Team USA has not lost a game on their exhibition tour before the Olympics. Yet, there hasn’t been one instance where the side looked comfortable, despite all the talent on the squad. This has caused head coach Steve Kerr to receive a bit of criticism about his tactics. Unfortunately for him, a former teammate has joined this crusade against him too.
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Dennis Rodman hardly delivers takes that aren’t divisive, something that reflected once again in his comments about Kerr‘s coaching of Team USA. He alleged that the head coach isn’t coaching his players at all, but rather letting them do whatever they want on the court. He said,
“Kerr aint coaching sh**. He just sitting there watching them kids shoot. Kerr aint doing a damn thing.”
Dennis Rodman on if Steve Kerr ever gave the impression that he’d become a great coach in the NBA:
“Kerr aint coaching sh**. He just sitting there watching them kids shoot. Kerr aint doing a damn thing.”
(Reddit u/LatinX_Ally) pic.twitter.com/T3Ti0RAgqi
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 25, 2024
Rodman has been critical of Steve Kerr’s coaching for years now, hitting out at him on several things, including untimely timeouts and mismanaging Stephen Curry’s minutes. His recent comments will hardly come as a shock to Team USA’s head coach. That said, could there be some validity in Rodman’s words?
While the level of basketball played by most other countries is a lot higher than it used to be, the USA has come very close to losing on many occasions. There hasn’t been a single game on this exhibition tour where they pulled away and were able to relax a little.
Ahead of their games, it was stressed that the team would focus on ball movement more than anything else. However, while elements from that strategy have been taken, it’s far from the simple but effective basketball that was to be expected.
It wouldn’t be fair to implement a change in leadership here. After all, just about every player on the roster is used to being the first option, and there was always bound to be some friction.
However, it may soon become undeniable that rather than playing as a team, the USA has been coasting on talent alone. And given the quality of the world stage now, this could come back to haunt them in the latter stages of the Olympics.
