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Bill Simmons’ Brutal Kobe Bryant Message to Jayson Tatum

Bill Simmons’ Brutal Kobe Bryant Message to Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum has widely been regarded as the Boston Celtics’ best player this year. Although he and Jaylen Brown are unquestionably the team’s two biggest stars, he is the top dog in the pecking order.

Unfortunately, with all that respect come high expectations. So far in the Finals Tatum is shooting just 34 percent from the field. In addition, while he has facilitated well in the Celtics’ two wins against the Golden State Warriors, he has racked up 9 assists to 10 turnovers in their two defeats.

Along the way, Tatum has also drawn some ire for his nonstop tributes to Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant – who used to be his favorite player and mentor prior to his premature death. The tributes have been so frequent, in fact, that just this week Tatum addressed how much he wished he could’ve been a Laker himself.

It appears that some Celtics fans have grown weary of not only Tatum’s play in the Finals, but also the dedications to Bryant. Among them: ‘The Ringer’ founder Bill Simmons.

“It’s so weird with this Celtics team, because everybody’s been in such a rush to anoint Tatum — including himself — with the Kobe wristband and all that stuff,” Simmons said.

“Maybe cool it on the Kobe stuff for a game. And Jaylen, as I’m watching this just as a fan of the team, today I wanted them to give the ball to Jaylen.”

Simmons obviously isn’t the only Celtics fan who has grown tired of the nonstop Bryant stuff from Tatum. Barstool Sports personality Mick Coley also tweeted this out during Game 4:

It’s a tough line. While the frustrations with Tatum’s inefficiency in the Finals are understandable, is his adoration of Bryant any different than people paying tribute to god or their parents or deceased relatives after various successes or failures?

It all comes from the same place.

Big picture, Tatum just needs to start playing better. He is impacting the game in a variety of ways despite his sloppy offense, but he needs to do better from a scoring perspective.

Boston needs him to step up and be the leader that he has been anointed as.

So far Tatum has made more headlines for who his girlfriend is than anything substantive he has done on the court in the Finals.

Will the 24-year-old step up and become the player everyone believes he can be?

Time will tell.

Related: Sonya Curry’s New Boyfriend Goes Viral At Celtics Game (Video)

Anthony Amador

A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
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