Who Would You Rather?
I’ve been seeing these posts all over Twitter about “retweet for this person, like for this person, and reply for this person.” I did one the other day with Jayson Tatum, Isaiah Thomas, and Paul Pierce. However, the most common one I’ve seen has to do with Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, and Jayson Tatum. Now it’s difficult for me to not be biased towards Tatum, being a Celtics fan and all, but I wanted to try and approach the question as if I were in fact starting my own team.
So looking at everyone from stats alone, the obvious choice would be Luka. However, the one thing you don’t get with Luka is defense. I mean, that’s literally half the game. Doncic is easily the best offensive player out of the bunch, and possibly a top 5 offensive player in the league. Despite this, Luka is not a good defender yet, and the Mavericks are one of the worst defensive teams in the league. The only reason they’re so good is because of how amazing their offense is.
Zion Williamson gives you more defense than Luka does by a bunch. He’s one of the most athletic players we’ve seen in a while, and the most hyped up rookie sense LeBron himself. My only concern with Zion is the weight. It hasn’t proven to be too much of an issue thus far, but there were rumors that the Pelicans had to teach him to walk correctly which is not a promising story. Then there’s the shooting aspect. I would argue that both Tatum and Luka are far superior shooters to Zion.
Then there’s Jayson Tatum. Not as perfect offensively as Luka, and not as good a playmaker. Not as freakishly athletic as Zion, and not as good a rebounder. However, I would argue he’s the perfect mix of everything. He’s a lethal shooter, a solid finisher, an almost elite defender, and already has more playoff experience than both of the other two combined in just his first two seasons. As a rookie he led his team to an Eastern Conference Finals game 7 against one of the best to ever do it. If I’m being completely honest, it’s hard for me not to take the all around game of Tatum here.
So, I suppose to put my bias away, the best player out of the three at this point in time is probably Luka. He’s an MVP candidate this year and is almost averaging a triple double. That being said, I have to go with the guy who can play elite defense. A wing who’s lengthy and has playoff experience at 22 years old. Jayson Tatum is the guy here.
