After polishing the bench against Serbia, Jayson Tatum was a starter on Wednesday night against South Sudan. Steve Kerr had warned that the Celtics winger would play, and the NBA champion had 4 points and 5 rebounds in the United States' victory. Author of a beautiful “sausage” in the corner on his first shot of the match, Tatum only remembers the positives of this “DNP” of the first match.
“It's a humbling experience, right? You win a title, you get a new $314 million contract, you're on the cover of 2K and then you sit through an entire game,” lists Tatum. “As a competitor, you can be frustrated when you're not playing, but you can also empathize with some of the guys on my team who don't always get a chance to play or only get a few minutes. So it's a learning experience to see it from that perspective and move forward.”
It is impossible to avoid the ambient “noise”
What Tatum regrets is that there was more talk of his bench-shining than of the Americans' big win over Serbia. “It's a unique situation, and it's not about any one player. The competitor in you obviously wants to play, but I'm not here to make a big deal out of my personal situation.” he continues. “We won and I was just happy to get back on the pitch and play again because there had been a lot of noise the last few days.”
As for Steve Kerr, he already knows that from now on everyone will be talking about his choice to leave Joel Embiid on the bench…
“The NBA is very popular all over the world and the regular season is kind of a soap opera. We realize that, and social media takes over and everything becomes so dramatic,” Kerr said. “I think you have to give these guys more credit. They’re here to win a gold medal. The beauty of the Olympics is that none of that matters. And I know everyone’s going to write about it, but none of that matters. We’re just trying to win every game and win a gold medal, and it’s an incredibly pure feeling – and the guys are committed to each other, and they’re not going to worry about any of that.”
