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Message: [QUOTE="Matrim55, post: 5024274, member: 3376"] Really interesting Reddit post on Tatum I'm going to paste here: [URL='https://www.reddit.com/r/nbadiscussion/comments/1dcmuj3/if_the_celtics_won_this_title_in_the_80s_tatum/']If the Celtics won this title in the 80’s, Tatum would be viewed like Isiah Thomas was then[/URL] This demonstrates how obsessed people are, for better and worse, with individual star stat-lines now. Isiah Thomas, to win his maiden title: [LIST] [*]18/4/8, 3 turnovers on 41/27/74, serviceable defence (though he was never a stopper). [*]21/5/8 on 39/16/74 against the Bulls. [*]21/2/7 on 49/33/76 against the Lakers. [/LIST] ^ even with “stat inflation” factored in, these are very modest numbers. And not a single person on earth gave a ****. Plays better the following year, but put up a pedestrian 17/6/8 on 39% in a narrow 7 game win against the Bulls. Yet despite this, and despite having one of the most stacked rotations of all time (the Pistons compare quite nicely to the Celtics, relative to era), few people were saying things like “Thomas was carried!” (to an extent, on paper at least he was) and “STACKED TEAM” (it was). However much like Tatum he was the heart of the team, a great chemistry guy, and was one of the most durable players in the league during that part of his career (meaning, he always put himself in contention). He also didn’t seem to care one iota about his individual stats. Nor did anyone else on that team. Did it lead to him getting [I]some[/I] excessive credit? Probably. But such was the landscape of the league in a time where people actually cared about how teams did, rather than individual players. Much preferable to the **** we see today. Pick your poison, I s’pose. Edit: I’m only assuming for the sake of the argument that the Celtics win. I realize the series isn’t over, but the discourse surrounding Tatum won’t change much regardless. ------------------ I actually think that's a really good comparison. Like Tatum Isiah was a fringe top 5 guy in the league whose team was deeper and had a unique game model (the transition from the go-go '80s to the grit-n-grind mid-90s really started with the Bad Boys). [/QUOTE]

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