USA Basketball Team

[Fierce1]

And do we really believe if JT shot the ball well he would have leapfrogged Lebron and KD at the 4 spot?

Apparently JT is the 3rd PF on the depth chart.

Don't forget about Bam, so 4th PF.

True!

[Fierce1]

Foolish on the part of Kerr.

Just like the game plan where GSW intentionally let JB shoot 3s which led to the Cs winning by 50 at the Garden.

[Fierce1]

Instead of fans talking about Team USA's win, fans are now talking about why Tatum got a DNP-CD.

[Triple7]

Steve Kerr is an idiot. That’s why its hard to coach a team full of great players, but they chose you because they thought you could handle ego’s. Tatum getting zero mins si just dumb. I don’t care if its 5mins in the 1st half and garbage time again in the 4th. You play everyone. You find mins for everyone. Now, all the guys that would be asked to play in future olympics would want assurance they won’t get benched. I’m pretty sure this would be the last olympic Tatum and hali would play if Kerr is the coach. **** you Steve you dumb ass coward.

[ConstableGeneva]

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The Embiid part sickens me.

[GreenBloodedC]

Disrespectful. Tatum is the present and future of USA basketball, and you give him 0 minutes? This is also not his first olympics.

[shackles10]

It’s part roster construction (not Kerr’s fault), part the way we do our Olympic teams where they only come together a few weeks before the Olympics (not Kerr’s fault), and part the coaches job to find rotations quickly, find roles for everyone because there are no bad players, and get them playing time so they aren’t just coming off the bench cold ready to be either the hero or the scapegoat (100% Kerr’s fault). Even regarding the first 2 he took the position knowing the teams will likely be ill-fitting stars mostly and that he wouldn’t have but a short training camp. He also played several players who don’t really fit in (Embiid, Booker, and even Steph to some degrees). In fact all 3 of them start. Embiid has been terrible in the friendlies so can’t say JT gets not playing time because of those games, when he was actually good against Canada when he has a role and also has a history of playing well internationally in the last Olympics. Booker and Steph have been sieves defensively but have gotten some buckets because how can you not eventually when your teammates can’t be left alone and you get open looks. Bam even has dropped off from his good early play and hasn’t been great. It’s all truly head scratching and makes you wonder if there are ulterior motives.

As far as roster construction it’s like they recognize the need to fit onto the team with guys like White and Jrue who can pretty much play their normal games and be solid additions but then have guys like Hali and Booker (and JT kinda too) who don’t have a role that makes sense. Hali was off ball in the corner almost his entire playing time before getting zero minutes instead of a ball handler and initiator so why not put a guy on the team who’s a finisher and defender? Booker redeems himself a little with his shooting but is a terrible defender on the other end and doesn’t play fast at all. JT theoretically could be an ultimate glue guy as that’s what he was doing to a really high degree on our way to a title while getting criticized for not scoring enough. There’s an easy role there, but they don’t want him handling the ball. His struggles shooting no doubt didn’t do him any favors, but he could easily drive and score inside or dish out the ball as he’s used to a role doing both.

In 4 years there’s no Lebron, no KD, no Steph, possibly no AD so they’ll need Jt and Hali both most likely. Are either interested if Kerr is still coaching? Are others cautious because they see a 1st team all-nba guy get no PT after being hailed as the heir apparent to KD for this team 3 years ago. May not matter because Kerr may move on and let Spo step in. Ideally you have a coach where NBA and international are separate and aren’t either recruitment opportunities, blatant favoritism and/or head games.

[Triple7]

Disrespectful. Tatum is the present and future of USA basketball, and you give him 0 minutes? This is also not his first olympics.

This would be his last. He’s not playing for Steve Kerr, and rightfully so. That’s just disrespectful. A wake up call for JT to improve his game. He is better at attacking the rim, but he’s regressed with shooting and shot making. Missing short jumpers, and missing tons of wide open layups. Everyone is reacting the way we do. Like damn, how he missed that layup. He needs to improve

[bigfoot_cryptozoology]

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[Triple7]

It’s part roster construction (not Kerr’s fault), part the way we do our Olympic teams where they only come together a few weeks before the Olympics (not Kerr’s fault), and part the coaches job to find rotations quickly, find roles for everyone because there are no bad players, and get them playing time so they aren’t just coming off the bench cold ready to be either the hero or the scapegoat (100% Kerr’s fault). Even regarding the first 2 he took the position knowing the teams will likely be ill-fitting stars mostly and that he wouldn’t have but a short training camp. He also played several players who don’t really fit in (Embiid, Booker, and even Steph to some degrees). In fact all 3 of them start. Embiid has been terrible in the friendlies so can’t say JT gets not playing time because of those games, when he was actually good against Canada when he has a role and also has a history of playing well internationally in the last Olympics. Booker and Steph have been sieves defensively but have gotten some buckets because how can you not eventually when your teammates can’t be left alone and you get open looks. Bam even has dropped off from his good early play and hasn’t been great. It’s all truly head scratching and makes you wonder if there are ulterior motives.

As far as roster construction it’s like they recognize the need to fit onto the team with guys like White and Jrue who can pretty much play their normal games and be solid additions but then have guys like Hali and Booker (and JT kinda too) who don’t have a role that makes sense. Hali was off ball in the corner almost his entire playing time before getting zero minutes instead of a ball handler and initiator so why not put a guy on the team who’s a finisher and defender? Booker redeems himself a little with his shooting but is a terrible defender on the other end and doesn’t play fast at all. JT theoretically could be an ultimate glue guy as that’s what he was doing to a really high degree on our way to a title while getting criticized for not scoring enough. There’s an easy role there, but they don’t want him handling the ball. His struggles shooting no doubt didn’t do him any favors, but he could easily drive and score inside or dish out the ball as he’s used to a role doing both.

In 4 years there’s no Lebron, no KD, no Steph, possibly no AD so they’ll need Jt and Hali both most likely. Are either interested if Kerr is still coaching? Are others cautious because they see a 1st team all-nba guy get no PT after being hailed as the heir apparent to KD for this team 3 years ago. May not matter because Kerr may move on and let Spo step in. Ideally you have a coach where NBA and international are separate and aren’t either recruitment opportunities, blatant favoritism and/or head games.

I think gilbert arenas mentioned that on his podcast. To have a coach that’s not coaching an nba team, to avoid conflict of interest and biases. Kerr benching JT would have a negative effect on future teams. No star player would want to get zero mins. That would ruin their brand, and ego pride would take a hit. Felt bad for JT. Doesn’t matter if KD plays. He should have gotten at least 8-10mins. All of the players were excited going in. I don’t know if Jt would still be, even if he plays next game. He now knows how Kerr thinks of him as a player.

[ThePigeon]

I hope White and Jrue will get DPN-CD also
Grind the others to the ground. We need the rest
And we will be pissed off comes playoff time (and GS games)

[Grahf]

Kerr is a snake, always has been. How many years has he spent enabling Draymond Green's garbage behavior, protesting and whining every time he was suspended or disciplined?

[Fencer reregistered]

Steve Kerr is an idiot. That’s why its hard to coach a team full of great players, but they chose you because they thought you could handle ego’s. Tatum getting zero mins si just dumb. I don’t care if its 5mins in the 1st half and garbage time again in the 4th. You play everyone. You find mins for everyone. Now, all the guys that would be asked to play in future olympics would want assurance they won’t get benched. I’m pretty sure this would be the last olympic Tatum and hali would play if Kerr is the coach. **** you Steve you dumb ass coward.

They thought that of the coach whose team Draymond Green periodically implodes?

[cl2117]

What's worse: token minutes at the end of the game or DNP-CD?

I'd say the latter just because of the media impact of not playing 2 of your guys despite being up 20 going into the 4th. Especially considering the talent level of the two guys you're not playing. It's not like people are clamoring for some no-name rookie to get minutes, it's a pair of current all-NBA talents.

You can't check Tatum in for LeBron and Hali in for Booker when the team is up 18 with less than 5 minutes left to go and both of those guys had already played north of 20 minutes? Kerr could have easily given both Tatum/Hali 10 minutes and kept everyone under 20 minutes total, still got the W and didn't have to answer any questions post-game. Hard to complain given how well everyone outside of Embiid played, not like you can criticize Kerr for letting KD cook when he's 5-5 from three and 8-9 from the floor. Still though, just feels like an unforced error from Kerr under the circumstances.

I'm happy with our guys not getting too much run during the Olympics. If they can win gold and still come back home without too many miles on their legs, that's ideal. Still though, I can imagine this is a tough pill to swallow given the context of the conversation around Tatum's "superstardom" during our championship run, plus the fact that he's been part of team USA for so long at this stage and done/said all the right things.

Even more so than chasing the Larry O'Brien, the Olympics should be the ultimate team (country) first environment, so all that matters is that we won and on to the next one.

[Fierce1]

But Kerr had a chance to insert JT to start the 4th.

It was simply disrespectful.

Otherwise fans wouldn't be talking about it.

I haven't heard about why Haliburton was a DNP-CD.

[Fierce1]

What's worse was Lebron and Steph still played a lot of minutes in the 4th when the U.S. had a big lead.

Kerr would sit Klay or Steph in the 4th if GSW had a big lead.

This is about the old guys wanting to put on a show for the global stage.

[ConstableGeneva]

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[return2glory]

Feel bad for JT. That’s what you get by shooting poorly in the playoffs. You get little respect.

What did Lebron do in the playoffs? He shouldn't even be on the team. Sometimes it's about politics. It's not about Tatum's shooting in the layoffs. Who did Curry shoot in the playoffs? He's team didn't make the playoffs.

[shackles10]

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Lol this makes him look like a really inexperienced coach. He's treating it like he's been asked about why Draymond kicked another dude in the family jewels and doesn't want to keep answering the questions. They just want to know why you didn't play the only American All-NBA 1st teamer and second best player from the last Olympics a mere 3 years ago.

[shackles10]

Feel bad for JT. That’s what you get by shooting poorly in the playoffs. You get little respect.

What did Lebron do in the playoffs? He shouldn't even be on the team. Sometimes it's about politics. It's not about Tatum's shooting in the layoffs. Who did Curry shoot in the playoffs? He's team didn't make the playoffs.

For me it's if he's struggling shooting then ask him to fill the other half dozen roles he does for the NBA champion Celtics (creator, driver, rebounder, defender, connector, etc.). This isn't just a shooter/scorer who's struggling with his shot, it's a VERY well-rounded basketball player and no excuse to say he doesn't fit into a lineup. You're a terrible coach if you can't fit this version of JT into a lineup of all-stars. Are you a terrible coach Mr. Kerr??