On this episode of the Big 3 NBA Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely is joined be CLNS Media's Bobby Manning as they discuss the Team USA benching of Jayson Tatum; the Jaylen Brown, Team USA and Nike on-again kerfuffle; and a look ahead to the game against South Sudan.
00:00 - Intro
02:55 - Tatum's role questioned
6:44 - Celtics backcourt impact
8:48 - Game Time
10:50 - Jaylen Brown controversy
12:14 - Tatum's benching impact
15:01 - Brown's performance overlooked
16:12 - Team USA roster concerns
18:51 - South Sudan game preview
22:03 - Embiid's performance concerns
24:01 - Embiid's potential benching
25:03 - Team USA strategy
********************************************
CLNS Media is Powered by:
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.
00:00 - Intro
02:55 - Tatum's role questioned
6:44 - Celtics backcourt impact
8:48 - Game Time
10:50 - Jaylen Brown controversy
12:14 - Tatum's benching impact
15:01 - Brown's performance overlooked
16:12 - Team USA roster concerns
18:51 - South Sudan game preview
22:03 - Embiid's performance concerns
24:01 - Embiid's potential benching
25:03 - Team USA strategy
********************************************
CLNS Media is Powered by:
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. Terms apply.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by the Game Time app.
00:22Hey folks and welcome to another edition of the Big 3 NBA Podcast.
00:27I'm your host, H. Rob Blakely, and we kind of mix things up a little bit.
00:32Quanie's got a relatively full plate.
00:34Gary is somewhere eating croissants or baguettes or something in Paris.
00:40So we have upgraded in the meantime.
00:42We're going with Bobby Manning of CLMS Media.
00:44Hey Bobby, what's going on?
00:45I don't know if I'm an upgrade, but I'll fill in here just like Tatum will on Wednesday
00:50for against South Sudan.
00:52I'll step into the lineup.
00:54Wow, exactly.
00:56Bringing an all-star into the mix, I'm glad.
00:58That is what we call, folks, a segue.
01:01That's actually the first thing I wanted to talk to you about.
01:04Bobby, for those who have been under a Celtics rock and don't know what's going on the last
01:08couple of weeks, Jason Tatum, a member of Team USA, received the first and hopefully
01:15last DNP CD, did not play coach's decision in Team USA's victory over Serbia.
01:23It raised a lot of eyebrows because the first thing most of us thought was maybe Tatum's
01:27hurt and he told our friend Gary Washburn, no, I'm good.
01:32And then Steve Curry explained his rationale behind why Tatum did not play, citing that
01:38Kevin Durant was making his first game back and he wanted to give him a nice bit of latitude
01:43to play.
01:45But that explanation did not sit well with many Celtics fans and non-Celtics fans.
01:50What was your take on just the reasoning behind no Jason Tatum in that first game, Bobby?
01:56I was surprised to see him sit.
01:58I wasn't stunned his role got marginalized in some way, though.
02:01We talked about it going into the game, Sharad.
02:03What's his role on this roster?
02:04Where is he going to fit in?
02:06How often will he fill in?
02:07Because they tried everybody effectively in the exhibitions, but you knew they were going
02:12to have to cut it down at some point.
02:14Seeing him not play at all was the stunner.
02:16And we'll see how it goes going forward.
02:18Obviously, Curry said at this point, he's going to get involved in the next game here,
02:22do the matchups.
02:23I understand going bigger against Serbia.
02:26And it worked, Sharad, which is the one thing you can look at.
02:28I know Curry's getting a lot of criticism, but it worked.
02:31It was their most dominant effort yet.
02:33It was the most effective.
02:35And they gave everybody a chance in the exhibition slate leading up to it.
02:39Halliburton obviously didn't shoot well.
02:41Tatum didn't shoot many jump shots at all, and he didn't make one until the final exhibition
02:46mid-range in that game.
02:480 for 6 from 3.
02:49So I looked at his role going into this and was like, all right, this is kind of weird.
02:53And then, of course, Kevin Durant comes back, and that one's a slam dunk.
02:56And you look at what he did in that game.
02:58He was outstanding.
03:00So this is going to be on Tatum.
03:04I do think it was a little bit of an embarrassment to have him sitting on the bench the whole
03:08game.
03:09And obviously, his stature is something above that.
03:11But you look at it and say, all right, where does he fit in?
03:14And I do actually have to throw at you, Sharad.
03:16Devin Booker looked pretty good.
03:18He was pretty good in that role.
03:21So it's tough for me to kill Kerr for what he did.
03:24Did he put Tatum in a tough position visually?
03:27Yes.
03:28But he said they talked it out.
03:30He said Tatum received it well.
03:32And it worked.
03:33So let's see how it goes against Sudan with him in the lineup there.
03:38There's a world where it could go the other direction, and they don't look as good now
03:41that they're taking someone else out of the fold and putting Tatum in there.
03:45And again, I'm going to hold Steve Kerr to his words that this was a one-time only thing.
03:50It was a one-offer.
03:51And he is looking at the best matchups relative to who they're playing.
03:55And you're right.
03:56It worked absolutely about as well as you would want it to.
04:00But here's the thing, Bobby.
04:02You won by 26 points.
04:05This game was not close.
04:07And there's a point in the second half where you clearly have control of this thing.
04:12And to me, even if you're right, there's definitely going to be guys whose minutes
04:15will be reduced.
04:16But how many games do you really play in the NBA where you win by 26 points and you have
04:21guys who are actively healthy enough to play don't play?
04:25You typically find, even if it's like the last three or four minutes of the game, and
04:28I don't think Tatum would have been embarrassed about coming in at that point, because then
04:31Kerr would...
04:33The reasoning is that, well, we wanted to really give Kevin Durant a good run, but we
04:37also didn't want to disrespect Tatum and Halliburton.
04:40They got in at the very end there, but we wanted them to get at least crack a sweat
04:44in this game and go from there.
04:47It's a non-story.
04:48Tatum plays like three or four minutes.
04:50It's like, wow, we didn't know he'd play that few minutes.
04:52But it becomes a non-story.
04:54Yeah, there's certainly politics at play here.
04:57And I won't go that direction.
04:59The one I'm looking at is Embiid, because he continues to be ineffective.
05:03He continues to start for them.
05:05And I don't think it's as simple as saying, all right, Embiid goes out, Tatum goes in,
05:09or you play Tatum at center and go small, something like that.
05:12But if you're tinkering with the rotations and minutes, it feels overdue to pull back
05:16from Embiid and add to Tatum in some way.
05:19Does that put Embiid on the bench?
05:21I don't think you can go that far.
05:22But I do wonder if he was promised that spot as the starter in joining them over France.
05:27I'm sure talks like that happen in a decision like that, because he has not played great
05:32and he is a mainstay at that spot, even though Anthony Davis, in my mind, by and large, has
05:38been the best player on the roster so far.
05:40And now you're going to have to tinker with that double big combination probably to get
05:43in there.
05:44I know Brian Windhorst was talking about Bam being the guy who would probably take a little
05:47bit of a backseat of Tatum's back in the rotation here.
05:51You could have played Tatum over Derek White.
05:53And that's the other thing I find interesting here is as much frustration and as much anger
05:58as there is from Celtics fans toward Tatum's situation, you look at the role Drew and White
06:04are being afforded right now, Holiday as starter, White, a big piece of the bench in that first
06:09game.
06:10And those guys were incredible.
06:12And I think it affirms their value.
06:15They're standing around the league to the level of which you could say Celtics might
06:19have the best backcourt in the NBA, or at least the most impactful with how they're
06:23looking in this setting against the competition they're going against here, the way they're
06:27able to impact the game with so few shots, with so little ball time.
06:32It's amazing to me.
06:33And I would actually focus on that over Tatum's situation because, you know, in the context
06:37of the Celtics charade, he's going to be the guy.
06:40He can lead that team to a championship and they're going to continue to be dominant here.
06:46And sure, does he end up behind Tatum or behind LeBron, behind Durant, behind Curry, guys
06:52like that in the hierarchy here?
06:54Yeah, for now.
06:55So he might have to take a backseat this Olympics.
06:57But when all those guys take a seat in four years, you know, it's going to be Edwards.
07:01You know, it's going to be Tatum.
07:03You know, it's going to be guys like that, Booker, who are the faces of this roster.
07:06And when that time comes, Tatum's going to be the face of that, in my mind.
07:10So this is all about sacrifice.
07:13And Tatum started this Olympics late saying we're all going to have to sacrifice.
07:17Did he realize he'd be on the bench playing zero minutes?
07:20Probably not.
07:21But to me, this says more about white and holiday than it does anything bad about Tatum.
07:27It's summertime and there's no better way to spend it than at the ballpark.
07:31Popcorn, soda, hot dogs.
07:33Mmm, I'm starting to get hungry just thinking about it.
07:36Those games create lasting memories and getting to those games is a lot easier with Game Time,
07:40which is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball,
07:44which makes getting tickets faster and easier.
07:47Prices on the Game Time app actually go down the closer it gets to the first pitch.
07:51With killer last-minute deals, all-in prices, views from your seat,
07:56and their lowest price guarantee, Game Time takes the guesswork out of buying MLB tickets.
08:03Now, being a Yankees fan that I am, living here in Boston,
08:05I know it gets complicated and very uncomfortable from time to time.
08:09But keeping an eye on the AL East is a really big deal for me, as you can imagine.
08:13I know I can go to the Game Time app and jump on the best deals quickly.
08:17The color-coding options at the ballpark make it super easy to see what are the best deals
08:22for the best seats from all the seats in that particular venue.
08:25And you can customize your search options based on your favorite team or your favorite team to watch.
08:30The Game Time app makes it super easy to get into the game,
08:33and you can't beat Game Time's lowest price guarantee.
08:37And when you're ready to lock up your tickets, Game Time has all-in pricing,
08:40so there's no surprise fees at checkout.
08:43Hate when that happens.
08:44Take the guesswork out of buying Major League Baseball tickets with Game Time,
08:48download the Game Time app, create an account,
08:50and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase.
08:54Terms apply.
08:55Again, create an account and redeem code CLNS for $20 off.
09:00Download Game Time today.
09:02Last-minute tickets, lowest prices, guaranteed.
09:07So when you speak of evolutions, I think about just how the Jalen Brown,
09:12the Nike, the Team USA story, it seems to be sort of kind of dying down.
09:17But once Tatum got that DNP, Jalen sort of kind of brought it back to roost a little bit.
09:24You know, Grant Hill was asked about that and just made it clear that there was no conspiracy stuff going on.
09:30And Jalen took offense to that because he was clearly, and Jalen was accurate when he said that, you know, he's talking about me.
09:37And so how do you see this eventually playing out with the whole Jalen Brown, Nike, Grant Hill,
09:44brouhaha that seems to, doesn't really want to die a quick death?
09:51I think it's going to blow over in my mind unless Jalen continues to accentuate it, because, you know,
09:58Grant Hill, whether he's right, whether he's wrong, he just want to move past it.
10:03And he kind of laughed off the notion that Nike would have any say whatsoever here, which I think is hard to believe.
10:09You know, they're going to have some say in this at the very least, even if it's not a prevailing say to what Hill's and Kerr's and whoever else is involved in this has to say about it.
10:18And I believe some of the strategic reasons Brown's not here.
10:22Again, you look at what White's done so far.
10:24If he was just sitting around doing nothing, you'd say, why isn't Brown at least just on this roster over White?
10:31But they've utilized him, they've involved him, and he is produced in that role.
10:36So that's a little bit in the U.S.'s favor in my mind, but just gleaning the situation, how confident Brown seems to be.
10:45And I asked him out there in Vegas.
10:47He said, yeah, I do think Nike had a role in that.
10:49He'll have more to say about that.
10:51I don't know if he's going to actually have more to say about that, because in other situations in the past, he's said stuff like that.
10:56And then he just didn't circle back on it.
10:58But to me, given that he's not a guy who has a shoe sponsor, given that he's a guy who's outspoken on political issues,
11:06I think that could have a role in something like this, especially in the Olympic setting where they try to suppress that as much as they can.
11:13I think those both could have had a factor here, because from a basketball standpoint, at least from a star standpoint,
11:19you're talking about the finals MVP shroud and a player who, if you're just trying to replace Kawhi's star stature on this roster,
11:28positional overlap, I mean, Brown's an almost exactly comparable player to Kawhi.
11:34I just think there has to be something there beyond his fit on this roster wasn't the best, because, yes, White's exceptional.
11:43And I don't want to make this a White-Brown thing, because I think White can help this team in a number of ways.
11:49And I don't think he doesn't deserve to be here.
11:52But Brown can handle the ball.
11:55Brown can hit shots.
11:57Brown can defend on the perimeter with size.
12:00These are all the things he can do and that that team could use.
12:03And it's just strange to me that three of the Celtics are here and the finals MVP wanted to be, but isn't.
12:12So am I going to assign blame to either side here for that?
12:16It's tough knowing what I know, which is very little.
12:19But in my mind, something outside of basketball had to have at least an ancillary impact on this decision right here,
12:27because it just doesn't make sense that he's not here, given what he accomplished over the last year.
12:34Right. And just really going back to just the role that that apparel makers, shoemakers have in teams being formed,
12:41it's not unusual for some guys to not be on teams because they're not affiliated with a particular shoe company or that particular shoe company that's sponsoring the event doesn't feel a certain way about them
12:54to where they are going to embrace them and be part of what's going on.
12:58So that is not unusual. But, you know, I was ready to just kind of kind of brush it aside when it seemed like it was very much a Jalen Brown Nike thing.
13:10But when something like Tatum being benched comes right after Tatum supports Brown and Tatum has never been benched in anything,
13:19it does have this kind of icky feeling that there's something going on in this whole Jalen Brown Celtics discourse that has nothing to do with ability and everything to do with an agenda that we are not privy to.
13:33And, you know, and it's it's just it's not a good feeling for the NBA and it's not a good look when, you know, if we're being honest and we're being candid about this,
13:43you may be good enough to win a gold medal for Team USA, but did you bring the best fit players for this roster?
13:52And you're right. I mean, when you look at the things that Kawhi Leonard brings to the table and you look at the things that Jalen Brown brings to the table,
13:59there is a much more accurate one player for one player match than Derek White for Kawhi Leonard.
14:08You know, if this were like, you know, if we were doing like an Ancestry.com type of compare and contrast, Jalen Brown would be a closer relative to Kawhi Leonard than Derek White,
14:22simply because the way he plays, the way he's built, his approach to the game, it's much more Kawhi Leonard like than Derek White.
14:29And to your point, Bobby, I don't want people to think that this is a crap on Derek White episode because it's not.
14:35We love Derek White. And he's been great for them so far. Yes, he's done exactly like we talked about earlier.
14:42He's been able to maximize any and every opportunity he gets to make an impact while he's on the floor.
14:47And that is a great thing to see. And Team USA needs that.
14:51But that being said, it feels as though Jalen Brown has done everything he's been asked to do to position himself to be a part of a team like this.
14:59And for him to not have that opportunity, it just feels wrong.
15:03I mean, it feels wrong that on the absolute biggest and brightest stages of your NBA career, not only did you play well, you played better than anyone else on the floor.
15:13And when you look at the guys that he outperformed, I mean, forget about your teammates like Tatum and Drew Holiday.
15:18You outplay Luca, who is a guy that most people agree is like a once in a generation type of talent.
15:25When you look at how young he is, you look at how incredibly talented he is.
15:28And Jalen Brown clearly outplayed him. Kyrie Irving, another future Hall of Famer, clearly outplayed him.
15:36And yet at the end of the day, you were an outside looking in for Team USA.
15:41And to add insult to top of insult, you replaced him with a teammate who is a good player and is a very good player and an impactful player.
15:50But if you had one roster spot in the NBA to fill and you had to choose between Jalen Brown and Derrick White,
15:58most teams are going to take Jalen Brown. And that's no knock against Derrick White.
16:01It's just that Jalen Brown brings a little bit more to the table as an all around player.
16:08It just it just feels wrong that Jalen Brown isn't on Team USA, no matter how many games they win, no matter how well Derrick White plays.
16:17Something is going to feel wrong about this until we get a clear sense and get more transparency as to why Jalen wasn't on a team.
16:26To say that they just wanted to go with Derrick White instead of Jalen Brown, that does not seem to add up the way I think Team USA wants it to add up to the general public.
16:37Yeah. And they're in a difficult position, too, because it's 12 guys.
16:40There's so many that you can pick. And I do give them that benefit of the doubt there.
16:43But time's going to tell here. Is this a team that's going to go down as one of the most dominant ever?
16:48They have the pieces here, too. I think that they were correct to try to make this more of a team.
16:53And the guards look like they're going to allow them to be that.
16:55White's been so effective with the second unit. Holiday's been out of this world.
16:59I think you could argue he's been the third most impactful player in this roster besides LeBron and Davis in total.
17:05So his run continues to look great here. And if they roll with what they've done so far, I don't think there's going to be a lot of noise about what went down.
17:13But if they continue to have these rotation personality type of issues here, I don't think there's one team that stands out to me that could beat them.
17:22But they could certainly beat themselves. And there's enough that's gone on so far.
17:27Close calls against two teams in the exhibitions. This follow up from a great win that makes you say, all right, is Kerr going to be able to manage this roster, these personalities?
17:40And I'm interested to see what it looks like against South Sudan, because at this point, when Kerr has to say, all right, I'm going to get Tatum in their next game, someone else has to come out.
17:49And how's that person going to react to that? Does the game go as well as the first game?
17:53Then all of a sudden, every single game from that point on, you have a situation to handle if you're Kerr there.
17:59And we'll see if they're capable of managing that, because if they lose Sherrod, as you know, that's when the whole basketball world starts to look at them and go,
18:09should Jalen and Ben, was this the best team you could have put together? What happened here and who's going to be to blame for that?
18:16Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad you brought that point up because let's jump into just looking ahead to the South Sudan game.
18:23I mean, you know, this is a game where they win on a last second shot and a defensive stop at the other end.
18:29And I'm not even quite sure I'd call it a defensive stop. I thought it was a great look that South Sudan had at the very end that they just missed.
18:36I didn't I didn't think there was a great defense. I mean, certainly there was a contested shot,
18:40but it wasn't the kind of contest that you felt that, yep, that had a major impact on the shot not going.
18:46I thought he just missed the, you know, a contested shot. What are you expecting from this particular game?
18:53And who do you think will be the person or player, excuse me, that their minutes are going to be reduced or they will be out of the rotation altogether?
19:01If Jason Tatum is back in the mix, it seems like Bam will be that guy.
19:06And it makes sense to have two centers in front of him. He doesn't provide much of a spacing aspect,
19:11although he did have an exhibition where he shot three for five from three, which is something he's never done in the NBA.
19:16So I'm intrigued by how he's looking right now. He's been a good fit next to Davis in that second unit.
19:21And now you're replacing him with Tatum effectively here, who is big, who's a great rebounder, who can provide shooting at that spot.
19:28So it might be a more natural transition against a team that's more wing oriented in South Sudan.
19:34And it might make sense and might work. So I'm interested to see how that goes.
19:39South Sudan, to me, when I look back on that game, and it was one of my favorite basketball games I've watched in recent memory,
19:45I was just so inspired, not only by, obviously, the story of South Sudan, but they played so hard.
19:52You could just see, like, the intensity they played with some of the putbacks.
19:56One guy in them threw down this vicious putback slam over Davis's head.
20:01They were just willing shots in throughout. So they played over their head.
20:04I think there were 43 point underdogs in that game and they almost won.
20:08So the way they played in that game is going to be tough to repeat from an energy standpoint intensity.
20:13You know, the U.S. is going to be more alert to what they can do now, too, obviously.
20:17And the shot making in that game was just ridiculous. So I was looking at the line.
20:21I think it's like 23. I think the U.S. is going to be able to handle business this time around against them.
20:28And there's some exciting players on South Sudan. All of these games have been close that they've played in for the most part,
20:33in different portions of these games. And they won their first game against Puerto Rico, which I think says something, too.
20:39So I think this one could be close early. U.S. pulls away late. But I am looking at Tatum.
20:45Is it going to be the kind of game we saw from him in the exhibitions where he's just floating around,
20:50not taking many jump shots, just taking those cutting baskets where he can get them and trying to fit in where he can?
20:56Or is he going to be more aggressive and impactful and make a statement saying, you benched me?
21:00Look at what I'm capable of when you put me back in here. That's going to be the most interesting thing to watch for me.
21:05And then, of course, in Bede's role, if he struggles another game, especially against this team,
21:10who doesn't have a Nikola Jokic at center on the other side, you have to start to look at switching that up.
21:17If you're U.S., regardless of promises made or just expectations of roles.
21:22And that goes back to what I just said, Sharad. Can you manage the personalities, roles and rotations throughout this roster effectively enough?
21:30If you occur to make it the long, the long route that they're going to have here going to gold?
21:36Yeah, that point that you made earlier, Bobby, you just reiterated the whole promises made theory, which I think is very real.
21:43That's part of the problem I have with the way this team is constructed, not so much the pieces and the parts,
21:49but the fact that basically, you know, you're handpicked to be on this team without there being any real competition.
21:57Up to this point, if you had to start ranking their players from who's been the best and who's been the worst, Joel Embiid would be the worst.
22:04I think he's the one guy that when he's out there, you know what he can do when he's at his best.
22:10And he is so far away from being that guy so far. It's not even funny.
22:16And when I hear Steve Kerr talk about this need and desire to take it with the roster, figure out which lineups are going to be most impactful, most effective.
22:27How can you play a team like South Sudan who has quickness, athleticism, great, you know, just guys that are basically bigs who are really more like wings who are just playing a big role?
22:39How can you justify playing Embiid against these guys when you have a guy like Anthony Davis, who you're going to play because of his versatility and impact inside and out?
22:49You've got a guy like Bam Adebayo who seems to be built for this type of matchup.
22:53When you look at what he does from a rebounding standpoint, his ability as a defender and his ability to just run the floor, he seems to be a much better fit for what you're looking to do.
23:03And if you're going to work Jason Tatum into that mix, which it sounds like you are, then you've got three guys who are built in many ways like your opponent, except they're better.
23:15And so why would you why would you like not play them as a trio in that big spot and let Embiid sit?
23:23Then then do what you've done up to this point, which is play him even though he hasn't played particularly well.
23:30I'm really curious to see what they do with him, because to me, as much as I want to see Tatum out there playing it because I think he deserves it.
23:37We need to see some changes with Joel Embiid, because if you're talking about guys being on the floor based on merit, based on opportunity, based on need,
23:45I don't know how you can justify playing Joel Embiid other than to your point, Bobby, you promised him that you'd play him every game.
23:52Yeah, which to me is a bad precedent. If that's if that, in fact, is what we're seeing play out, because it feels like that's what we're seeing.
23:59And he might receive a benching worse than Tatum, which I can imagine happening. Tatum's so amicable to things.
24:06He stressed the sacrifice going in, as I mentioned.
24:09So sometimes you just make the easy decision to bench the guy who's going to receive it the best.
24:15And I thought White would be in that position. But they, as they stated, wanted to go with more of a basketball team with roles,
24:23guys who fit in at their positions and not just roll out the best players, because they could do that.
24:29They could just sit White. They could even sit Holiday, you know, from an all-star perspective and just have Tatum out there a ton,
24:37the three bigs out there a ton and just rely on their talent to roll over these teams that they're better than.
24:44But they want to do it in a methodical way, in a sensible way from a basketball standpoint.
24:51And I think they want to build margins over these opponents large enough to where they're considered one of the best USA teams ever.
24:57And so they're going to go about it in a different way than they did in the past because the competition is so much better here.
25:03And that's what I'm interested to see.
25:05Does tinkering with guys, moving them in and out of their lineups, having inconsistent rotations going to reduce their margin forever?
25:11Because, again, I don't look at the field here and see anyone.
25:14France almost lost to Japan today.
25:17Spain's not the same as they've been in the past.
25:19I like some of the Germany type teams out there, but there's no team here that clearly can threaten them start to finish in a game.
25:28Serbia obviously would have been a pick to do that, and they've struggled to do it through two games so far.
25:35And right now, I just think the U.S. is so far ahead of these teams that they could just roll out an all-star team.
25:41But they've decided that they want to have roles and a hierarchy and all those different things.
25:45And that's just going to make it more challenging from a personality standpoint, because that's another factor here, Sherrod, I think, is that Tatum, out of all the stars here, you're obviously not going to sit LeBron.
25:57You're not going to sit Durant, not going to sit Curry, and they want White and Holiday in there.
26:03So who's the easiest to bench out of that group?
26:06It's Tatum, and he's just not going to make us think about it.
26:08And that's the beauty of Tatum, right, is that he's not a high-maintenance guy.
26:13We can go back to that SI story.
26:15He's not someone that's going to go to Brad and demand moves.
26:19But sometimes you do look at him and say, instill your will, be aggressive, be angry, and that's not his personality for better and for worse in this situation.
26:31Yeah, yeah, I agree.
26:32And it's, you know, it's it's never going to change.
26:36And clearly, I mean, he just won an NBA title and he did not change in that regard.
26:40There were games where you could see that he played with a little bit more of an edge.
26:43But for the most part, what I like to see, I like to see game three Tatum, because game threes tend to be his best games, where he he plays a little bit closer in terms of ability and talent and impact and aggression to what so many of us want to see, because you want to see that angry side of him, that that side that says, I'm not going to be denied and I'm not going to be denied because I'm better than you.
27:06And I'm going to show you right now in this moment.
27:09But, you know, it'll be interesting to see how things play out with Jason Tatum in the South Sudan game, because clearly, you know, Steve Kerr said he will play.
27:17But obviously, when you put one guy back in the mix, that means someone has to come out or have their minutes significantly reduced.
27:25And, you know, if Bam on a bio is that guy and Joel Embiid plays major minutes, I think that that adds to the head scratching decisions that Steve Kerr has made up to this point.
27:38Well, listen, Bobby, that is it for this edition of the big three NBA podcast.
27:43Before we go, I want to thank our good friends at PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CLNS Media Network.
27:49Sign up now at prizepix.com slash CLNS and use the code CLNS and get a first deposit match up to one hundred dollars and win up to one hundred times your cash for the Mathematically Challenge.
28:00That means you can turn ten bucks into a thousand bucks in a single game watching your favorite sports teams this summer.
28:07And also, let's not forget about our good friends at GameTime, which takes the guesswork out of buying last minute tickets to your favorite sporting events.
28:13Just download the GameTime app, create an account and use code CLNS for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
28:19Terms apply. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code CLNS for twenty dollars off your first purchase.
28:26Terms apply.
28:27And that will do it for this edition of the Big Three NBA podcast.
28:31I want to thank good friend, coworker, colleague and fellow Syracuse alum Bobby Manning for coming in, checking in with us, talking a little Jason Tatum, Team USA basketball.
28:41And this is the Big Three NBA podcast.
28:44Thanks for tuning in.