Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, an All-NBA first-teamer for each of the past three seasons, was a surprise DNP-CD in Team USA’s pool-play victory over Serbia on Sunday, joining Tyrese Haliburton as the only two players on the 12-man roster who didn’t see the court.
Keeping Tatum on the bench isn’t the plan going forward, however, according to head coach Steve Kerr, who told reporters on Monday that the Celtics star will be part of the rotation on Wednesday vs. South Sudan.
“Jayson will play (on Wednesday),” Kerr said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “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.”
A few factors contributed to Tatum’s DNP-CD on Sunday. Kevin Durant returned from his calf strain and looked like the best player on the court for much of his 16:44 of action. Kerr also leaned heavily on his big men against a strong Serbian frontcourt led by Nikola Jokic, with Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, and Joel Embiid all seeing playing time. Additionally, Derrick White, viewed as the 12th man on the roster, saw nearly 16 minutes of action in order to match up defensively with Serbia’s talented backcourt.
“The hardest part of this job is you’re sitting at least a couple of guys who are world-class, some of the very best players on Earth,” Kerr said. “On one hand, it makes no sense at all. On the other, I’m asking these guys to just commit to winning one game and then move on to the next one. I have to do the same thing. And so I felt like (Sunday) night those were the combinations that made the most sense.”
As Windhorst points out, Tatum should be a better fit against a South Sudan roster that features more athleticism and spreads the floor with three-point shooters.
“With South Sudan, it’s more about the speed, and speed is a killer,” Kerr said. “You have to be prepared for everything, and that means we need everybody.”
Church league basketball behavior. Why do we care if he doesn’t play?
He’s managing huge egos and guys who have been the best player on their teams most of their lives. Not an easy task.
I disagree that D White is the 12th man, even though he was the last guy selected. I think it’s probably Haliburton due to his defensive limitations. He’s an all-world player but you’re not gonna play him over Curry. Haliburton is bringing great energy on the bench and he seems to have right mentality that it’s an honor just to be here.
With KD back and looking terrific I’d try starting him or AD in Embiid’s spot and give Embiid a game off.
I don’t think Durant is as good of a fit against South Sudan. Serbia plays a slower-paced point-to-point game with Jokic as their anchor, and KD is a good answer for that with the Team USA lineup, as he provides a lot of extra length and can just pull up over the smaller wings/guards; he doesn’t have to care about Jokic in the post or the switching guards as much as the other wings. However, as Kerr said, South Sudan plays with speed, and KD has slowed down a lot since his best days; he’s more of a pullup-and-post guy now. He also doesn’t have the physicality of the true bigs; he’s still more of a wing who just plays the 4. His game is still valuable and provides key advantages, but in this instance, the actual bigs are better fits to challenge South Sudan’s cutting and slashing. I could see playing Durant off the bench to give Team USA a length advantage or more shooting, but he shouldn’t be starting this specific game.
Its a shame when the media makes a big deal about h who plays and who doesn’t. They sound like a bunch of karens claiming their child didn’t play. The goal is to win with the best players to win not a participation trophy.
Further proof that participation trophies were for parents, not kids. I don’t know about anyone else, but I never met anyone who was happy with getting a participation trophy. Every mom and dad was upset their kid wasn’t the next Ken Griffey Jr. or MJ.
Yeah well at least people with participation trophies tried, vs. the armchair nba players who would “definitely make the league — if I wanted to”
I agree. National team is where you put your ego aside and try to win. But a player like Tatum shouldn’t be getting DNPs because you will actually need him later on in the tournament.
The media doesn’t do anything the audience doesn’t want. It is the audience, and Internet posters, that want to know who is playing.
When I was young in the Bay Area, we had 10 hours of late night radio sportstalk. Now where up to 500 hours, ESPN (and their 500 channels),Fox sports, and millions of podcasts. So, it is completely the audiences fault.
Unfortunately all the bay area sport stations are terrible. Outside of Boston most people are OK with him sitting. Boston fans should be happy he sat and rested up because of all the extra games Boston played this year in the playoffs and finals it burns out players.
75% of programming on Bay Area sports radio is syndicated. So, nationally, sports radio sucks. Just like 90% of AM radio. They all repeat the same thing.
Funny how they complain about Green and then do a 180. Loved Klay now complain.
Tatum had a long season and Haliburton finished playoffs injured. They are managing minutes for match ups too. Everyone will play. They best guys for each match up play the eliminations.
As a C’s fan I honestly don’t view this situation as a big deal at all. Tatum has Lebron & KD ahead of him on their depth chart which means that any other big wings on the roster likely won’t see much playing time. Its very similar to Boston’s own hierarchy where Tatum & Brown soak up most of the wing minutes from their team’s rotation.
Having said all of that, Kerr needs to balance out his roster better going forward. If two guys end up sitting one game then there should be two other players doing the same the next time out. Either find minutes for everyone or just take turns sitting players.
It’s one game. Relax ….. He’ll get his chance to show off. Make it hard for Kerr when you play. I don’t play him over KD or Bron. I can play him with either one at times.
USA needs to bring SSudan back to earth. Just like they did Serbia …..
More surprising was Haliburton not playing, right?
He is better than any other guard on the team… meanwhile AD, KD & LBJ are all better forwards than JT!
When will Lebron not be the right matchup for a team and have a DNP? Doesn’t he have defensive deficiencies.
(I like Lebron. Just pointing out it won’t happen. Obviously this is Lebrons last Olympics and Tatum etc will have more opportunities)
@ ElDon. Those guys were better, not now. The 3x all first teams in a row in the same position and current nba champion says otherwise. Anyways, I wish they’d send all three celtics home. Playing favourites and catering to your own agenda is what’s gotten the states in trouble from time to time over the years. Remember the LeBronze days?
It’s another problem born of the way the team was put together, based on NBA status. Applies to the coaches as well. I have no confidence in Kerr, or Spo, in this setting. Fortunately, the USA roster could comprise the top 2 teams in the tournament.
LBJ says who plays and who doesn’t !