I LOVE That Jayson Tatum Was Very Clearly Snubbed For Player Of The Month Right Before The Playoffs Begin
Brian Babineau. Getty Images.2021-22 has been a season in which we've seen some pretty great internal growth from some players on this roster. Tatum and Jaylen have elevated their games, Smart has embraced his new role and shown real consistent growth in terms of his shot selection and decision making, Ime grew as he got more experience, the list goes on and on.
This is also true of a certain blogger.
You see, a younger me would have seen that tweet above and been absolutely bullshit. So mad online it would make your head spin. Not because of any amount of homerism I may and may not have, but mostly because of simple logic. Below you will see who the Player of the Week awards were from 3/1 until the end of the season
Right off the bat, you can see my confusion. How does someone who won (3) Player of The Week nods not end up being the Player of The Month? Not only that, how does he lose out to someone who won zero (0) Player Of The Weeks? Where is the logic behind that. Then you look at the individual production of each between Tatum and Giannis and it gets a little more confusing
Giannis: 31.5/12.3/5.0/1.3/1.2 on 57/26% with 2.6 3PA and a +4.5
Tatum: 31.0/6.9/5.2/1.0/0.5 on 52/43% with 9.0 3PA and a +15.8
Call me crazy, but this does not tell me Giannis was better. Sure his FG% was way higher, but he doesn't really take jumpers. Tatum shot over 43% from 3 on 9 attempts a game. That is insane. Then you might be thinking well what about team success for each
MIL: 13-3 in games Giannis played (14-6 overall)
BOS: 15-2 in games Tatum played (15-4 overall)
So like I said, Tatum was unquestionably snubbed. Here's where my internal growth comes into play. In a twist of events, I'm not angry over this snubbing. In fact, I LOVE IT. You know what people immediately forget? Who won player of the Months. Quick, tell me who won it in the month of January. You can't (Embiid/Jokic). But you know what people do remember? Historic playoff runs. Would I prefer Tatum win a March/April Player of the Month or be so pissed off about it that he goes on an absolute tear in the postseason and puts the team on his back for a deep run? That's not even a question.
We know Tatum cares about stuff like this, he's human. That's why I am not putting it past Brad for making a few calls and making this happen. He knows something like this will probably piss Tatum off and increase our chances of seeing him take his game to an even more ridiculous level. This might especially be needed if the Celts end up playing the Nets in Round 1. To me, it all feels connected in some way
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If that matchup happens, Tatum is going to need to match KD blow for blow offensively which is a beyond insane ask. Anything you can do to increase the chances of that happening is fine by me. If that means not giving him a Player Of The Month award that very clearly he deserved, so be it. We're past getting worked up about that stuff, it's time to think about what truly matters at this point in the NBA calendar.
For my money, this was one of the best things to happen to Tatum and this team as we all prepare for the postseason. Even despite everything they did on the floor both in terms of dominant production and a dominant record, they still aren't getting their proper respect. Everyone thinks they are screwed against the Nets and don't stand a chance. I love it.
Inject that shit right into my goddamn veins and get me to Sunday already.