I'd definitely agree that Rudy was more athletic/explosive AND he has a freakish wingspan (Tatum is very good at 6'8" with a 6'11" wingspan but Rudy was the same height with a crazy 7'3" wingspan and a 40" vertical) but Tatum is more polished as a freshman than Gay was as a sophomore at UConn.
One of the stats that I look at from college players is blocks and steals. They don't translate well to the next level, but they are decent approximation of defensive potential - how well guys (especially wings) anticipate and are focused on that end. Gay often was not fully engaged in defense in college (well in the NBA too) but he had better block and steal rates than Tatum who both isn't always engaged AND doesn't have special tools. Gay has never been all that interested in defense but he had the ability to be if he wanted. Tatum will have to make up for not being elite physically with MUCH better effort to avoid being a Gay/Carmelo-lite/smaller Jabari Parker type player.
I think he can be coached to move the ball and be more active on defense. If so he's still not likely to be great defensively but he could become more of a young Shareef Abdur-Rahim type player who also used good skill, craftiness and body control to score efficiently. Lots of IFs with Tatum though. I don't want him at 5 but if the Kings grab Fox at 5 and Tatum slips all the way to 10 I'd love for the Kings to scoop him up. I think if that were to happen you need a veteran SF who can start and force Tatum to make adjustments to his game before he sees the floor. Malachi Richardson was one of my absolute least favorite prospects last year, but between Reno and Joerger's staff in Sacramento they got him to change his game and focus on good, quality shots. I'd think they could mold Tatum into something very positive.
- Fultz
- Jackson
- Ball
- Isaac
- Fox
- Smith
- Collins (maybe Markkanen?)
- Monk
- Ntilikina
- Tatum
I could see that happening.