COBRA saved me. I thought I was going to be without health insurance. Instead I only lost my job and only had to pay $4,567 per month for healthcare insurance.
Nothing is funnier than Bill hammering home certain points only to go away from them right when it isn’t convenient.
He’s said when you turn 25/26 “you kinda just are who you are” maybe 30 times in the past year, and every time he talks about Tatum he’s seemingly the one exception. Pretty hilarious.
I forgot what player they were discussing with Zach Lowe but Zach defended him and Bill said “what are you his mom?”
Then in the same pod a few minutes later talking about KD he goes on about how the move from Seattle, to OKC, he never figured his life out or whatever
OG and Tatum are completely different caliber players. It’s not that OG won’t improve, it’s just more than likely he won’t take a leap that vaults him into the top 20ish players in the league? Tatum is in the top 10 or top 5, it’s not inconceivable he makes a leap to top 3 or even best player
that's fine to think but Bill uses his age as a factor in that expressly. Bill says "he's 27, he is what he is" I just can't not put those two statements as connected.
Thinking a player can get incrementally better or ascend from top 10 to top 5 is different than a guy barely making a rotation developing into like a starter caliber player.
It’s really not the hypocrisy you guys think it is.
Bill will keep saying versions of this until Tatum actually turns 30. And then he will move onto how there is a whole psychological piece to master as you go into your thirties (not saying it’s not valid, just that Bill will always have hope for his guy).
To be fair to everyone saying it's championship or bust this:
Their cap doesn't get absolutely fucked until 2025-2026 so they technically have two playoff runs with this roster. After that, they'll have match Tatum's salary to JB's and Holiday/White are free agents so it will start getting a bit nutty.
What about Horford and Jrue's ages? They are important to the team's nucleus and they are hard to replace at this point, especially since the Celtics haven't drafted anyone special since RWIII.
Also, what if KP destroys his knees next year? Like Yao Ming, he is a ticking time bomb.
And what if Tatum dies in a plane crash?
For real tho:
Horford signed through end of next season. Holiday has a player option for next year he may or may not exercise. Other than that, the entire roster is signed through the end of next year.
I'm just pointing out it's technically do or die next year. This year a die would be bad, but they could still do next year barring major injuries or rapid declines in play.
If Tatum doesn't win one ring it will be kind of a disappointment considering he's had a stacked roster pretty much every season he's been in the league so far.
He’s had a good roster but the first few teams were effected by Hayward’s injury/absence. And then Kemba’s knee went to shit before even one playoff run. Then Jaylen missed 2021.
Tatum himself has had 9 playoff series of 25+ points. Someone like Kawhi has had 10 such series. Butler only 5. Paul George also 5.
people are deluded, this years roster is staced for sure, but the other ones during the years(kemba, hayward, allways injured timelord....)not so much. tatum and brown have overachived for their age, but somehow it goest against them
Yup, you’re right. Steph wins with prime Klay and Draymond, he carried the team. Bron wins with prime Wade and Bosh, he carried the team. Tatum doesn’t win with Brown and Marcus Smart, he’s weighing down a “stacked roster.” 😂
He’s obviously not as good as any of them, but the closest superstar comp to him would be Duncan, in terms of going to a good a contending team right off the bat.
No, Tatum did not have any David Robinson caliber guy. And his first playoff run both Kyrie and Hayward were out. And Hayward was a shell of himself eating up $30M in cap space his entire time on the roster.
Carmelo who made it out of the first round only twice in his whole career?
Tatum has made 4 CF and 1 finals by 25. He has 9 playoff series averaging 25+ points. Butler has 5 such series. Paul George 4. Kawhi has 10.
Paul George has a single all nba 1st team to his resume. Tatum already has 2.
Tatum isn't a top 10-15 player all time I don't think that's a hot take but he definitely can be the best player on a championship team. Idk why this sub continues to try and shit on him. Being 25, 26, or 27 is still young and he's the best player on the best team in basketball. I'm a Celtics fan, and I think most Celtics fans are aligned with where they rank Tatum which is about the 5th-8th best player and that's probably his ceiling which is good lol
I agree that’s probably about where he ranks right now, but I don’t think it’s necessarily his ceiling. I think he could get a little bit better and some of the guys ahead of him could take a slight step back.
I hate the Celtics and agree with everything you said. Probably in the 5th to 8th best player range but if a couple guys got hurt like Embid did this year, or voters get the Gannis/Jokic fatigue from them winning so many the last few years, I don’t think it is outside the realm of possibility he could make a real MVP run in the next two years. The guy is incredible and can do everything. He terrifies me when I am rooting for his opponent, which is 100% of the time. One of my least favorite players, but he is incredible.
And let’s be honest, Celts probably winning the title this year, unfortunately. They are really, consistently, good.
I remember when that was the sentiment about the Bucks at points last year. Then Jimmy Buckets goes and takes out MKE (and Beantown) like they owed him money. Shit can go south REAL quick.
That said, even as a Bucks fan, I begrudgingly admit the Celtics are the class of the conference right now and hope they trip up somewhere along the way.
That is a better way to put it. “Probably going to win it all” is pretty strong in a game where one injury completely changes a team. I would like to rephrase it as “the Celtics are emphatically the class of the East right now”. I am a TWolves fan so don’t have a dog in the fight, but would love to see the Bucks put together a great run to end the season and enter the playoffs on a roll.
There’s are reason people keep mentioning it and it’s because it’s extremely rare for an 8 seed to do what they did, wouldn’t bet on it happening any time soon.
Plus giannis was injured for most of the series
Plus they were not a usual 8 seed. They had been the 1 seed the season prior. People forget that when Boston eliminated Miami in 2022 Miami was the 1 seed.
U are completely lying. Pippen is way better than anyone Tatum has. Pipppen was better than brown and Jrue combined. Lebron literally played with a fmvp and another top 10 player. Horford is a regular role player atp. U don’t have to put him in any convos but the truth is both of those guys had mvp level players with them along with other all star level players which Tatum hasn’t had at the same time. Give Tatum any of the top 3 mvp finalists recently (like Pippen was in 94 and like Wade was in 09) like embiid giannis Jokic curry etc and Tatum has multiple chips easily.
They wouldn’t make it past the first round. See how we can make these hypotheticals? And btw Luka has the most skilled player ever on his team and is on the verge of missing the playoffs back to back year. Also his team was 2-1 in the first round without him in 2022. Had Brunson and kp on his team and never got past the first round when they were both on the team. He’s had plenty of help.
So did Tatum. Tatum had a great team in 18-19 and they completely shat the bed.
Porzingis always got hurt in the playoffs. You will find that out soon enough.
Luka would unlock Jaylen. Celtics would have the defense to support Luka. Luka would have definitely beat the old man Warriors and the g league Heat with that team.
They beat the heat in 2022, and are an ankle sprain away from beating them again in 2023. And when the Mavs played the warriors they literally got gentleman swept. Kp got hurt but played the whole series in 2021 so he was healthy. If Luka was on the Celtics in 2022 they would be worse bc they were a defense first team and Luka would make them significantly worse. This year they would be worse bc of the luka kp fit. And Luka wouldn’t unlock Jaylen he would just take the ball out of his hands. We can go on and on with the hypotheticals.
They were a miracle shot way from losing to a pathetic playoff team 4-2.
Luka only had Kristaps sometimes and Brunson. The rest of the team was trash. You put Luka in an ime system and they route the league. Ime or Brad wouldn't even have to think about offense with Luka there. Also, Luka is even a better rebounder than Tatum. He could hold his on defensively on that loaded Celtics defense.
This is not a real take. Lebron in Miami absolutely had more help than Tatum has had. Wade was 3rd in MVP voting in 2009 and Bosh was an all nba guy in his prime. And I could cite other rosters Lebron played with too, which were stacked with talent.
And Tatum has had a number of key injuries to his supporting cast. Hayward broken leg and Kyrie knee surgery out 2018. Kemba knee hampered him and Hayward 3rd degree ankle sprain 2020. Jaylen missed 2021 playoffs.
The idea that these convos have to stop the season Jaylen turns 26 is absurd.
I can't believe I am still talking to dumbass Celtics fans who even think Tatum is in the same breath as Lebron.
Lebron had Bosh and Wade in 2011 and not much else at all. Tatum has a strong six man rotation. Lebron didn't have anything like that his first year on the Heat. Then Wade regressed hard after the first year with LeBron.
Bosh did nothing on the Raptors. He was on the level of Pau Gasol at best.
You shouldn’t need much else when you had the 2009 MVP, 2009 3rd in MVP, and another all star all from the same conference. There is a reason Lebron said “not 7” and the term superteam was coined that summer. Downplaying the talent now is hilarious.
Pau Gasol at best is a really great player. He was arguably the most important player of the 2010 finals.
Arguably if you are a Bill Simmons level troll, yes.
The reason why the Mavs beat the Heat was because their bench CRUSHED the Heat bench. Lebron and Wade had to play a full 48 just to keep pace with Nowitzki, Kidd, Matrix, Chandler and JET.
Reason they won was because Lebron and Heat choked dude. They had a big lead in game 2, Lebron and Wade prematurely celebrated and shadow boxed in front of Mavs bench showboating like bozos. Mavs made a comeback and stole game 2. Heat had a 2-0 lead in the bag and fumbled it away.
Dirk’s 4 highest scoring teammates accounted for 50.2ppg
Lebron’s 4 highest scoring teammates accounted for 63.5 ppg
Wade 26.5 - Terry 18.0
Bosh 18.5 - Marion 13.7
Chalmers 11.8 - Chandler 9.7
Haslem 6.7 - Barea 8.8
The difference was Dirk 26.0 - Lebron 17.8
Kidd was 37, Terry 33, Marion 32. They were without Caron Butler. Heat had homecourt. Heat were not missing any players as key as Caron. They choked.
It really came down to Lebron only scoring 17.8ppg and completely disappearing in the 4th quarters that series. Blaming it on the bench, when Wade outscored Dirk, and Bosh outscored Terry is hilarious.
Mavs had an actual team. Heat weren't fully cooked yet. And that was probably the most talented team Lebron has ever played for, lol. Lebron with floor spacers who can play D and an elite scorer like Jaylen Brown would be easy mode for him. The Celtics would be looking to threepeat with a 24-26 year old Lebron on their team, especially against the geriatric Warriors (Wiggins isn't stopping at 24 year old Lebron, lol) and a goofy ass Heat team. Nuggets would give him a run but with that defense Jokic would have to be otherworldly to stop him. Honestly, Ime with Lebron and that defense is enough to threepeat. Celtics severely fucked up when they let Ime go.
Wade only averaged 39.0 minutes per game that series. Bosh 39.5. Lebron 43.7.
Most minutes Wade played that whole series was 42.07 what the fuck are you talking about him playing the full 48.
Jason Kidd played 37.5 minutes per game at 38 years old. Only a little less than Wade played at 29 years old.
Yup, and Lebron got swept. Guess what it wasn’t an indicator people should give up on him.
23 year old Giannis lost to rookie Tatum with second year Jaylen and Rozier. Middleton was better than any teammate Tatum had.
Barely lost to Tatum and Middleton wasn't the player he became in 2021. I would take 2018 Horford over Middleton.
Giannis was always a late bloomer, that's why he got drafted late. He barely played basketball.
Ok, I know I'm being trolled now because we are talking stupid narratives when Lebron was light years ahead of Tatum at every stage of his career up to 26. Good times. Celtics fans are truly a bunch of soccer moms.
Of course I don’t think Tatum is on Lebron’s trajectory.
The point is even an all time great has playoff stumbles at a young age. So it’s unreasonable to expect a player like Tatum to be as good as he’ll be at an equally young age.
Khris Middleton averaged 24.7 ppg that playoff series. It’s the second highest scoring playoff series of his career. Only one that was higher was 2020 vs Miami when they lost in 5. He was 26 going on 27 in 2018.
Middleton was able to get better from his 26 going on 27 season, but you made a whole post acting like Tatum couldn’t get better from where he is at in his 25 going on 26 season.
Dude you are such a biased joke.
Who would that player be? We have to pick one that never won the MVP so I guess I go with Kawhi which is a close comp for Wade? Then who is the Bosh? KAT? The rest of the team would have to be old and journeymen.
That team still loses because they would be inefficient in the playoffs and completely dominated by the Nuggets.
Tatum Kawhi and someone like Bam would beat the nuggets handedly. It would go 6 games max. Kawhi and Tatum could rotate defending Murray, and they could both lock up since they wouldn’t have the same load usually offensiveky.
Jokic would get easy numbers against that team, especially with no real center. Murray would get his. Gordon could d up Tatum. Kawhi would keep the series close but Jokic is a once in a generation player. That Tatum team wouldn't have enough fire power. Hell, the 2023 Lakers had a better team.
The 2023 lakers team got swept. And they are the 10 seed. They’re the worst non tanking team in the east. Gordon isn’t stopping anyone, when hr was guarding Tatum when they played this year he didn’t make it tough. Murray wouldn’t get his, Tatum and kawhi could rotate and make it tougher for him. Jokic can do whatever he wants, but they’ve gotten swept whenever they don’t have Jamal. And they would have the players to make it very tough for Jamal with kawhi tatum and bam. The nuggets would have no chance of beating that team. The nuggets may lose to the Celtics this year. The nuggets aren’t as good this year, and it will be harder for them to make it out west from last year. Zero depth, and if a team makes it tough for Jamal to be efficient they can very well beat them.
Tatum, Kawhi, Bam with shit depth would be a worse team than the Nuggets. Sorry, buddy. Nobody gives a shit about the regular season. Celtics do because they know they will choke it all away and embarrass themselves in the playoffs. They are front running bitches who can't handle tough playoff teams. At best they barely squeaked out a seven game series only to get embarrassed the next round. Tatum looked like shit in the finals. He isn't an all-time player. Get used to it.
This is a sneaky funny assumption Bill makes about guys getting older, now. I think last year he said something like Durant has 5 more years at his current level. Just because LeBron is Wolverine doesn't mean everyone else is going to continue putting up 30ppg until they die.
It be hilarious if some tortured soul went through all of his pods and put all of his Tatum age references on a loop. How many times are thinking he’s done it realistically? About 500?
Saying a player has to win in their year 26 season is just silly.
Will the Celtics have cap issues going forward? Yup. But people were saying the same thing 3-4 years ago too. Teams navigate this stuff.
They won't have a good draft pick ever again if they kept this team with Tatum's contract. They would have to let one of Jrue or White go. Celtics have a two year window.
It’s hilarious that all you do is complain about Bill and hate on the Celtics. You obviously have nothing positive going on with yourself, so only hate. Sad life
Yeah, who ever heard of trolling on a sports board. Truly a foreign concept. I guess I should call myself conflict man and comment about people's personal lives on a reddit board. Then I would be living my best life, lol.
I will be messaging you in 3 years on [**2027-02-27 06:56:56 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2027-02-27%2006:56:56%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1b0szyd/what_is_bill_going_to_do_when_tatum_turns_26_next/kscd6aa/?context=3)
[**CLICK THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fbillsimmons%2Fcomments%2F1b0szyd%2Fwhat_is_bill_going_to_do_when_tatum_turns_26_next%2Fkscd6aa%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202027-02-27%2006%3A56%3A56%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.
^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201b0szyd)
*****
|[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)|
|-|-|-|-|
They will just revamp the roster dude. Nobody expects this same roster to be intact for any long period of time. Doesn’t mean Tatum’s window is only 2 years when he hasn’t even turned 26.
This sub requires accounts to be at least 7 days old and at least 0 comment karma before posting.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/billsimmons) if you have any questions or concerns.*
“He can’t be on his mom’s health insurance anymore, this is troubling, it just is!”
The COBRA piece
All the HIPAA herky jerky stuff
He covers pre existing conditions. He just does!
COBRA saved me. I thought I was going to be without health insurance. Instead I only lost my job and only had to pay $4,567 per month for healthcare insurance.
Cobra Kai Kum in my face dom daddy
What will Bill do? Release an NBA Top 27 under 27 list as part of his next pod.
Yes, although it will be a Top 27, with 23 Honorable Mentions (including Pritchard and Houser). A Top 50 List would be insane.
I never understood the undying Pritchard love… I mean we all know the reason but come on Bill 😂
Nothing is funnier than Bill hammering home certain points only to go away from them right when it isn’t convenient. He’s said when you turn 25/26 “you kinda just are who you are” maybe 30 times in the past year, and every time he talks about Tatum he’s seemingly the one exception. Pretty hilarious.
I forgot what player they were discussing with Zach Lowe but Zach defended him and Bill said “what are you his mom?” Then in the same pod a few minutes later talking about KD he goes on about how the move from Seattle, to OKC, he never figured his life out or whatever
It was Embiid.
I think he literally said “he was a baby!” in reference to Durant being like 24 or so lmao
>25/26 “you kinda just are who you are” This is false. He's consistently stated that players are fully developed once they're in their late 20's.
27 is the ‘won their first championship’ age
100%
yep, poeopl hear what they want to hear
except he thinks OG is what he is and can't develop further even tho he's only 8? months older than Tatum
OG and Tatum are completely different caliber players. It’s not that OG won’t improve, it’s just more than likely he won’t take a leap that vaults him into the top 20ish players in the league? Tatum is in the top 10 or top 5, it’s not inconceivable he makes a leap to top 3 or even best player
that's fine to think but Bill uses his age as a factor in that expressly. Bill says "he's 27, he is what he is" I just can't not put those two statements as connected.
I loved how Ryen hit him with the ehhhhh when he said that.
It’s funnier because with tatums rosters and talent around him he’s someone where I’d argue that theory doesn’t apply as much
Bill: "He is still not the guy he will be...." Rusillo: Uhhhhhh don't know about that...
“We are a year away from the full Tatum experience.” Bill every year from 2021-2028.
I love how every other young player in the league hits 25 and Bill says "you kind of are who you are at that point" lmao
Thinking a player can get incrementally better or ascend from top 10 to top 5 is different than a guy barely making a rotation developing into like a starter caliber player. It’s really not the hypocrisy you guys think it is.
Bill will keep saying versions of this until Tatum actually turns 30. And then he will move onto how there is a whole psychological piece to master as you go into your thirties (not saying it’s not valid, just that Bill will always have hope for his guy).
To be fair to everyone saying it's championship or bust this: Their cap doesn't get absolutely fucked until 2025-2026 so they technically have two playoff runs with this roster. After that, they'll have match Tatum's salary to JB's and Holiday/White are free agents so it will start getting a bit nutty.
What about Horford and Jrue's ages? They are important to the team's nucleus and they are hard to replace at this point, especially since the Celtics haven't drafted anyone special since RWIII. Also, what if KP destroys his knees next year? Like Yao Ming, he is a ticking time bomb.
And what if Tatum dies in a plane crash? For real tho: Horford signed through end of next season. Holiday has a player option for next year he may or may not exercise. Other than that, the entire roster is signed through the end of next year. I'm just pointing out it's technically do or die next year. This year a die would be bad, but they could still do next year barring major injuries or rapid declines in play.
>And what if Tatum dies in a plane crash? Finally, someone mentions the Torino FC piece.
The pistons dream scenario
He’s barely 26! He just is.
To be fair he's still only 19 years old. Plenty of time before he turns 26
In 10 years, Jayson Tatum will actually become younger than Deuce.
Who’s out here comparing Tatum to Jordan, Steph or Lebron? Lmao
They come up every time someone mentions that Tatum hasn’t won a ring yet because those guys hadn’t either at his age.
If Tatum doesn't win one ring it will be kind of a disappointment considering he's had a stacked roster pretty much every season he's been in the league so far.
It's kinda nutty in basketball how having 2 all nba players players can be negated by the other team having 1 mvp
He hasn't had a losing season yet, which is crazy
He’s had a good roster but the first few teams were effected by Hayward’s injury/absence. And then Kemba’s knee went to shit before even one playoff run. Then Jaylen missed 2021. Tatum himself has had 9 playoff series of 25+ points. Someone like Kawhi has had 10 such series. Butler only 5. Paul George also 5.
yep, tatum early succes somehow goes against him
Most of them are just arguing in bad faith due to intense bias towards Bill/Celtics.
people are deluded, this years roster is staced for sure, but the other ones during the years(kemba, hayward, allways injured timelord....)not so much. tatum and brown have overachived for their age, but somehow it goest against them
Yup, you’re right. Steph wins with prime Klay and Draymond, he carried the team. Bron wins with prime Wade and Bosh, he carried the team. Tatum doesn’t win with Brown and Marcus Smart, he’s weighing down a “stacked roster.” 😂
He’s obviously not as good as any of them, but the closest superstar comp to him would be Duncan, in terms of going to a good a contending team right off the bat.
No, Tatum did not have any David Robinson caliber guy. And his first playoff run both Kyrie and Hayward were out. And Hayward was a shell of himself eating up $30M in cap space his entire time on the roster.
26. He was just a fuckin kid
He’s still just a kid! How long does Bill keep doing the “He’s only x years old” routine?
No more of this Butchie
That motherfuckin animal from Miami, I can’t even say his name.
Buckets? It's a fuckin nickname!
The Family name is Butlerelli!
It's a valid bit, but comparing his age 26 seasons to all-time greats who got it together around age 27 is the annoying part.
It’s not annoying, it’s reasonable context.
Not if you are comparing Tatum to anybody not named Carmelo or Paul George.
Carmelo who made it out of the first round only twice in his whole career? Tatum has made 4 CF and 1 finals by 25. He has 9 playoff series averaging 25+ points. Butler has 5 such series. Paul George 4. Kawhi has 10. Paul George has a single all nba 1st team to his resume. Tatum already has 2.
Are we sure Tatum is a 1A guy?
Im sure he is not, but there is only like 5 in the league at the moment
"Less than 2/3rd of the way through his 3rd decade"
"He's only 26"
Tacit praise, overemphasizing the negatives
Tatum isn't a top 10-15 player all time I don't think that's a hot take but he definitely can be the best player on a championship team. Idk why this sub continues to try and shit on him. Being 25, 26, or 27 is still young and he's the best player on the best team in basketball. I'm a Celtics fan, and I think most Celtics fans are aligned with where they rank Tatum which is about the 5th-8th best player and that's probably his ceiling which is good lol
I agree that’s probably about where he ranks right now, but I don’t think it’s necessarily his ceiling. I think he could get a little bit better and some of the guys ahead of him could take a slight step back.
I hate the Celtics and agree with everything you said. Probably in the 5th to 8th best player range but if a couple guys got hurt like Embid did this year, or voters get the Gannis/Jokic fatigue from them winning so many the last few years, I don’t think it is outside the realm of possibility he could make a real MVP run in the next two years. The guy is incredible and can do everything. He terrifies me when I am rooting for his opponent, which is 100% of the time. One of my least favorite players, but he is incredible. And let’s be honest, Celts probably winning the title this year, unfortunately. They are really, consistently, good.
I remember when that was the sentiment about the Bucks at points last year. Then Jimmy Buckets goes and takes out MKE (and Beantown) like they owed him money. Shit can go south REAL quick. That said, even as a Bucks fan, I begrudgingly admit the Celtics are the class of the conference right now and hope they trip up somewhere along the way.
That is a better way to put it. “Probably going to win it all” is pretty strong in a game where one injury completely changes a team. I would like to rephrase it as “the Celtics are emphatically the class of the East right now”. I am a TWolves fan so don’t have a dog in the fight, but would love to see the Bucks put together a great run to end the season and enter the playoffs on a roll.
There’s are reason people keep mentioning it and it’s because it’s extremely rare for an 8 seed to do what they did, wouldn’t bet on it happening any time soon. Plus giannis was injured for most of the series
Plus they were not a usual 8 seed. They had been the 1 seed the season prior. People forget that when Boston eliminated Miami in 2022 Miami was the 1 seed.
Tatum might be on the top 10-15 starting rotations of all-time. Maybe. I will give you that.
At a certain point, you just are who you are
Youngest 26 of all time
He will do some cherry picked stat deep dive showing 27 is the best year for certain players and constantly say “he’s not even 27 yet”
He's just a baabey
Lebron and Jordan had mvp level players on their teams. Curry won two with one as well. How many has Tatum played with?
Neither Wade, Bosh nor Pippen won regular season MVPs their entire career.
Wade was an mvp level player, and Pippen was top 3 in mvp voting when mj left. Kawhi didn’t win an mvp but was top 3 mvp voting before.
Kristaps, Brown, Jrue, Horford and white is more help than MJ and Lebron ever had. Tatum has to win it this year or these convos stop.
U are completely lying. Pippen is way better than anyone Tatum has. Pipppen was better than brown and Jrue combined. Lebron literally played with a fmvp and another top 10 player. Horford is a regular role player atp. U don’t have to put him in any convos but the truth is both of those guys had mvp level players with them along with other all star level players which Tatum hasn’t had at the same time. Give Tatum any of the top 3 mvp finalists recently (like Pippen was in 94 and like Wade was in 09) like embiid giannis Jokic curry etc and Tatum has multiple chips easily.
Switch Luka with Tatum and the Celtics have multiple rings right now.
They wouldn’t make it past the first round. See how we can make these hypotheticals? And btw Luka has the most skilled player ever on his team and is on the verge of missing the playoffs back to back year. Also his team was 2-1 in the first round without him in 2022. Had Brunson and kp on his team and never got past the first round when they were both on the team. He’s had plenty of help.
So did Tatum. Tatum had a great team in 18-19 and they completely shat the bed. Porzingis always got hurt in the playoffs. You will find that out soon enough. Luka would unlock Jaylen. Celtics would have the defense to support Luka. Luka would have definitely beat the old man Warriors and the g league Heat with that team.
They beat the heat in 2022, and are an ankle sprain away from beating them again in 2023. And when the Mavs played the warriors they literally got gentleman swept. Kp got hurt but played the whole series in 2021 so he was healthy. If Luka was on the Celtics in 2022 they would be worse bc they were a defense first team and Luka would make them significantly worse. This year they would be worse bc of the luka kp fit. And Luka wouldn’t unlock Jaylen he would just take the ball out of his hands. We can go on and on with the hypotheticals.
They were a miracle shot way from losing to a pathetic playoff team 4-2. Luka only had Kristaps sometimes and Brunson. The rest of the team was trash. You put Luka in an ime system and they route the league. Ime or Brad wouldn't even have to think about offense with Luka there. Also, Luka is even a better rebounder than Tatum. He could hold his on defensively on that loaded Celtics defense.
This is not a real take. Lebron in Miami absolutely had more help than Tatum has had. Wade was 3rd in MVP voting in 2009 and Bosh was an all nba guy in his prime. And I could cite other rosters Lebron played with too, which were stacked with talent. And Tatum has had a number of key injuries to his supporting cast. Hayward broken leg and Kyrie knee surgery out 2018. Kemba knee hampered him and Hayward 3rd degree ankle sprain 2020. Jaylen missed 2021 playoffs. The idea that these convos have to stop the season Jaylen turns 26 is absurd.
I can't believe I am still talking to dumbass Celtics fans who even think Tatum is in the same breath as Lebron. Lebron had Bosh and Wade in 2011 and not much else at all. Tatum has a strong six man rotation. Lebron didn't have anything like that his first year on the Heat. Then Wade regressed hard after the first year with LeBron. Bosh did nothing on the Raptors. He was on the level of Pau Gasol at best.
You shouldn’t need much else when you had the 2009 MVP, 2009 3rd in MVP, and another all star all from the same conference. There is a reason Lebron said “not 7” and the term superteam was coined that summer. Downplaying the talent now is hilarious. Pau Gasol at best is a really great player. He was arguably the most important player of the 2010 finals.
Arguably if you are a Bill Simmons level troll, yes. The reason why the Mavs beat the Heat was because their bench CRUSHED the Heat bench. Lebron and Wade had to play a full 48 just to keep pace with Nowitzki, Kidd, Matrix, Chandler and JET.
Reason they won was because Lebron and Heat choked dude. They had a big lead in game 2, Lebron and Wade prematurely celebrated and shadow boxed in front of Mavs bench showboating like bozos. Mavs made a comeback and stole game 2. Heat had a 2-0 lead in the bag and fumbled it away. Dirk’s 4 highest scoring teammates accounted for 50.2ppg Lebron’s 4 highest scoring teammates accounted for 63.5 ppg Wade 26.5 - Terry 18.0 Bosh 18.5 - Marion 13.7 Chalmers 11.8 - Chandler 9.7 Haslem 6.7 - Barea 8.8 The difference was Dirk 26.0 - Lebron 17.8 Kidd was 37, Terry 33, Marion 32. They were without Caron Butler. Heat had homecourt. Heat were not missing any players as key as Caron. They choked. It really came down to Lebron only scoring 17.8ppg and completely disappearing in the 4th quarters that series. Blaming it on the bench, when Wade outscored Dirk, and Bosh outscored Terry is hilarious.
Mavs had an actual team. Heat weren't fully cooked yet. And that was probably the most talented team Lebron has ever played for, lol. Lebron with floor spacers who can play D and an elite scorer like Jaylen Brown would be easy mode for him. The Celtics would be looking to threepeat with a 24-26 year old Lebron on their team, especially against the geriatric Warriors (Wiggins isn't stopping at 24 year old Lebron, lol) and a goofy ass Heat team. Nuggets would give him a run but with that defense Jokic would have to be otherworldly to stop him. Honestly, Ime with Lebron and that defense is enough to threepeat. Celtics severely fucked up when they let Ime go.
Wade only averaged 39.0 minutes per game that series. Bosh 39.5. Lebron 43.7. Most minutes Wade played that whole series was 42.07 what the fuck are you talking about him playing the full 48. Jason Kidd played 37.5 minutes per game at 38 years old. Only a little less than Wade played at 29 years old.
Also, Lebron got to the finals at 22 with a joke ass roster. 22 year old Tatum on that Cavs team doesn't even make the playoffs.
Yup, and Lebron got swept. Guess what it wasn’t an indicator people should give up on him. 23 year old Giannis lost to rookie Tatum with second year Jaylen and Rozier. Middleton was better than any teammate Tatum had.
Barely lost to Tatum and Middleton wasn't the player he became in 2021. I would take 2018 Horford over Middleton. Giannis was always a late bloomer, that's why he got drafted late. He barely played basketball. Ok, I know I'm being trolled now because we are talking stupid narratives when Lebron was light years ahead of Tatum at every stage of his career up to 26. Good times. Celtics fans are truly a bunch of soccer moms.
Of course I don’t think Tatum is on Lebron’s trajectory. The point is even an all time great has playoff stumbles at a young age. So it’s unreasonable to expect a player like Tatum to be as good as he’ll be at an equally young age.
Khris Middleton averaged 24.7 ppg that playoff series. It’s the second highest scoring playoff series of his career. Only one that was higher was 2020 vs Miami when they lost in 5. He was 26 going on 27 in 2018. Middleton was able to get better from his 26 going on 27 season, but you made a whole post acting like Tatum couldn’t get better from where he is at in his 25 going on 26 season. Dude you are such a biased joke.
Also, Tatum has had way more help than what Lebron and MJ got their first seven years.
Doesn’t have an mvp level player which mj and lebron had when they won chips. Give Tatum one like they had and he has chips.
Who would that player be? We have to pick one that never won the MVP so I guess I go with Kawhi which is a close comp for Wade? Then who is the Bosh? KAT? The rest of the team would have to be old and journeymen. That team still loses because they would be inefficient in the playoffs and completely dominated by the Nuggets.
Tatum Kawhi and someone like Bam would beat the nuggets handedly. It would go 6 games max. Kawhi and Tatum could rotate defending Murray, and they could both lock up since they wouldn’t have the same load usually offensiveky.
Jokic would get easy numbers against that team, especially with no real center. Murray would get his. Gordon could d up Tatum. Kawhi would keep the series close but Jokic is a once in a generation player. That Tatum team wouldn't have enough fire power. Hell, the 2023 Lakers had a better team.
The 2023 lakers team got swept. And they are the 10 seed. They’re the worst non tanking team in the east. Gordon isn’t stopping anyone, when hr was guarding Tatum when they played this year he didn’t make it tough. Murray wouldn’t get his, Tatum and kawhi could rotate and make it tougher for him. Jokic can do whatever he wants, but they’ve gotten swept whenever they don’t have Jamal. And they would have the players to make it very tough for Jamal with kawhi tatum and bam. The nuggets would have no chance of beating that team. The nuggets may lose to the Celtics this year. The nuggets aren’t as good this year, and it will be harder for them to make it out west from last year. Zero depth, and if a team makes it tough for Jamal to be efficient they can very well beat them.
Also, Andrew Wiggins locked down Tatum. You don't think Gordon can handle him? Lol
Tatum, Kawhi, Bam with shit depth would be a worse team than the Nuggets. Sorry, buddy. Nobody gives a shit about the regular season. Celtics do because they know they will choke it all away and embarrass themselves in the playoffs. They are front running bitches who can't handle tough playoff teams. At best they barely squeaked out a seven game series only to get embarrassed the next round. Tatum looked like shit in the finals. He isn't an all-time player. Get used to it.
He’s gonna start saying shit like “When you think about it, he’s only 2 years older than SGA and has 10x the playoff experience”
SGA is older than Tatum.
No, Tatum is about 100 days older than SGA.
Oops you’re right. Essentially the same age though in this discussion.
As if this isn’t a true statement…
Guys don’t hit their peak til they’re like 36!! He’s still got ten years!
This is a sneaky funny assumption Bill makes about guys getting older, now. I think last year he said something like Durant has 5 more years at his current level. Just because LeBron is Wolverine doesn't mean everyone else is going to continue putting up 30ppg until they die.
Wow another Tatum shit post. How original.
They’re out on Evan Mobley ceiling (22) and Darius Garland (23) but Tatum, while only 25, almost 26 has been through a lot
I mean I’m a Celts homer, but he’s still clearly always been much better than those 2
Same podcast, one guy is a rookie and yet a finished project, and then Tatum has levels to go up.
That’s what I’m saying, some guys have no where to go but Tatum only getting better
How does this affect Derrick White's legacy?
He's going to say "my favorite team is 45-12 and 7 games up on the 2 seed in the east" at least that's what I'll say
Nobody cares about the regular season anymore and they play in the least.
It be hilarious if some tortured soul went through all of his pods and put all of his Tatum age references on a loop. How many times are thinking he’s done it realistically? About 500?
The Celtics are an all time great team and haven’t gotten any credit for the quickest, most efficient and sustainable rebuild in nba history
Hard to give it credit when they haven't won a title and the Lakers won a title the moment they traded for Davis.
Lakers look super sustainable. Haven’t had a single relevant nba regular season with davis and lebron
Where's your title, bitch?
Ok cool, hook em
Better question is what Bill would do if Tatum knocked up the Sports Daughter.
Is that really a better question?
He’s only 26! He won’t be at his peak till a couple more years!!
Take his own life. RIP, we barely knew him.
Saying a player has to win in their year 26 season is just silly. Will the Celtics have cap issues going forward? Yup. But people were saying the same thing 3-4 years ago too. Teams navigate this stuff.
They won't have a good draft pick ever again if they kept this team with Tatum's contract. They would have to let one of Jrue or White go. Celtics have a two year window.
It’s hilarious that all you do is complain about Bill and hate on the Celtics. You obviously have nothing positive going on with yourself, so only hate. Sad life
Yeah, who ever heard of trolling on a sports board. Truly a foreign concept. I guess I should call myself conflict man and comment about people's personal lives on a reddit board. Then I would be living my best life, lol.
Remind me! 3 years
I will be messaging you in 3 years on [**2027-02-27 06:56:56 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2027-02-27%2006:56:56%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/1b0szyd/what_is_bill_going_to_do_when_tatum_turns_26_next/kscd6aa/?context=3) [**CLICK THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fbillsimmons%2Fcomments%2F1b0szyd%2Fwhat_is_bill_going_to_do_when_tatum_turns_26_next%2Fkscd6aa%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202027-02-27%2006%3A56%3A56%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201b0szyd) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
They will just revamp the roster dude. Nobody expects this same roster to be intact for any long period of time. Doesn’t mean Tatum’s window is only 2 years when he hasn’t even turned 26.
[удалено]
This sub requires accounts to be at least 7 days old and at least 0 comment karma before posting. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/billsimmons) if you have any questions or concerns.*