Staff USA basketball has a humiliation of riches because it begins to make its run at an Olympic gold medal, and that has introduced it with a great drawback: discovering taking part in time for everybody.
When such a giant prize is on the road, a head coach has to go along with the gamers who’re getting issues carried out and prioritize successful over placating everybody’s emotions.
In the USA’ blowout win over Serbia in its first group-play sport on the 2024 Paris Olympics, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum didn’t play in any respect, which induced some folks to criticize head coach Steve Kerr.
However analyst Doug Gottlieb stated that if Kerr provides Tatum a number of minutes within the group’s subsequent sport, arising towards South Sudan, it will be a case of “overcorrecting” and would “cause far more problems” than not taking part in him, per FOX Sports activities Radio.
“If you play Jayson Tatum big minutes tomorrow, you are overcorrecting and giving into the pressure of social media. It will cause far more problems.”
🎙️@GottliebShow on Steve Kerr probably taking part in Jayson Tatum extra minutes on account of backlash pic.twitter.com/WTyfhvjQgb
— FOX Sports activities Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) July 30, 2024
The scenario Staff USA is in proper now’s much like the one NBA championship contenders face come playoff time once they go from a 10-man rotation throughout the common season to an eight-man rotation within the postseason.
Tatum is completely able to contributing toTeam USA, as he has made the NBA All-Star group in every of the previous 5 seasons, which supplies him extra All-Star nods than a few of his Olympic teammates.
However proper now, the squad has loads of depth on the ahead place with Kevin Durant and LeBron James, in addition to Devin Booker, who can play the three when the U.S. group goes small.
America will once more face South Sudan, an underrated group it needed to huff and puff to defeat simply days in the past in an exhibition contest, and since the general competitors is stiff, prioritizing Tatum’s emotions has to take a again seat to the underside line.