Few clips from a previous 1 v 1 workout, he looks very flat footed and slow.
https://youtu.be/oGB1V0iesDs?t=2m13s
If this truly was the case, how did he play D1 basketball at a pretty high level. Real slow and flat footed usually do not play SF at the D1 level, they can play PF and C but at SF your playing some of the best athletes in the game.
But that's just it - he didn't play as a small forward. Instead, and much like Jabari Parker, he played at the 4, which made him look considerably quicker against his matchups until you realize that he was doing most of his damage against much slower, and more traditional, power forwards, again, much like Parker, which is why I looked at him as the classic Duke tweener, only for him to, thankfully, look much better, laterally, during the summer league. Hopefully that will be the case in the NBA, as well.
While he dose need work on that end(not many rookies don't), Stevens said he was really impressed how much better he had gotten at D during the summer league.
Which means, he knows it's a weakness, and he's working on it, and he's getting results. Brown had an edge last season were he could play really solid to great D, but his offense was lacking in the beginning.
Tatum might have solid to good offense, but lacking on the defensive end. But coming off the bench, he should get playing time unless he really stinks it up. They'll need some scoring off the bench and as long as he can play solid D and stay with in schemes, he should be fine.
Wait a minute, I thought that everything was earned and nothing was given on this team
.