Renowned sports analyst Stephen A Smith went on his show First Take today and once again ranted and defended Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum and his minutes playing for Team USA.
The question for the segment, “Is Steve Kerr creating problems with rotations?”, is what set Stephen A off. “He’s full of it. This is a four-time NBA champion, this is one of the greatest coaches we’ve ever seen in the history of basketball,” Stephen A said. “To come out before a minute is played, going up against Serbia who you beat by 26 a couple of weeks ago, and preempt benching Jayson Tatum?”
Stephen then went on to compare coach Kerr benching Joel Embiid against South Sudan to Tatum being benched against Serbia. “When he sat Joel Embiid, no one said anything against South Sudan, here’s why; you have an injury history.” Stephen A pointed out a legitimate reason to bench Embiid, and went on to rant about Tatum versus the rest of the roster.
“Jayson Tatum ain’t even 28. The man has been to five conference finals, two NBA Finals, first team All-NBA the last three years; in the process, swept KD one of those years, and is the reigning, defending, NBA champion, who just finished averaging 27 points per game, and was the second best player to Kevin Durant in the games in Tokyo, and before you even go out for warmups, you’re letting him know we got 10 players we going to play before you. We might not even play you. Do you have any idea how insulting that is?”
Tatum will be coming off the bench in Team USA’s next game against Puerto Rico on August 3rd at 11:15am EST.
“The question, Steve Kerr creating problems with the rotation. Let’s answer that question directly. You’re damn right.”
—@stephenasmith on Kerr not playing Jayson Tatum vs. Serbia in Team USA’s first Olympic game 😳 pic.twitter.com/eHyh90ASbU
— First Take (@FirstTake) August 2, 2024
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