Former Celtic, Stephon Marbury, was impressed with Kevin Durant's point guard skills even when he watched the 6'10" Durant play his first college game at Texas (per essentiallysports.com's Aaron Mathew):
MARBURY: “We’ve never seen a guy at 6’10” handle the ball the way how he handles the basketball. It’s literally point guard skills. Everything that he does from his cross, from his hesi, everything. The thing that separates is he can shoot. When you can shoot from that far out that sets up everything.
A good NBA point guard needs to have exceptional ball-handling skills - be a diversified scoring threat - orchestrate the offense - pass the ball to the right guy at the right time - and play solid defense. That is exactly what the 6'8" Tatum has become - a forward with point-guard skills.
His handles have improved significantly since his NBA debut, and JT lately has become an adept and willing facilitator. Jaylen came into the league as a shooter, but his improved penetration skills have made him that "diversified scoring threat".
Will he ever reach the current status of Kevin Durant? That is a high aspiration, but Tatum has a decent shot at hitting that high ceiling. Durant's point-guard skills separate him from the pack. The same could happen with Jayson Tatum.
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