Kerr expects Celtics fans to be ‘all over’ him after Tatum benched originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Steve Kerr knows it Boston Celtics fans will try to make his life miserable afterwards Jayson Tatum‘s limited playing time with Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
That will be especially the case when the Warriors visit TD Garden on Nov. 6, but coach Kerr isn’t going to lose any sleep over it.
“I think they’re going to be all over me,” Kerr said. Steve Aschburner of NBA.comlaughing. “That’s good.”
Although he led Team USA to an Olympic gold medal this summer, Kerr has become a lightning rod for criticism after Tatum’s rare minutes, including a DNP in the semifinals against Serbia.
Under the four-time NBA champion coach, Tatum ranked 10th on the team in points per game (5.3) while shooting just 41.2 percent from the field.
It was only more than Derrick White And Tyrese Haliburton on the United States roster, despite the superstar forward coming off an NBA championship season with the Celtics in 2024.
Even then, Kerr admitted that Tatum, like Halirbuton and White, were good players in their limited role in Paris.
“Those guys were all great,” Kerr told Aschburner. “Jayson handled it really well. Then it obviously became a media story, but he couldn’t have handled it any better.”
“Tyrese, it’s the same thing. Every game was different. And we talked about it from the first night: 12 superstars and probably only nine can play regular minutes.”
“They conducted themselves very professionally and supported each other. I couldn’t be more proud of them all.”
Although Kerr remains calm in the face of the boos that might await him in Boston, perhaps Steph Curry and company can step up to the plate on the field and help silence the Boston crowd.
