5. Jayson Tatum – Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum straight up needs an attitude adjustment.
Last season he looked like he could become a top 5 player in the NBA. At just 22 years old, he made his 2nd consecutive All-Star appearance on the back of averaging 26.4 PPG and 7.4 RPG. The sky was the limit for Tatum who was on pace to lead the Celtics for at least the next decade, but now it’s become apparent that he has a real problem.
He’s selfish.
After 21 games, he’s scoring 24.3 PPG, but on 39.5% from the field and 31.6% from 3. This is dreadful and it doesn’t need to be this bad. If Tatum was the only good player on a terrible squad you could understand his inefficiencies, but this isn’t the case. The Celtics have good players on their roster, from Jaylen Brown, Dennis Schroder, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford. Tatum needs to be sharing the ball more and has been called out on multiple occasions, including recently by an anonymous NBA coach.
To be a top player, you need to be both physically capable AND mentally capable. There’s no doubt Tatum has the talent, but he needs to work on his approach if he is to lead the Celtics to success.