-
Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
PARIS — Team USA coach Steve Kerr had an indirect message for those who have been criticizing his lineup decisions during the Olympics: putting the best team on the floor doesn’t always mean having the best NBA players together all at once.
“For us it’s very obvious watching games that having guys in their usual roles is very helpful,” Kerr said Friday as he prepared his team for their final pool play game Saturday against Puerto Rico.
“And so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for us to put our five leading scores on the floor from an NBA season because those guys don’t complement each other well. Just coaching basketball, it’s pretty simple for us, regardless of all the noise.”
The unimpeachable 1992 Dream Team, the platinum standard by which all following national teams are judged, played eight games at the Barcelona Olympics. Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly used six different starting lineups and only one player — Michael Jordan — started every game.
That bit of history has seemingly gotten lost in the handwringing — the noise, as Kerr referred to it — over lineup decisions after Kerr benched stars Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid as part of game plan decisions in wins over Serbia and South Sudan.
Kerr and his coaching staff — assistants Erik Spoelstra, Ty Lue, Mark Few and Jeff Van Gundy — have looked to balance scoring with playmaking and defense. For example, Kerr has sometimes played strong defenders like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Bam Adebayo alongside scoring specialists like Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards.
“It’s basketball, it really doesn’t matter who starts,” said Durant, who said Friday he is comfortable coming off the bench the rest of the Olympics if that is what Kerr prefers. “It’s about really who finished the game, who put their impact on the game while they’re in the game. So I just try to do my best to impact it any way I can.”
As an example of how he’s making lineup decisions, Kerr explained why he’s left Devin Booker in his starting lineup throughout most of the seven games Team USA has played in the pre-Olympics exhibitions and in France. Booker is a star scorer in the NBA but for the national team has been willing to play the role of ball pressure on-ball defender, point guard or cog in the offense so the other players in the lineup like LeBron James and Steph Curry can play closer to their usual NBA roles that Kerr prefers.
“Devin is probably the guy who’s been most adaptable to go from a different role in the NBA to a new one here,” Kerr said. “The offense clicks when he’s out there. The defense is really good. That’s why he’s started every game and seems to be good with any combination.”
Tatum said not playing was “humbling” but that he wouldn’t hold a grudge under the circumstances. Holiday hasn’t complained about being in and out of the starting lineup. Durant says he’s fine coming the bench.
“Just understanding that you have to play a role, I’ve always taken pride in being able to do a little bit of everything on the court,” Booker said. “You never know when your moment’s going to be, so I try to be solid all around.”