IS JAYSON TATUM A TRUE FRANCHISE PLAYER?

In respect for this Holy Week, I have changed the title. There have been many jokes about being "Him" in the NBA, which means they are the savior of the franchise. Much of this was directed around Austin Reaves saving the Los Angeles Lakers, and they eventually reached the Western Conference Finals.

Nowadays, this question is being directed to the Boston Celtics' main man, Jayson Tatum. The Celtics will finish with the best record in the NBA, the first team to make the playoffs and will have homecourt advantage all the way.

However, these are not the Celtics' goals for the season. This is not the tie with the Lakers that they're trying to break. They had the league's best record a few years back, but that only made their fans angrier, since they didn't get what they needed: an NBA championship.

It's been 16 years since the last Celtic championship, the only one after the Larry Bird era. The franchise has 17 titles, but only one in the last 38 years. Many Boston fans today know only one title, and since then, dynasties have both been built and fallen. But the Celtics have had only one.

The Best Player on a Champion Team

This is always the question for every supposed superstar that a team, or a fanbase, or the media would like to hype. Is he the best player on a championship team?

Why ask that question? Because it is very important, and true genius GMs and Presidents of Basketball Operations, whatever else they call it, know that. The Raptors' Masai Ujiri knew that, so he needed to trade DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard.

That trade was not easy at all. DeRozan was a fan favorite and he had this friendship with Kyle Lowry that the fanbase loved even off the court. Leonard's price was too high, and he was at the tail end of his contract–he could walk away after one season, and he actually did.

But they won a title, and Ujiri was right, and he was vindicated. Sure, the Golden State superteam had to suffer from injuries, but who could actually beat them at full strength? No one, not even LeBron.

Analyzing every champion since the last Celtic title, every team needed a true franchise player: Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic. Does Jayson Tatum belong with these players?

There are great players in history who have not won a title. I called it the Fellowship of No Rings, and there are also other phrases for that. It's not bad company to be in, but that is not the goal, and the unforgiving Celtic fans are not interested in any banner that's not an NBA title.

Collapse at Important Moments

One aspect of a true franchise player is that he does not collapse at crucial moments. One contrast is Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. The Heat also traded for him, trading away draft picks and young players for him.

Butler went to the Finals twice in the last four years, losing to the Lakers and the Denver Nuggets last season, where they also beat the Celtics en route. Nobody doubts Butler, and even with his unremarkable regular season, even with the Miami Heat just at 7th place, they are being respected as a threat.

Butler is being given the respect that many feel Tatum should be given. It seems that Tatum needs a title before he can get that. That's because Tatum seemed to shiver at the big moments. The 2022 Warriors were not seen as a powerful team, and subsequent seasons revealed that. The fanbase believed that the Celtics should have beaten them, but they folded, specifically their stars. Specifically, Jayson Tatum.

This season is make or break for Tatum. If he could not bring them to the Promised Land, then maybe he is not really the best player on a championship team. Perhaps he is just a Robin, and he needs to find his Batman. If not in Boston, somewhere else.

2024-03-27T19:05:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd