PARIS – Team USA Olympic opening game 110-84 victory The Tigers beat Serbia on Sunday, but attention will inevitably be focused on coach Steve Kerr’s choice to bench a first-team All-NBA player and champion. Jayson Tatum.
Kerr met with Tatum before the game to explain his decision and then met with the media multiple times to address the awkward reality head-on, including on Monday, when Kerr revealed Tatum will be in the lineup when the U.S. plays South Sudan on Wednesday.
“Jason plays [Wednesday]”I won’t answer the next question of who won’t play if he plays, but we’re going to need him. Part of my job is to keep everybody engaged and ready, because in my experience, crazy things are happening,” Kerr said.
Kerr explained that when he and his coaching staff studied the matchup against Serbia and looked at how the lineup combinations worked in the exhibition games, Tatum ended up being a bit of an outlier.
and Nikola Jokic Although the Serbian roster had other strong big men, Kerr selected three centers (Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam AdebayoSerbia also has a strong guard line-up, and Carr Derrick White Serving as a key bench player, White recorded two steals and one block, helping Team USA score plus-15 points while he was on the court.
FIBA-ruled games at the Olympics last 40 minutes and do not have the three-second defensive rule like the NBA. If the ball hits the rim, the burden on the goalkeeper is reduced, making it advantageous to use big men.
“The hardest part of the job is having to sit at least some of the best players in the world, the best players on the planet, on the bench,” Kerr said. “On the one hand, it just doesn’t make sense. On the other hand, you’re just asking your guys to focus on winning one game and move on to the next one, and I have to do the same thing. So last night, I felt that combination made the most sense.”
Kerr then detailed situations he’d had with the national team when unexpected events strained U.S. roster depth — he served as assistant coach at the 2019 World Cup in China and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and was head coach at last summer’s World Cup in Manila when the team had to deal with injuries, illness and travel issues.
Against South Sudan, a team with plenty of athleticism and 3-point shooters who can stretch the floor, Tatum and his ability to switch on the wing makes even more sense.
Tatum averaged 6.7 points in five exhibition games for the U.S. team, including nine points in 16 minutes in a one-point win over the Bright Stars in London last week.
The Bright Stars made 14 3-pointers in the game.
“Speed is important in South Sudan, speed is deadly,” Carr said. “We have to be prepared for anything, and that means we need everyone’s cooperation.”
