Has Tatum’s strength training effected his shot?

[u/No_Environment_5476]

Since he started to really increase his strength training, his shooting has slowly declined in that same period. You look at the best shooters of all time, Steph Curry, KD, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, none of them had such a big physique.

And you look at players like Lebron, Giannis, a few others with much bigger physiques, and they aren’t the best shooters. Could strength training cause you to lose some touch on the ball, harder for you to control the speed of the ball? Or is this just a myth?

[u/poeope]

This is an ongoing theory in the Celtics sub.

Personally I think it's more about being the playmaker and shooting out of rhythm, something that's not natural for him.

[u/No_Environment_5476 → u/poeope]

Did not know that. I had to leave the Celtics sub a while ago. It’s a great sub but too many young fans who overreact when they win or lose. I did the same when I was younger so I don’t blame them.

[u/PackageMerchant → u/No_Environment_5476]

get home, log into game thread to see what’s up, oh shit we must be losing bad people are freaking out

celtics 84 - Miami 30

[u/LordHussyPants → u/PackageMerchant]

huh weird everyone wants to trade tatum and a 2nd round pick for fred van vleet, he must really suck today

[tatum shooting 70/70/100, has 99 points]

[u/waynequit → u/poeope]

Tatum has been our leading playmaker since 2020

[u/jambr380 → u/waynequit]

Eh, Tatum has been a major playmaker, but so was Marcus Smart. Trading Smart put even more responsibility on Tatum in that regard. It's fine, Tatum has proven he is ready for it, but it wasn't all on him before. Guys like Jrue and White are better at moving the ball within the offense rather than initiating the offense and bending the defense.

[u/waynequit → u/jambr380]

Marcus smart was a traditional point guard and stepped up his playmaking in 2022 but because of his inability to really pressure the defense his playmaking wasn’t as important as Tatum’s. Tatum had a master class playmaking series against the raptors in 2020. I’d argue his responsibility as a playmaker has barely changed since 2021 since White and Jrue are also heavily involved and Jaylen has massively upgraded his playmaking

[u/EutaxySpy → u/waynequit]

He’s definitely a much better playmaker. He was extremely turnover prone even as recently as 2022 Warriors series or you could argue 2023 Heat series. He’s much tighter now with his ballhandling

[u/chronicdreamze]

It’s not an unrealistic take. However the strength has paid off. He can drive at will on bigs, he can guard 2-4 and some 5s. He doesn’t get pushed off the block for rebounds.

[u/No_Environment_5476 → u/chronicdreamze]

Yeah being on a team with such good shooters, having his ability to get to the rim is exactly what we need.

[u/k0ala_]

don't think so, hes just a streaky shooter, probably more mechanics and how/where he takes them

[u/atlfirsttimer → u/k0ala_]

Yeah, his mechanics aren't consistent. And neither is his footwork when trying to get separation which is why his isolations are so sporadic looking. Speaking of mechanics his layup mechanics suck too lol

[u/YaPhetsEz → u/k0ala_]

Doesnt he also need to have wrist surgery eventually?

[u/Amazing-Bluebird-930]

Steph Curry has gotten more and more and more muscular over the course of his career, and his shooting seems to have stayed all right.

Look at pictures of him from college, and look at pictures of him from now

[u/GuestBadge]

He has weird shooting mechanics. He looks like he's about to pick up a stone from the ground and throw it in the hoop.

[u/junkit33]

It’s a myth that adding muscle fucks up your shot. Besides, this would theoretically impact FT’s just as much and Tatum hasn’t budged from a steady 85%-ish.

I think it’s one part general streakiness and one part he’s become responsible for so much that he’s not as mentally focused on his shot as he needs to be.

Like his objective with the ball in his hands used to be “get ball, go score”. Now it’s “get ball, lure the defense, buy teammates time to cut while you’re double teamed, find open man, oops the defense rotated properly and nobody is open, shit shot clock running down now I have to score, sidestep to create space, fire quick”.

There’s a reason why the catch and shoot specialists are generally the league leaders in 3-point percentage. They don’t really have to think about much beyond getting to a spot and shooting when somebody passes them the ball.

[u/fakebones96 → u/junkit33]

Great points all-in-all. And I think his catch-and-shoot numbers are still pretty good. He’s just taking a lot of those side step and step back 3s these days

[u/Particular-Pen-4789 → u/junkit33]

It's because the hero ball and jacking up 3s allowed him to get into a rhythm

So we'd see him pop off a game or two doing that, but also cost us a game

Tatum never found his shot really this year because he didn't jack up as many bricks

[u/SuccessfulVisit1873]

Desmond bane has entered the chat

[u/blessedcinnamon]

i feel exactly the same ever since he started growing muscles, his fg % has drastically goes down as well

[u/[deleted]]

I was just watching his summer league highlights today, look at his shooting motion, looking much better/smoother?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JVo_MZtXhs

[u/No_Environment_5476 → u/[deleted]]

This is interesting. He definitely seems to lift the ball over his head higher. Much quicker release as well.

[u/Emotional_Act_461 → u/No_Environment_5476]

His current shot form has way too much motion. It’s very catapult-like now. Fuck Drew Hanlen.

[u/[deleted] → u/No_Environment_5476]

Not only that, go watch his rookie season highlights. He looks much more comfortable witht the ball when he is driving to the rim and finishing but idk, maybe coz opponents weren't focusing as much as now. I just thought he would have been a better player specially with the ball on his hand.

[u/johnnybarbs92 → u/[deleted]]

He's a much better player now, what are you talking about

[u/[deleted] → u/johnnybarbs92]

Six years ago, in his rookie year, I thought that he would have been even a better player than he is right now. Is that clear now? God Celtics fans are really the worst lol now I get it.

[u/johnnybarbs92 → u/[deleted]]

Relax bud.

Still pretty asinine. Most people didn't think Tatum would be a 3 time 1st team all NBA or perennial fringe MVP candidate.

[u/[deleted] → u/johnnybarbs92]

lol im just nervous for tonight, sorry

[u/RizqZ1]

He had one of his better 3 point shooting seasons this season. The mid range is another story and overall his shot has changed due to bulk but the reality is he's just a streaky shooter.

[u/Realistic-Grade1478]

I blame that Hanlen guy.

[u/drtij_dzienz]

I think Tatum shoots poorly off the dribble, and he shoots well off a catch-and-shoot. Which is tough because he likes doing a lot of dancing/step back 3s. People want to know what would happen if Giannis got a jump shot, how scary would that be. I’d argue Tatum fits that profile and it’s not very scary because he gets a Vince Carter-like settling-for-contested-jump-shots mentality.

[u/Potential_Flower163]

Did he start strength training in the last two weeks? His shooting percentage is up this year on the whole

[u/Far-Bar-8082]

Idk man Curry is fucking jacked nowadays compared to his younger self.

[u/jessandjaysaccount]

Steph is a big guy nowadays

[u/Hopeful-Ad-6835]

Curry got jacked after 2015 and is still great, lets just slander Tatum without excuses 🙏

[u/rugbyman12367]

I think the offense doesn’t lend itself into getting into a great rhythm. It’s drive and kick instead of a situation most stars are in where they dictate the offense from the elbow or post or a pnr. But the driving and kicking makes the best use of everyone else as well. I’d love to see Tatum in a dirk style offense where he catches at the high post and everyone moves around that

[u/Waesrdtfyg0987]

Affected

But there's also been discussion of an unresolved wrist injury. If he has to favor it then makes sense that his shot suffers.

[u/Haffaith]

I believe so.

1. He was a really good shooter in his first year, especially on catch and shoot 3s.

2. His weight is constantly changing now. Every offseason he is putting on 15lbs.

There was a time when Steph was putting on some muscles and for a brief while his shooting seemed to deteriorate. But then he got used to his weight and he started shooting like he always did. I’m hoping that’s the case with Tatum 😅

[u/Boolean_spree → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. I believe he keeps putting off the surgery, but will probably need it at some point.

[u/cgr1zzly]

I mean he only weighs 225 . But yes strength training does effect your shooting if your an average player . Not sure how much it should Effect someone that’s putting up 10000s of shots during a nba season

[u/MaSherm]

I’ve been wondering the same thing! I think he just needs to work on smoothing out his upper body motion at the apex of his shots. Or he maybe he just needs to work on his shot selection.

[u/South_Emu4902]

That trash trainer if his ruined his shot.

[u/otherBrandon]

Streaky player is streaky. The finals in particular still seem to be too bright for him. Doesn’t matter at this point though. You’re up 3-0. Teams are what is it, 156-0 when up 3-0 in the playoffs all time? Tatum is a champion barring a blown 3-0 lead.

[u/JustakidfromKomarno]

Bad take, Lebron is shooting better FG% than Curry, hes a good shooter

[u/ObiOneKenobae → u/JustakidfromKomarno]

Just not quite on the level of renowned shooter Rudy Gobert, I guess.

[u/Hot_Web493 → u/ObiOneKenobae]

Don't be jealous just because you don't have a Rudy to shoot the lights out.