Gregg Popovich set what is expected to be the new model for USA Basketball men’s national team head coaches: Do one Olympic cycle (including the FIBA World Cup), win gold, and move on.
Steve Kerr just completed this cycle, and while nothing is official, he is not expected to continue as the USA head coach for the Los Angeles Olympic cycle. So who will? The expectation is to look to the next two guys on the USA bench: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and Clippers coach Tyronn Lue. Marc Stein talked about just that in his latest substack missive.
Steve Kerr is not expected to continue as USA Basketball men’s head coach after coaching in the Olympics and last summer’s World Cup and serving as an assistant to Gregg Popovich in the 2019 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics contested in 2021. USA is expected to choose either Miami’s Erik Spoelstra or the LA Clippers Tyronn Lue, both assistants to Kerr, as his replacement.
My guess — and this is speculation, not based on reporting — is that it will be Spoelstra. However, decision maker Grant Hill and everyone involved with USA Basketball will want to take a step back, take a deep breath, reassess and start making decisions down the line (maybe into next year). Kerr was not named USA head coach until December of 2021, although because of the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics that was a few months after those games and less than three years out from Paris.
Will Jayson Tatum return to play in the Los Angeles Olympics? He wisely said he isn’t going to make that decision for years — who the next coach is will undoubtedly play into that call — but on his podcast 7 AM In Brooklyn USA Basketball legend Carmelo Anthony stuck up for Tatum saying the problem was communication from the coaching staff.
“They wanted him to do what Devin Booker did. Be a stretch four, space the court, play some defense, get some rebounds that’s it. But if you’re not told what’s your role and you just told to figure it out right now if I get in the game, I’m overthinking like we humans do. Basketball players are human athletes....
“I understand why Jayson Tatum may have not played. I don’t agree with how they went about it... You have 40 minutes in the game, I’m cool with you saying he’s not going to play, just be honest, this is where we have a lack of communication.”
Kerr has the reputation of being a good communicator. So do Spoelstra and Lue. With the incredibly deep USA rosters, it is critical because nobody is playing more than 20-25 minutes a night. You can be sure whoever is the next USA head coach will learn from this distraction about Tatum heading into Los Angeles.
