Bill Simmons has never been one to shy away from being a Boston sports homer.
One could argue it’s a part of his charm.
But in some instances, it becomes obvious that the Sports Guy isn’t able to escape separate his head from his heart, the latter of which clearly bleeds Celtics green. Look no further than some of his recent takes regarding the United States men’s basketball team’s pursuit of a fifth consecutive gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Earlier this month, Simmons made waves when he suggested on his podcast that Team USA would have to decide whether LeBron James or Jayson Tatum would be a part of its starting lineup.
“Here’s my starting lineup; tell me if you guys agree with this: [Anthony] Edwards and [Steph] Curry as the backcourt and [Joel] Embiid is the center, and I think [Kevin] Durant starts ’cause he has that long Olympics thing,” he said on the July 8 episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast . “And then the next question for me is, is it Tatum, or is it LeBron starting?”
While Simmons added that he couldn’t imagine James not starting, Ryen Russillo — who also has Boston ties — quickly (and rightfully) shut down the idea that it was even a question.
“ Tatum’s not gonna start?!” Simmons replied, both rhetorically and incredulously. “He just won the title. He’s in his prime and he is like the perfect international player.”
As absurd as the idea of a James vs. Tatum debate seemed at the time, it would have been easy to forgive The Ringer founder for still basking in the glory of banner No. 18. But lest you thought that time and James’ emergence as Team USA’s top player over the course of its exhibitions would have softened Simmons’ stance, you clearly haven’t been following his work for long.
With the Olympics set to kick off with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Simmons shared some final thoughts on Team USA’s outlook in the latest edition of his podcast. And once again, the former Any Given Wednesday host questioned James’ qualifications compared to Tatum’s, once again implying that the Celtics star forward deserves a bigger role than the four-time MVP.
“The question for me is LeBron was the point forward on an eight-seed that won one playoff game,” Simmons said. “Tatum was basically the point forward on a team that went 81- 20 and easily won the playoffs. A re we sure we should be marginalizing Tatum like this?”
Like Russillo, guest Joe House quickly dismissed the idea of a James-Tatum debate.
“We’re not giving LeBron’s minutes to Tatum in the 2024 Olympics,” House responded.
Simmons proceeded to express his belief that while Team USA “ made the decision to give the car keys” to James, he doesn’t think that Tatum is “a stand on the side guy.” But while that may very well be the case with regard to Tatum, there has been no indication that James’ role has been based on anything except merit throughout Team USA’s exhibition games, as Simmons implied. In fact, it’s been the opposite.
Simmons has often pointed out that the reality of Olympic basketball is that while Team USA’s roster is typically star-studded, there are also only so many minutes to go around. And while Tatum is still expected to be a key rotation piece in Paris, it’s hardly surprising that he’d be taking a backseat to James — regardless of the Celtics’ recent success compared to the Lakers.
Perhaps the real question is how much will Tatum play once Durant returns from the calf injury that kept him out of all five of Team USA’s warmup games?
“He might play way less than I think people realize,” Simmons conceded of Tatum.
Who exactly expected Tatum to have a more significant role on Team USA this summer? To quote a hot dog suit-wearing Tim Robinson, “ We’re all trying to find the guy who did this! ”
[ The Ringer ]
The post Bill Simmons is still pushing for Jayson Tatum over LeBron James on Team USA appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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