Much has been made about his improved shot form, but I've noticed that JT has been getting more catch and shoot 3s than he used to (at least from my eyes, didn't look at numbers). I feel he's a lot more successful at those rather than ISO pull ups (obviously those are much harder).

Usually he initiates the action so he doesn't get the ball at the end, but I've seen a number of possessions recently where the drive and kick ends up in Jayson's hands at the end for a catch and shoot, and as a result, he's making 3s at a higher clip than last year.

Anyone else notice this or is it just me?

10 comments

  1. The team’s ball movement seems to be really good this year. I think we have just gotten better at exploiting doubles and sometimes it goes all the way around and gets back to Tatum, even when he’s initiating

  2. Looking NBA shot dashboard, he’s shooting one extra shot with zero dribbles this year and one extra shot overall. CTG doesn’t indicate a big jump in the percentage of field goals that are assisted

    I’d guess it’s partially shot selection but mostly him getting more shots with Jaylen and KP missing games.

  3. The breakdown is on NBA.com. granted it’s a small sample size.

    23-24 shot profile

    – 13.4% catch and shoot
    – 46.1% pull up
    – 24.5% of shots Tatum has the ball under 2 seconds
    – 32% of shots Tatum has the ball 6+ seconds

    24-25

    – 20.4% catch and shoot
    – 51.3% pull up
    – 32.3% of shots Tatum has the ball under 2 seconds
    – 24.8 % of shots Tatum has the ball 6+ seconds

    So you’re right. Lot more catch and shoot, but also a lot faster decision making. He’s doing the long isos a lot less, and is in general dribbling the ball for less time.

    The only other major change is he’s getting to the basket quite a bit less (27.4% of shots this year vs 38% last year), but I think that will change once porzingis is back. Also the double big lineups with Jaylen out 4 games definitely affected that too

  4. I think it’s just a continuation of where he left the finals. He is starting to see the floor and spacing way better which is in turn getting him better and more shots. Along with making his passing game light up

  5. Last year, I feel like the offense went to JT to hit tough shots that wouldn’t be considered good looks for most players in the league. Often late in the shot clock when we weren’t able to generate an open look elsewhere. Now he’s getting more catch and shoot threes and corner threes.

  6. I forget which game it was, but he got two wide open corner threes in a row, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Idk how you let that happen.

  7. JT is benefiting from Brown and KP being out, giving him more shots. That’s basically it. He was already MVP caliber last year just on lower usage.

  8. I credit Tatum improving his shot in the offseason more than any system. Continuity with team mates is important but he’s playing like the best player in the nba rn

  10. It’s not that he’s benefiting more because the ball movement is better. He’s benefiting more because he’s actually shooting catch and shoot shots. With the crappy hitch he had last year, he clearly wasn’t comfortable unless he was in rhythm. He would get tons of open looks and take a dribble to load up.

    He’s just shooting now. It’s so refreshing.

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