JAMAAL TATUM'S BLOG View profile
188cm / 6'2'' - Guard - 1984 USA
Jamaal Tatum Basketball Career
Born: Sep.13, 1984
Son of James and Patricia Wright-Tatum
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Outlook:
A scoring point guard with great quickness and the ability to create shots for himself and others...Takes pride in his defense
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Career:
Jefferson City, Mo./Helias
2003-2004: S.Illinois (NCAA): 28 games: 7.8ppg, 2.0rpg, 1.3apg
2004-2005: S.Illinois (NCAA): 35 games: 12.3ppg, 2.4rpg, 2.2apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 39.3%, 3Pts: 38%
2005-2006: S.Illinois (NCAA): 32 games: 15.0ppg, 2.6rpg, 3.3apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 36.5%, 3PT: 29.2%, FT: 78.1%
2006-2007: S.Illinois (NCAA): 35 games: 15.2ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.4apg, 1.2spg, FGP: 43.5%, 3Pts: 40.8%, FT: 77.9%
2007 April: Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (Cherry, Bekaert & Holland team)
2007 July: Pepsi Pro Summer League in Orlando (New Jersey Nets)
2007: Drafted by Atlanta Krunk (CBA,2rd(14))
2007 October: Idaho Stampede (D-League) training camp
2007: Drafted by Idaho Stampede (D-League,1rd(4))
2007-2008: Atlanta Hawks (NBA), only pre-season, then moved to Idaho Stampede (D-League)
2008 July: NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (San Antonio Spurs)
2008-2009: Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), left in Oct.'08, then moved to Idaho Stampede (D-League): 50 games: 11.7ppg, 2.4rpg, 4.0apg, 1.1spg, FGP: 39.4%, 3PT: 33.1%, FT: 79.4%
2009-2010: In Dec.'09 signed at Cholet Basket (France-ProA): French League: 5 games: 5.4ppg, 1.2apg, FGP: 28.6%, 3PT: 25.0%, FT: 83.3%; EuroCup: 3 games: 3.7ppg, 1.0rpg, 1.0apg, in Feb.'10 moved to BK Ventspils (Latvia-LBL): Latvian League: 3 games: 18.0ppg, 3.3rpg, 1.7apg, 1.0spg; Baltic League: 5 games: 10.8ppg, 2.6rpg, 1.2apg, FGP: 40.0%, 3PT: 53.3%, FT: 66.7%; left in Mar.'10
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Awards/Achievements:
MVC Regular Season Champion -05, 07
MVC Tournament Semifinals -05
All-MVC 2nd Team -05
MVC Tournament Winner -06
MVC All-Tournament Team -06, 07
All-MVC Honorable Mention -06
MVC All-Academic 1st Team -06
NABC All-NCAA District 11 1st Team -07
Academic University Division All-America 2nd Team -07
MVC Tournament Finalist -07
All-MVC 1st Team -07
All-MVC Scholar-Athlete 1st Team -07
All-MVC Player of the Year -07
All-MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year -07
NCAA Sweet 16 -07
All-Portsmouth Invitational Tournament Team -07
BLOG POSTINGS
Jamaal Tatum
With That Said September 13, Butler Bulldogs, Europe- Apr.5, 2010 (by Jamaal)
Ill start by making two assumptions. One, that most European basketball fans dont know who I am, and two, many American basketball fans who are frequent Eurobasket surfers probably dont know who I am either. With that said, Ill take the time out to be an egotistical athlete and tell you all the good stuff about myself while neglecting to mention anything negative, Ill leave that to the muckrakers and naysayers of the so-called objective media.
My name is Jamaal Tatum (188-G-84, college: S[read more]
Ill start by making two assumptions. One, that most European basketball fans dont know who I am, and two, many American basketball fans who are frequent Eurobasket surfers probably dont know who I am either. With that said, Ill take the time out to be an egotistical athlete and tell you all the good stuff about myself while neglecting to mention anything negative, Ill leave that to the muckrakers and naysayers of the so-called objective media. My name is Jamaal Tatum (188-G-84, college: S.Illinois), hence, Jamaal Tatum Blog. I was the guy with the long, wild, dred-locks and tattoos in college basketball from 2003-2007, but I was also the guy with the 3.67 GPA to eliminate those unfair stereotypes that came along with my style. I was born September 13, 1984, not September 9th like almost every website in the world has my d.o.b. I played for the Salukis of Southern Illinois University where I won conference scholar athlete of the year and player of the year my senior year. I also appeared in four straight NCAA tournaments, the last of which I helped lead the team to a Sweet Sixteen appearance. We lost to Kansas, arguably the best Kansas team in the last decade. When we met Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen, it wasnt the same 2010 NCAA Tournament team that overlooked the University of Northern Iowa and muddled the entire nations bracket by losing. This was a tough team that came to play every game, and they were hungry just like us. With that said, Im not taking anything away from my fellow Missouri Valley Conference partners; Im just stating the facts. The Panthers played consistently for much of the year and fought hard to take down an elite program, but the Jayhawks werent as good as they were in 2007, and they obviously didnt have enough firepower to not play hard and legitimately expect to win. Speaking of collegiate teams not being as good this year, it seems that none of the teams in March Madness were as good this year. One word proves my theory partially true. Butler? Please dont get me wrong, Ive always enjoyed watching mid-majors do well considering I attended a mid-major university, but are they that good to be playing for a national championship? NO. The competition this year is just down, period. If they were playing for a national championship in 2007 or in previous years, I would have ordered my navy blue Butler Bulldogs t-shirt and foam finger already, but the truth is, the 2007 Butler team was better than the current Butler team and they didnt get close to the final four. With that said, Butler has done a fine job closing out down-to-the-wire games. Theyve done what 62 other teams couldnt and that has to mean something. Ill be considerate of the readers time by giving them a respite from my antiquated collegiate basketball anecdotes and my subjective March Madness analysis and stick to some recent basketball experiences of my own. My post collegiate career looked something like this: College All-Star Game 2007 Portsmouth Invitational 2007 NBA Pre-Draft Camp 2007 Summer League with New Jersey Nets July 2007 Signed as Free Agent, Atlanta Hawks October 2007 Released by Atlanta Hawks November 2007 Drafted by Idaho Stampede November 2007 Season Ending Injury, Idaho Stampede November 2007 - March 2008 Summer League with San Antonio Spurs July 2008 Signed as Free Agent, Portland Trail Blazers August - October 2008 Played with Idaho Stampede November 2008 April 2009 After riding the wavering road of American Basketball (NBA and NBDL) long enough and somehow not finding that metaphoric pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I decided to open a new chapter in my basketball diary via Europe. First stop, Cholet, France. Ah, its near, um its like two or three hours from Paris depending on whos driving. My agent called me towards the end of November, finally, with some news of a possible job opening. Cholet Basket, at the time, was second in the French League in Pro A. They had one of my old college teammates, Randal Falker (201-F-85, college: S.Illinois), the other guy with the dred-locks during my SIU years, and a few other American players on the team that I was familiar with already. I was excited to have the possible opportunity to reunite with an old college teammate at the professional level. I was elated, gleeful, overjoyed, exhilarated, and every other word you can think of for happy. Everything seemed perfect for me to succeed with my first European team, with one minor exception the team I was going to was only offering me a six week contract to temporarily replace the teams starting point guard, John Linehan (175-G-78, college: Providence), while he was sidelined with a strained muscle. In other words, unless I played extremely well, I would be finished after John was healthy, and resume searching for my next European job just a month and a half after finding my first one. My agent informed me of this and I agreed, but at this point nothing was set in stone anyway until a contract was signed. Consequently, I kept the dont put the cart before the horse mentality. That was until hours later when William D. Neff (my agent) called asking if I could be on a plane to France the next day. Ok, yeah, maybe I should have put the cart just a little bit before the horse. Yeah, of course I could be ready to take a flight to France tomorrow. This would be my first time in Europe with the opportunity to play basketball, so I could definitely be ready. Bill faxed my contract that night, and I signed it, and sent it back immediately. I also made sure I thanked him and the Cholet Basket management for the ample time they gave me to prepare for the excursion. I had to pack for six weeks and head to the St. Louis airport in a matter of hours. I also had to let my family and friends know I was departing the country - destination across the world - not to mention that I had to sleep at some juncture in the night. Hmmwhere the hell do I start? I didnt really know, so I threw together a couple pair of hoop shoes, some gym shorts, some One Couture t-shirts and hoodies, some Chuck Taylors, a couple pair of denim trousers (Rock & Republic to be specific), and all other essentials, zipped my bags, and was in bed by 2:00 A.M with my alarm clock set for 5:00 A.M. Leaving for France tomorrow!
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