do two things to take the shot away. They have to have their hands up and they need to be in his space. Feible does neither in this clip, so you know the shot's going up. Al Horford does manage to get a hand up right here, but because he knows that Tatum can blow by him, he has to keep his distance. And because he's not crowding Tatum's space, that shot's also going up. His ability to beat guys off the dribble also sets up this between the leg Step back very, very well for him. His defender has their hands down and meaning that he's going to shoot that three point shot. And Tatum's shot is so quick that by the time Olenek is able to contest it, the shot's already being released. Tatum also has the ability to go to a controlled fadeaway when he needs to get his shot off in the mid range. He was much more inclined to do this back when he was a younger player, but he definitely will still go to this, especially out of post up situations. The reason Jayson Tatum is such a valuable wing in today's NBA all starts with his ability to shoot the basketball from three. Shooting is the most important skill in basketball, especially that combined with his 68 height and athleticism. But in order to be an elite wing scorer in the NBA, you have to be able to hit threes off the dribble as well. And Jayson Tatum absolutely has that ability. This look right here is a great example of that. He gets the dribble handoff and then comes off of the ball screen and hits the wide open three. But when we take a closer look at it, we see the problems that it really causes for the defense when he comes off of that ball screen. Joel Embiid has two options. Either he's going to step up and take away that three point shot, or he's going to stay where he is to make sure that he doesn't get beat on the roll and force Tatum to shoot that shot. Embiid decides to go with option one and forces Tatum to make a tough shot. With a defender trailing behind him trying to alter his shot, the Celtics decide to clear out the strong side of.

The floor right here, leaving just Tatum in the ball screen. And they trust that despite the fact that he has limited options coming off of the screen, he can going to be able to make a play and get a bucket. The ability to consistently hit shots like this is very, very difficult and part of why he's elite. But he's far from just a shooter. He also is elite at taking people off the dribble.

There's a few things to notice about this clip right here. First, we have to see the fact that his defender has to play up and crowd his space in order to take away that shot. We can also see how low he gets this drive in order to get himself to a position where his defender can't move with him and his defender gets away with a foul right here as well. Being a shooting threat forces the defender to have to play up on him which opens up the drive.

Now, we've already looked at one example of him creating contact with that defender off a ball screen and there are multiple looks he can get out of this. He's very, very good at being patient, creating contact with his defender and then waiting to see what play is created by the roll man. This is an extremely high IQ play. He comes off of the screen and slows down to catch his defender at his back to really evaluate what his options are. He sees his roll man starting to seal in that low defender. Then he explodes forward and finishes.

This clip right here really illustrates Jason Tatum's patience when coming off the screen. He starts off by locating Anunobi coming off of the screen to slow him down. As soon as he gets to the middle of the paint and slows him down with Tice right behind him. He uses a brief hesitation to get Anunobi off of him. Then he attacks Marc Gasol and hits a tough shot. We can see another example here of how playing at this slow pace coming off of these screens really helps Tatum to maximize his strengths. He comes off the screen, attracts the attention of both defenders. They recognize the Rollman is coming and and as soon as he starts to retreat, Tatum goes right into this little mini step back for an easy mid range jump shot and we can take a look in this clip how dangerous as all this can be with Tatum using a ball screen coming from a guard or a wing player. Langford's going to come and set this ball screen. Tatum's going to come off the screen again. He's going to slow down his pace. He's going to draw on both defenders and instead of the roll this time, Lankford is going to stay up behind the three point line for the catch and shoot on the pop. Very, very tough to stop. We can take another look right here at Jayson Tatum's shooting ability and his ability to play with pace, creating a wide open layup opportunity for him. So he's going to come off of the screen and that hedge defender Baka is going to step up. Jason Tatum is going to hit him with a brief hesitation right here. He's going to look up at the rim. That's going to cause Ibaka to raise up and actually leave his feet, which makes him very, very beatable. Tatum gets to the rim for that easy reverse finish. In the last part of his game we'll touch on briefly is his ability to finish with touch around the rim. At his size, he has incredible touch using floaters around the rim in different situations, and his ability to hit floaters means that he's able to score from all four levels at the rim, close range with floaters, mid range, and from three. If you guys enjoyed this video, make sure you drop a like and subscribe. Make sure you guys all go to the top link in my description right now to get my free elite perimeter score workout. We're gonna work on a bunch of skills that you need to become an elite scorer in the perimeter, so go ahead and check that out. I'll send it to you completely for free. The link for my online training is also in the description below, so make sure you check that out. Drop a comment below. Let me know what you want to see next. That's it guys. Peace.