Aside from Kevin Durant’s masterful efficiency coming off the bench, the most important story to return out of Workforce USA’s win over Serbia on Sunday was the truth that Jayson Tatum did not play a single second.
You were not alone if you happen to thought perhaps Tatum had a little bit damage pop up. An image floated round social media exhibiting his finger closely wrapped. Or perhaps he caught the virus that Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis have been coping with within the lead as much as Sunday. There needed to be one thing happening, proper?
Nope. He simply straight up obtained benched. Coach’s determination. Not a single second to be discovered for one of the best participant on one of the best staff within the NBA who has made first-team All-NBA three straight years. Not even when the Individuals have been up 21 early within the fourth quarter. Tatum, who was presumed to be one of many candidates to crack the beginning lineup, by no means as soon as took his warmup shirt off.
“It is actually laborious in a 40-minute sport to play greater than 10 guys,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr advised reporters after the sport. “With Kevin [Durant] coming again, I simply went to the combos that I felt made essentially the most sense. It appears loopy. I assumed I used to be loopy after I checked out every thing and decided these are the lineups I wished to get to.”
In a separate interview with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Kerr admitted that he “felt like an fool” for not taking part in Tatum, however he did iterate that “each sport’s going to be totally different based mostly on matchups” whereas indicating that Tatum “goes to play” because the event strikes ahead.
As an preliminary response, it appears fairly foolish to listen to Kerr say Tatum did not play due to “matchups” and “lineup combos” when his best power as a participant is the truth that he suits any lineup in any function and might match up in opposition to any opponent. He cannot be hunted defensively. He can play on or off ball. The concept that a 6-foot-8 wing who can shoot, move, dribble, defend and rebound does not match up effectively with Serbia, or anybody else for that matter, is, frankly, a preposterous suggestion by itself.
After all, that is a wholly distinctive context. Maybe an important factor Kerr mentioned is that “our guys know the important thing to this complete factor is to place all of the NBA stuff within the rearview mirror and simply win six video games.” That is the place a staff with this a lot overlapping expertise will get tough. On a daily staff, Tatum is one of the best participant. On this staff, there are half a dozen guys, at the least, who can do all the identical issues he does, and that is the place it’s important to learn between the strains of Kerr’s phrases.
What he is saying, in essence, is that he thinks Devin Booker, who’s rattling close to the identical participant as Tatum, is a greater match by way of the lens of supporting the beginning lineup, and he thinks Anthony Edwards is a greater participant, interval.
You’ll be able to argue that Derrick White maintains second-unit offensive readability as a non-scorer with a clear-cut obligation to defend in the identical method Jrue Vacation does for the starters. Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are positionally needed, and Durant is, effectively, Durant. Edwards is the one who might, on paper, be most simply swapped out for Tatum.
I am not saying Kerr ought to’ve gone that route, as a result of then we might be sitting right here saying why the hell did not Edwards play. I am merely saying you may’t inform me for one second that Edwards “matches up higher” with Serbia than Tatum.
If something, the argument might be made that Durant’s presence, if we’re speaking pure lineup combos, would make Edwards much less needed as a go-to scorer on the second unit, whereas Tatum would make sense in a do-everything assist function just like one Booker occupied with the starters. Making an attempt to make this about “matchups” is a euphemism for a harsh fact: Kerr did not assume Tatum was a needed element to beat one of many higher groups within the event. When he says Tatum can be on the market subsequent sport, effectively, the U.S. is taking part in South Sudan on Wednesday. Kerr might throw blind darts for his lineup choices in that sport and Workforce USA might nonetheless win by 30 (so long as the Individuals do not repeat their efficiency from earlier this month).
So let’s get to the center of the query: Are Booker and Edwards higher gamers than Tatum? Affordable minds can disagree right here. In the event you have been rating NBA gamers, these three can be very shut to 1 one other on any checklist value its salt.
Maybe it factored into Kerr’s determination that Tatum did not play or shoot all that effectively by way of the exhibition schedule. However neither did Booker, who linked on simply 33% of his 3s within the Olympic lead up.
I assume you might argue that Booker does really feel like a barely higher suited assist participant than Tatum does in a beginning lineup managed by two alphas LeBron James and Stephen Curry, however you actually should squint to simply accept that reasoning. If you are going to go along with the spacing logic, Tatum was truly a greater catch-and-shoot shooter this previous NBA season, and he simply gained a championship on a staff whose best power was the sum-of-its-parts mixing of elite abilities. Tatum did not shoot effectively all through the playoffs and but was superior in all of the margins that are inclined to tie lineups collectively.
We do that lots in NBA parlance as effectively, getting obsessive about these “matchup” and “match” buzz phrases. The fact is that this: good gamers, notably ones who land squarely within the middle of the size-and-skill spectrum and, maybe most significantly, can play multi-positional protection, match wherever.
That is the blessing and curse of getting your hand on the switches of a staff with this a lot redundantly elite expertise. Just about all these guys can do every thing. The one different participant that did not see the court docket was Tyrese Haliburton, however that has a transparent clarification. He isn’t the defender that White is.
In Kerr’s protection, whereas Tatum is actually a succesful and versatile defender, Edwards is clearly higher, and Booker might be a little bit higher, on the ball, and point-of-attack strain is a giant a part of the FIBA sport. The straightforward reply would’ve been to separate minutes between Booker and Tatum, however then you definately’re reducing into the circulation that takes time to create for each the person participant and the lineup as a complete.
Kerr additionally might’ve put Tatum, and Haliburton for that matter, within the sport within the fourth quarter when the end result was determined, however that just about feels extra embarrassing than not taking part in in any respect. These guys are superstars. They do not wish to sub into rubbish time like some highschool scrub.
In hindsight, Kerr’s determination to go along with Booker and Edwards over Tatum seems fairly rattling good after they mixed to attain 23 factors on 6-of-8 3-point capturing whereas the Individuals placed on a collective basketball clinic. And that does not bode effectively for Tatum transferring ahead.
Sure, he would possibly and even in all probability will play in these subsequent two group-stage video games in opposition to South Sudan and Puerto Rico as a result of there’s nearly no method the Individuals can lose these matchups, and when the U.S. probably faces an opponent in opposition to whom they is likely to be smart to play smaller (Canada, as an example), Tatum might see time there, as effectively.
However when all issues are equal, he’s clearly not Kerr’s alternative at this level. That is a tricky capsule to swallow, and also you surprise the way it would possibly affect Tatum’s enthusiasm for future Olympic endeavors when the Individuals will want him much more as soon as LeBron and Durant lastly age out. Solely time will inform for that. However for now, Kerr is taking part in this event with the fellows he feels give him one of the best probability to not go down because the coach who blew a fifth straight gold medal with one of the vital gifted groups ever. If Tatum’s ego has to take a success within the spirit of that mission, so be it.
