[NBACentral] Charles Barkley calls out Steve Kerr for not giving more minutes to Jayson Tatum and says Tatum would’ve been the best player on France’s team
"There’s no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum. Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia, probably would have been the best player on France."
You know it’s bad for Coach Kerr when even Chuck is making sense
MyUsernameIsUhhhh
I love chuck and he isn’t wrong. But idk what kinda point this is lol. He plays for team USA, a team which every player would also be the second best for Serbia and best for France. Some guys would be second best behind Wemby. So saying he’d be a top player for another nation is irrelevant.
mysteresc
The Olympics are over. JT gor the same medal as the rest of the team. Who cares at this point?
lima9987
I get there’s nothing else to talk about, and I was just as pissed as everyone else a week ago. but I’m so ready to move on from this now.
jambr380
This isn’t some outrageous statement – Tatum was the only 1st Team All-NBA guy on the team. I understand that Tatum underperformed in his role, but it’s not like he didn’t just win an NBA Title by leading his team in points/rebounds/assists.
There are any number of combinations of players and playing time that would have resulted in a Gold medal; unfortunately for Tatum, this was team was built around the legacy players, unlike what we saw in 2020/21 where he was the 2nd leading scorer on that Gold medal team.
sully9614
I just can’t think of a legitimate basketball reason to refuse to give him more minutes. His shot isn’t falling? Ok, he’s probably one of top 5 defenders on the team at the minimum, a team player that will not force shots or kill possessions, and the opposing defense will always respect his presence. It’s telling the NBA community is seemingly unified in thinking JT got snubbed.
Honestly, the fact we didn’t see a Jrue, White, JT, Bam, and AD lineup at least once in these games tells me there wasn’t a ton of thought put into the lineups we saw outside of making sure LeBron Curry and KD getting as many minutes possible. In a vacuum I loved seeing those 3 finally dominate the Olympics, but I don’t believe that should’ve killed Tatum’s minutes
Weary-Amoeba1808
I get Tatum wasn’t shooting well. I get that there were plenty of other scorers on this team who were lighting it up, but the fact that Kerr didn’t recognize that he could use Tatum in other ways is frustrating.
He was easily the best wing defender on that team and that Serbia game they were just moving the ball around like it was nothing. That’s what Tatum stops. Even just a 6-8 minute stint in each half wouldve disrupted that ball movement and that game wouldn’t have been so close.
mikeisaphreek
everyone knows tatum averaged more minutes than embid, edwards, bam, davis, and white. its not like dude did not play. he did, he just wasnt very good when he did.
Brownsound7
I don’t understand how we could look at this as anything but a positive. JT got a gold medal out of this run, didn’t have to risk injury doing it, and now he and JB feel slighted enough to go on a post-championship revenge tour! Despite the Celtics winning the title last year!
They’re literally handing us tools to avoid being this year’s Denver. *Let’s fucking use them*
9 Comments
You know it’s bad for Coach Kerr when even Chuck is making sense
I love chuck and he isn’t wrong. But idk what kinda point this is lol. He plays for team USA, a team which every player would also be the second best for Serbia and best for France. Some guys would be second best behind Wemby. So saying he’d be a top player for another nation is irrelevant.
The Olympics are over. JT gor the same medal as the rest of the team. Who cares at this point?
I get there’s nothing else to talk about, and I was just as pissed as everyone else a week ago. but I’m so ready to move on from this now.
This isn’t some outrageous statement – Tatum was the only 1st Team All-NBA guy on the team. I understand that Tatum underperformed in his role, but it’s not like he didn’t just win an NBA Title by leading his team in points/rebounds/assists.
There are any number of combinations of players and playing time that would have resulted in a Gold medal; unfortunately for Tatum, this was team was built around the legacy players, unlike what we saw in 2020/21 where he was the 2nd leading scorer on that Gold medal team.
I just can’t think of a legitimate basketball reason to refuse to give him more minutes. His shot isn’t falling? Ok, he’s probably one of top 5 defenders on the team at the minimum, a team player that will not force shots or kill possessions, and the opposing defense will always respect his presence. It’s telling the NBA community is seemingly unified in thinking JT got snubbed.
Honestly, the fact we didn’t see a Jrue, White, JT, Bam, and AD lineup at least once in these games tells me there wasn’t a ton of thought put into the lineups we saw outside of making sure LeBron Curry and KD getting as many minutes possible. In a vacuum I loved seeing those 3 finally dominate the Olympics, but I don’t believe that should’ve killed Tatum’s minutes
I get Tatum wasn’t shooting well. I get that there were plenty of other scorers on this team who were lighting it up, but the fact that Kerr didn’t recognize that he could use Tatum in other ways is frustrating.
He was easily the best wing defender on that team and that Serbia game they were just moving the ball around like it was nothing. That’s what Tatum stops. Even just a 6-8 minute stint in each half wouldve disrupted that ball movement and that game wouldn’t have been so close.
everyone knows tatum averaged more minutes than embid, edwards, bam, davis, and white. its not like dude did not play. he did, he just wasnt very good when he did.
I don’t understand how we could look at this as anything but a positive. JT got a gold medal out of this run, didn’t have to risk injury doing it, and now he and JB feel slighted enough to go on a post-championship revenge tour! Despite the Celtics winning the title last year!
They’re literally handing us tools to avoid being this year’s Denver. *Let’s fucking use them*