Dray’s podcast episode today on Team USA so far

Dray released a podcast today (link to the full episode is here) where he talks about Team USA so far and not only does he, as someone who knows better than almost anyone else outside of Steph himself, Klay, and Steve (irony and all lol) what the likely factors behind Steph’s shooting slump are (and I know he knows because he explicitly addressed the importance of rhythm and touches this past season on one of his podcasts when talking about Klay*), not bother to give insight into what could be going on with Steph's shooting and why it’s not the end of the world – but he does point out that Steph isn't playing well and isn't shooting the ball well lol so he does acknowledge it – but he goes on to say the following later in the podcast when talking about the guards on the team:

“[Jrue] make all the hustle plays. He's defending the best guard. That's what Jrue does. So, Jrue going to play. Obviously, Steph playing. Obviously, Ant-Man playing. D-Book has been the X-Factor. So, when you start looking at the guards, Steph is Steph. Ant-Man is more special than everybody."

Like really, Dray? Steph's getting dogged in the media because he can't find his shot given how few touches he's getting, but because he's Steph he's STILL making a huge impact with his gravity, as well as still hustling (more than can be said for a couple guys that start), etc. and you can't point that stuff out and back him up a bit to try and get the media off his back some? And instead are going to call Ant, who gets to do whatever he wants in the second unit as the ball handler lol so is obviously going to stand out (in the same way that Lebron, as the ball handler in the starting lineup, has been the only other consistent guy; that the two ball handlers are the ones that have stood out because they've been able to find consistency isn't a coincidence lol), more special than any of them, Steph included? Like come on lol 🙄

But in typical Dray fashion, after totally whiffing on one topic, he completely nails another on the head lol. And by that I mean, he also completely rips into Steve's handling of lineups lol which, to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised about because he usually does his criticism sandwich where he'll give a compliment, then criticize, then water down the criticism with another compliment when talking about things Kerr may or may not have done, but not here lol he doesn't hold back at all. The below is just part of his criticism lol just to give an idea:

“So, like just lock the lineups in. The whole switching this guy out, now this guy ain't gonna play this game. That guy, like what we doing? I totally disagree with that. And as I said, just from the outside looking in, it just comes off as like we made a mistake as a coaching staff. As opposed to just the mistake that we made, this is what it is and moving on, you're now combating it with, all right, now this guy ain't playing.

JT goes from out of the starting lineup, out of the rotation zero minutes, to the starting lineup. That don't make him feel good, because then it's like, oh, this is the story. Now, I'm all of a sudden in the starting lineup. I'm Jayson Tatum. It's almost like, ‘oh, I'm giving you this so you don't feel bad.’ Like, that don't make him feel good. It actually, I'm sure it probably made him feel worse about it, like, 'oh, now I'm starting.'

And so, I just disagree with what's going on with the lineup stuff. Like, get the lineups, lock the lineups in, lock the rotations in. We know who's starting and go with it. But somebody else in the lineup today. Again, we're good enough to get away with it because we're just more superior than everyone. Team USA basketball, best in the world, bar none, no question. So, we get away with it. But just because we get away with it, don't make it right. And I think it's wrong, I totally disagree with it. We're 3-0. But guess what? If our rotations were locked in, you know what our record would be? 3-0 but we're just better.”

And like pretty much everyone else that’s been watching these games, he then goes on to say he thinks our starting lineup should be Jrue, Steph, KD, Lebron, and AD. Lol so at least he makes up for his annoying lack of back up of Steph a little with that.

*He said: "I gotta do a better job of making sure he gets more touches in the 2nd half. Although our minutes don't match up as much as they did before, I think it's still my role on this team to make sure that he is getting more shots in the 2nd half. You know, he missed a couple, but they weren't as consistent as I thought they needed to be in order for him to stay in the groove that he was in. So that falls on me."