Photo: Gregory Shamus
Chris Broussard and Shaun King discuss the criticism USA head coach Steve Kerr faced for benching Jason Tatum, as well as the decision to bench Joel Embiid against South Sudan. They debate whether the four-time NBA champion head coach is making these decisions purely based on matchups or if his ego might be influencing his choices.
Chris Broussard: “I think with the Embiid situation, Steve Kerr took a lot of heat from Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, Rob Parker, and many others for benching an All-NBA player like Jason Tatum. BUT not playing Embiid at all helped Steve Kerr with the Jason Tatum situation. Now he can say it was not about Jason but it was always about the matchups.”
Shaun King: “Absolutely not, what could you be playing against if Jayson Tatum is a bad matchup? I just think this is Steve Kerr’s biggest flaw because we’ve seen it manifest itself with the Warriors, two years ago when he wouldn’t play Kuminga in a series where you needed athleticism and youth, but Kerr was in his feelings and wouldn’t play him. I don’t know if something happened between him and Tatum—I’m speculating, I have no factual evidence—but I just think this might have been Kerr trying to prove a point to Tatum!”