A lot has been made of Jason Tatum's role so far for Team USA Basketball. A lot of silly narratives have emerged, and it's unlikely that anyone will be able to escape some sort of blame should this team fail to beat France. However, what has been described as a simple 'math problem' could be the ultimate controversy of Paris 2024.
The Boston Celtics player is one of the premier offensive options in the world. Furthermore, when he's on the court, he has a good all-round game and can make impact plays on both sides of the court. Unfortunately, on a team that has a lot of talent, his style isn't necessarily always the best fit. It's not that he's a selfish player; in fact, he's often willing to sacrifice his own personal numbers and credit. Instead, it has to do with a clash of how he's best utilized and what's best for this specific team.
The problem is twofold. The former Duke Blue Devil is best in ISO situations and is often too willing to take tough contested shots. The same can be said of a certain Steph Curry. However, for the Golden State Warrior, these are legitimately in rhythm and makeable shots for him that he can consistently make. Contrast that with Tatum, and you get someone who finds odd times to try contested turnaround fadeaways while taking out the flow of the offense with a series of moves that don't move the on-ball defender.
The second part of the equation is the players who are on this year's team. For someone like Kevin Durant or LeBron James, they too can dribble more than what those around them may like, but their individual skill is greater than that of anyone else, and this means that they can get away with certain things the others can't. That being said, the recent NBA champion isn't a slouch, and his getting zero minutes of playing time in certain games and minimal in others is something of a head-scratcher.
Potential Jayson Tatum role in final game
His greatest asset is something that is often missing on this Olympic roster, and that's his willingness to do the little things, particularly on the defensive end. Plus, his size and strength would seamlessly allow for switches to happen defensively, and it would allow him to hustle for a couple of loose balls or extra offensive possessions. So his exclusion shouldn't be seen as an indictment on his ability, potential role, or lack thereof within any given team. Instead, it's more a matter of explaining the current circumstances.
It's hard to go too much deeper than an eight-man rotation without ruining chemistry or individual minutes. People who touch the court need to see enough of a running time to be able to make an impact and to gel. So when you have 12 good players on the team, this makes the aforementioned balancing equation nearly impossible to solve. As we've seen in past years, someone good was going to be left out of the rotation, and any decision of Steve Kerr was going to be highly questioned.
Either everyone was going to get the minutes that people saw fit or fans would have questioned why too many players were getting roughly equal minutes. It's something of a lose-lose scenario for the coaching staff. But let it serve as a lesson for any potential young players out there, or people at their current position in a work environment. All that can be done is to control personal preparation and diligence.
If the focus is on getting better and staying ready for when an opportunity comes, then the decisions of others matter less. Even as good players or people in situations like Jayson Tatum are initially overlooked, eventually the skill, potential, and true effort translate to productivity when placed in the right situation.
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