And that includes his mom.
We don’t know why, but for whatever reason, for the second time in the Olympic basketball tournament, Steve Kerr opted not to play former Duke star Jayson Tatum.
From the outside it seems strange: Tatum has had an amazing year and can certainly contribute. For whatever reason though, Kerr has opted not to use him.
Among the people who have noticed are Tatum’s mom, Brandy Cole, who was not impressed with Kerr’s decision. Dick Vitale wondered what was going on with Tatum and Mrs. Cole said this.
It was a baffling move, especially since Bogdan Bogdanovic and Aleksa Avramovic were just lighting the US up. Bogdanovic and Avramovic combined to hit 7-16 on their three point attempts, particularly early (the US finally shut down Serbia’s three point attack in the fourth quarter). Presumably Tatum, an excellent defender, could have helped.
Many people were outraged by the move and we don’t think Kerr has explained it yet.
The thing about us fans though is that while something may look obvious, like Tatum should be playing, we don’t really know much about why he didn’t.
Some people think that Kerr has a grudge or vendetta against Tatum and that’s just stupid. He’s the coach of the American team, which is always expected to win gold. If that doesn’t happen, Kerr is going to be pilloried by everyone. Why would he want to put himself through that just to put Tatum in his place?
You could make an argument that Kerr just doesn’t know what he’s doing, but the fact that he’s won four NBA championships tends to suggest he has some idea of what he’s doing. And on a secondary note, after Golden State let Klay Thompson go recently, Kerr expressed great loyalty to Thompson.
The idea that this is a vendetta is just silly.
That said, it is baffling. However, our advice is to hold criticism until after Saturday’s championship game.
If the US wins a fifth straight gold, then all of his decisions will look smart.
But if the US loses?
Kerr is going to catch it from all quarters and then the argument about Tatum not playing is going to get much, much more severe.
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