USA won. What is there to talk about?
But did they win though?
Many coaching decisions that fall under public scrutiny can be put to bed that simply for me. If it worked, let’s move on.
That’s where I stand when it comes to Steve Kerr’s decision to bench Jayson Tatum Sunday for all of Team USA’s win over Serbia in group play of the Paris Olympics. Many people found it to be disrespectful to a First Team All-NBA player fresh off leading his team to a championship — especially given two of his Boston Celtics teammates combined for almost 40 minutes in the game. But as Kerr explained after the win, the matchup and Kevin Durant’s return from injury dictated Tatum sit.
The results speak for themselves. USA won by 26 points. Let’s move on. The only thing owed to Tatum was a conversation about the decision. Kerr said that took place prior to the game.
Steve Kerr to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:
“It’s tough. But Jayson handled it really well. I talked to him today before the game that it may play out this way, just with Kevin coming back. The lineups that I wanted to get to. But that’ll change. Jayson’s going to play. Every game is going to be different based on matchups.”
What more needs to be said? Kerr picked a 10-man lineup he thought would work best, and he struck gold. When this many stars came together for one goal, sacrifices were always going to be necessary. Tyrese Haliburton also received a DNP-CD. When the U.S. plays South Sudan on Wednesday, it could be two different players. Kerr already revealed Tatum will play in that game.
“Jayson will play [Wednesday],” Kerr said, via ESPN. “I’m not going to answer your next question, which is if he plays, who doesn’t. But we’re going to need him, and part of this job for me is to keep everybody engaged and ready, because my experience with this is crazy stuff happens.”
Some people have argued that Tatum could have played in the second half of the blowout. But as analyst Tim Legler explained, giving a star garbage minutes would have been almost more disrespectful. Once the decision was made to not play Tatum in the first half, you can’t put him in when the game is out of reach.
Tim Legler:
“Once he didn’t play in the first half, it becomes then something for the coach to not disrespect him. As crazy as that sounds, it’s more disrespectful to give him a few minutes at the end of the game than not play him. Because by not playing him, Steve Kerr is saying ‘you know what? I can’t play 12 guys.”
That’s exactly what Kerr said. He doesn’t believe he can play more than 10 players in a 40-minute game. He’s wrong, of course. Kerr can do whatever he wants. He’s the coach. But he’s probably right that it doesn’t make sense to force minutes for more than 10 players in a 40-minute game.
The only problem now is that Kerr has established this as his base philosophy for the rest of these Olympics. So, barring games that get wildly out of hand in the first two quarters, we should expect to see at least two players sit each game going forward. And it’s a situation I’m glad I don’t have to manage.
All it takes is one player to not handle being benched as gracefully as Tatum to make this entire experiment incredibly awkward. And if Kerr concedes by trying to play everyone going forward, the Serbia game ends up looking a lot more disrespectful towards Tatum.
As it stands now, though, it was the right call. It’s on Kerr to figure out how to walk that tightrope the rest of the way to gold.
