46+16+9! 40+12+8! The strongest hexagonal warrior in service, you deserve a salary of 70 million yuan

There are many stars in NBA history who are well-known for their comprehensiveness, such as Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson and other players, but there are still not many of these people who can be called Hexagonal warriors. If you want to talk about the strongest hexagonal warrior in NBA history, it may be James at his peak. He has outstanding physical fitness and his playing style is very comprehensive, especially when James caught up with modern basketball at the end of his peak, so he also developed better three-point shooting skills, which greatly improved his game influence. At the same time, James' defense is even more DPOY-level. At his peak, he was no problem from defense to five.

However, as he gets older, James can only increase his influence on the game by subtraction on the court. If he still plays like before, he may not have the energy in less than two quarters. After the Lakers traded Doncic this season, James has completely ushered in a transformation, and his proportion of off-ball is getting higher and higher. Although he is still more comprehensive than most players, he is obviously no longer the player with the richest personal game content in the league.

So after James declines, who can become the new strongest hexagon warrior in the league? Next, I will provide you with the best candidate in my personal mind. This person is not Antetokounmpo or Jokic. He is Jason Tatum, the star of the Celtics. When it comes to Tatum, many fans will say that his style of play is very soft, and some people even speak wildly that "Brown is stronger than Tatum", but this is obviously not true. Although he failed to win the FMVP in 2024, this does not affect him as the best player in the Celtics. Whether it is pure personal strength or importance to the team, Tatum is far better than any other player in the team.

So now that we are talking about Tatum, let’s review the changes in his playing style throughout his career. He did not play style now at the beginning. In 2017, the Celtics selected Tatum in the third pick in the first round. His early style of play was relatively retro. Whether it was a face-frame single or a back-to-back, he was good at ending scores with mid-range. In addition, Tatum was obviously very immature in pick-and-roll and reading defense at this time, so his positioning at this time was more like a wing scorer.

Later, starting from the 2019-2020 season, the Celtics officially corrected Tatum, and at this time his ball and style of play had changed. It can be seen from Tatum's shooting distribution on the court that he reduced the middle distance and increased three-pointers a lot, and averaged 7.1 three-pointers per game is more than doubled compared to his rookie season, and his 40.3% shooting percentage also proves that he is not trying to make data. Relying on his playing style, Tatum gradually moved closer to the Magic Ball, and his average data increased to 23.4 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1.2 steals, but during this period, he still had to end it by himself.

In the next three years, Tatum's style of play has completely become magical. By the 2022-2023 season, he has already made 9.3 three-pointers per game, and he has more and more ball-holding scenes at the top of the arc. The team also gave him a large number of pick-and-roll tactical designs to play pick-and-rolls in this area. Because Tatum's breakthrough is not that outstanding, and he is not a good player in Doncic's style of playing with extraordinary rhythm, many of his pick-and-rolls end up directly using cover to pull three-pointers. The advantage is that he has developed a three-pointer that can affect the opponent's defense, but the shortcomings are that he cannot better use the pick-and-roll to drive his teammates.

In addition, compared with many ball-holding cores, Tatum's biggest advantage on the offensive end is that he can do without the ball. Moreover, he can not only catch the ball and shoot and cut, but also cover the teammates and then set the way down. This is easier to create opportunities for attacking the frame than him breaking the ball. The most important thing is that Tatum's ability to handle the ball determines that if he attracts defense during the downward rotation, he can also directly connect with the center in the inside or pass to the shooter at the bottom corner.

Also, when Tatum covers the defender, if the opponent directly switches defense, he can get misplaced. If he pays too much attention to Tatum, the defender can directly shoot. Therefore, even if Tatum does not score or assist in this round, he still plays a very critical role.

Tatum averaged 30.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.1 steals in the regular season. His progress allowed the Celtics to have the best regular season record since 2009. Although East lost to the Heat and was eliminated, the Celtics once again strengthened the offseason. They traded successively to get Porzingis and Holiday. These two have higher bonuses to the team's offense and defense system, and this also reduces Tatum's heavy responsibility.

The Celtics successfully won the championship in 2024. This season, Tatum is still the focus of wherever the team needs him. In the playoffs, Tatum averaged 25 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game. However, the fluctuations in the shooting feel did affect his data and game influence, but it is undeniable that he is still the absolute hub in the Celtics' offensive and defensive system. After winning the championship, Tatum and the Celtics successfully signed a 5-year, 314 million super maximum salary. In the last year of this contract, his annual salary will be as high as 71.45 million US dollars, and he is one of the few players who are worthy of this price in the current service.

Tatum averaged 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 6 assists in the regular season this season. Due to the injuries of Porzingis and Holiday, Tatum, as the boss of the team, his task has become even more difficult. This season, Tatum has participated in more pick-and-rolls, and he has digested the most difficult offensive scenes on the court, which has made Brown, White and others simpler. Although Tatum's performance is not so stable because of the large number of difficult three-pointers, even if his feel is poor, his opponent will not dare to relax. Otherwise, he will be able to score 46 points, 16 rebounds, 9 assists, 40 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 6 three-pointers, etc.

Although the Celtics failed to defend their title this year, they obviously lost more to injuries. Not only Tatum was directly reimbursed in the last game, but also the core players such as Brown and Porzingis have never played in the playoffs in total. Especially the latter was affected by the injury and averaged only 7.7 points per game and a shooting percentage of 31.6%, so it would not be particularly strange that the Celtics lost in the end.

The previous articles basically introduce Tatum's offense, but the reason why he can become a hexagon warrior is naturally without any problem with his defense. Although Tatum does not have as good physical fitness as James, in the current NBA, he can still do it from one defense to five. Although he definitely cannot defend against big centers like Jokic and Embiid, such players cannot defend even if they are serious centers. In addition, Tatum is also the Celtics' assisting defense core, especially considering the Celtics' inside configuration, his assisting defense is more important than single defense capabilities.