Many are upset about Jayson Tatum’s lack of playing time with the U.S. team.
Add Bob Cousy to the list.
The 96-year-old Celtics legend and basketball Hall of Famer recently spoke about Tatum’s lack of playing time again after he was left out of the U.S. team’s upset win over Serbia in the Olympic semifinals on Thursday.
“This isn’t just neglect.” Cousy said in an interview with The Boston Globe. “This is an embarrassment for those poor kids across the country.” [expletive] “The world. The Olympics have become that big. Everyone is going to think there’s something wrong with this kid.”
Tatum is one of three Boston stars on the U.S. national team and the only one not in the regular rotation, despite being widely considered the best player on the Celtics, a former powerhouse team and the reigning 2024 NBA champions.
Celtics starting guards Derrick White and July Holiday are the backbone of the rotation, with Holiday also starting for the U.S., while Tatum has been DNP-CD (coach’s decision not to play) in two of the team’s five games.
The only other player to hold the record is Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, the second-youngest player on the team.
Cousy also said he believes “someone in Boston should stand up for Tatum.”
“when [coach Steve] “Kerr did it last week, and he wasn’t in danger of losing the game. But this time, he was down 17 points and had to worry about losing. And it seems to me that he must have some bias against the Celtics in not letting Tatum come off the bench.”
Carr learned of the allegations. And argued.
“It’s not a question of Jason doing something or not doing something,” Kerr said. “It’s just the combination and the way that group has played together and the way that Kevin has filled in since coming back from injury. It’s just a math question more than anything.”
Tatum’s absence has caused a bit of a stir, but the U.S. team is 5-0 and has only one close victory since official competition began.
And when you look at the roster, there’s a way to justify Tatum’s absence.
Team USA has 12 players who play a 40-minute match, and because there are no timeouts in international games, the rotation will likely be 10-man, as is the case in the Euroleague and with many of Europe’s elite teams, but they could add more players in certain cases.
In many cases, especially in Olympic tournaments, 10 is the number you would expect to see used.
Of Coach Kerr’s 10, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are needed as big men, with the latter two needing defensive versatility and, especially in Davis’ case, rebounding, while Embiid will be the starter.
Stephen Curry is Stephen Curry, and the defense makes Holiday and White a cohesive backcourt.
Other than that, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Anthony Edwards are the wings who will play ahead of Tatum, and Tatum has more overlap on the roster than the others.
And while Booker or Edwards might be considered the “foreigner” to Tatum at this point, they’re both simply playing better.
Booker is the team’s sixth-leading scorer and is tied with Durant for the team lead with 61 percent 3-point shooting.
Edwards is the team’s second-leading scorer behind James, shooting 60 percent from the field and 45 percent from deep.
Tatum is averaging 19.9 minutes through three games and is averaging just 6.3 points on 39 percent field goal shooting and 0-for-3 three-point attempts.
2024 Paris Olympics
The United States will play France on Saturday for the gold medal.
This will be the second consecutive Olympic Games in which the United States and France will face off in the final.
In 2021, the U.S. team narrowly defeated France, 87-82, to win the gold medal.
