Jae'Sean Tate
Houston Rockets

Player Facts

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 230lbs.

Wingspan: 6'8"

Date of Birth: Oct. 28, 1995
College Experience: Ohio State (4 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 7
Physical Strength: 9
Positional Size: 4
Positional Wingspan: 5
Paint Scoring: 7
Midrange Scoring: 2
Three-Point Scoring: 3
Dribbling: 7
Passing: 6
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 7
Rebounding: 7

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JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Power Drives

> Functionally a Big

> Finishing

> Off-Ball Cutting

> Touch-Playmaking

> Put-Backing + Posting Up

> Immense Defensive Versatility

> Heavy Post Defense

> Shooting Absence

> Fouling Frenzy

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

*All short clips courtesy of NF Highlights (YouTube),

*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Jae'Sean Tate took a roundabout path to the NBA but has now established himself as a solid rotation player. After four years at Ohio State and a few overseas, the undersized 4-man has carved out a niche in the league. Tate brings energy, powerful straight-line driving, some post-up ability, and multi-position defense to the hardwood.

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Power Drives

The sturdy forward has great strength at 6'4", and 230 pounds. Tate uses all of that to be a wrecking ball on the offensive side. He'll plow through lighter players, often cradling the ball like an NFL running back on these forceful takes.

On his 4.6 drives per game during his rookie year (same figure as Denver's Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic), he shot a solid 46.5% (better than Ja Morant and Darius Garland). The Ohio native has some dribbling juice to get into the lane too. He doesn't solely rely on his athletic tools.

Functionally a Big

One way Tate can get going downhill is by using a ball screen. This isn't the most common means for him though. The lefty routinely functions as a pseudo-big man within the half-court.

What that undersized big label manifests as is being the roll man, posting up, and initiating dribble-handoff sequences. All of these can end with Tate getting into that painted area where he's at by far his best as a point-getter.

Starting out the DHO is a neat way to employ Jae'Sean Tate. It leverages his strengths as he can both pass and slash from here. He loves to fake/keep and barrel to the hole to get to that preferred left.

Finishing

Tate keeps his finishes simple and is more of a power-based scorer here rather than a finesse one. A 6-foot-8 wingspan helps him finish well through traffic too. He shot over 61% at the cup during his first four NBA seasons while mixing in some nice lefty flip shots a few more feet out.

Off-Ball Cutting

Jae'Sean remains a mover without the ball to make use of his next-pass abilities and interior finishing. Whether sneaking along the baseline to the dunker or streaking in with a 45 or slot cut, he reads the floor rapidly and often correctly in these spots. He averaged just 2.37 of typical touch time already as a rookie, a testament to his quick decision-making.

He finished 2020-2021 in the 81st percentile for scoring off his cuts. Tate totaled 148 points here by simply playing off guys like John Wall and Eric Gordon. Nearly 16 percent of these possessions ended with him drawing a foul too, though he does need to get better at the stripe.

Touch-Playmaking

Tate has some playmaking chops that may come as a surprise to some. In catch-and-go scenarios, for instance, he'll attack that seam with the willingness to dish it off.

He'll also grease the wheels of the half-court offense with just simple but precise and timely deliveries to make his teammates' jobs easier. These include soft high-low feeds floated over the top and the "one-more" swing pass along the perimeter for a better shot. While not a great spot-up shooter, the attack and pass components of his triple-threat game are already at a good place.

Numbers support the film as it pertains to Tate's distribution. The southpaw was seventh amongst all rookies in dimes dropped (2020-2021). This placed him just behind Cole Anthony.

Put-Backing + Posting Up

Jae'Sean supplements his half-court value with strong offensive rebounding ability. He crashes the glass often and with the sort of reckless abandon that tends to lead to second-chance opportunities. Tate will use his bounce to catch and slam the ball back in with one fell swoop.

The former Buckeye was second amongst first-year players in 2020-2021 in O-REB's grabbed. While Isaiah Stewart pulled down more, he's also a center who is noticeably taller and heavier than Tate. 2023-2024 represented the fourth year in a row of ripping down 2+ offensive boards per-36.

Closing the door on his offense, he utilizes the post when he has the weight advantage. He does a good job of getting to that strong left hand through ground-gaining crab dribbles. Tate can also be a weapon in transition as a basket-attacker or ball-mover.

Immense Defensive Versatility

Jae'Sean is a positive contributor on the defensive side with an impressive Defensive Box Plus/Minus of 1.5 in 2023-2024. Pillars of his worth include tremendous positional versatility, high energy, making the right rotation regularly, and serviceable widespread counting stats.

He also repeatedly beats opposing guards to their spots with great lateral quicks and promptly puts his weighty body in between them and the basket.

He spends loads of time on two-guards, small forwards, and power forwards. Ones and fives are not off his list either – he can tag-in to check these players too. 2021-2022 saw him spend at least 9 direct matchup minutes on a large size spectrum of players including Luguentz Dort, Devin Booker, Brandon Ingram, and Jayson Tatum.

The hard-playing Tate works well in a switching system because of his malleability. He can also play passing lanes well with high hands and protect the rim to a solid degree. His high degree of awareness and defensive discipline helps him be strong on closeouts as an off-ball guy with the active hands to turn these into take-aways sometimes.

His steals, deflections, blocks, and defensive rebounding numbers all tend to be respectable or even better for his position. Tate notched 2.1 stocks (steals + blocks) per-36 in his first NBA season. Swats-wise, he finished with more than bigs Maxi Kleber, Domantas Sabonis, and LaMarcus Aldridge that year.

Heavy Post Defense

His all-around man defense is solid but he shines most in slower-developing isolations. For instance, he is an anchor in the post – very tough to move. 2020-2021 had him in the 73rd percentile guarding the post at just 6-4.

WEAKNESSES

Shooting Absence

Shooting is currently a huge weakness for the multi-positional Tate. He cannot even be relied upon to knock down simple, standstill threes on a consistent basis. Simply put, he hardly takes nor makes any type of three, sinking under 30% in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

Jae'Sean could get to the line more, improve his midrange shooting, and elevate his isolation scoring game. These half-court weak points are more nitpicks than anything, given that he will likely top out as a strong role player.

As such, complementary offensive players do not need to do all those things well. Better jump shooting would go a long way though.

Fouling Frenzy

Defensive qualms center around some silly fouling and a few other bad habits. He'll hack 4-5 times per-36 despite rarely playing the five. He actually led the NBA in fouls committed during 2021-2022.

Tate fails to be the impact shot-blocker that would help to offset the voracious fouling. Make no mistake, he is a useful defender on the inside who maximizes his size, but he is only 6'4". Many of these fouls occur where players aren't as big of a threat to score out on the perimeter as well.

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Beacon Bacon

Tate landed on the 2020-2021 All-Rookie First Team beside LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and Saddiq Bey