Carmelo Anthony on Jayson Tatum at Olympics: ‘They wanted him to do what Devin Booker did’

Carmelo Anthony: Four medals is hard to do and I know people are going to say ‘well you had the best players on the team, you had this’ Nah, nah. It ain’t that. I wish it was that simple. It’s not that simple. -via YouTube / August 18, 2024

Carmelo Anthony: I understand why Jayson Tatum may have not played. I don’t agree with how they went about it and here’s what I say if you know you picking this team and you have these positions in these spots and you look at every spot and it’s you look at the depth chart right you got point guards, you got okay Steph, Jrue, you got LeBron, KD. At the fours, you have LeBron, KD, Tatum is third on that depth chart. Joel, AD, Bam at the five. Steph, Jrue, Derrick White, then you have Ant, Booker… 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, because we’ve been in Vegas this whole time, talk to me,you already know where you see me at on this depth chart. Talk with me private, let me get myself together, mentally and emotionally. -via YouTube / August 18, 2024

Carmelo Anthony: Three gold medals, four medals for me is bigger than the NBA championship because I understand the impact of it. Not everybody wins a gold medal, not everybody wins a silver or a bronze. It’s a handful of athletes from our country that we can say has won medals let alone gold medals. When you have that perspective that’s a whole another perspective. Yeah of course I want an NBA championship we all do, yeah but it’s a lot of sh*t that have to go down accordingly in order for you to win an NBA championship, let alone multiple championships. -via YouTube / August 18, 2024

The lessons extended beyond the court. After winning gold, the team popped champagne on a set of steps that produced a viral photo earlier in the tournament. Edwards joined the fray, but it was clear that he was not as experienced in the art of spraying the bubbly as some of his championship-winning teammates. “C’mon, Ant,” James teased. “We know you ain’t been there, yet.” That “yet” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the hearts of Timberwolves fans who believe they finally have the No. 1 option capable of bringing them a title. For two rounds in last season’s playoffs, the Wolves looked primed for a championship run. They swept Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns out of the conference quarterfinals, then rallied from 20 points down in Game 7 to beat the Denver Nuggets to advance to their second conference finals in franchise history. They were summarily dispatched by the Dallas Mavericks there, showing that a team still light on deep playoff experience had more to learn before making the final step. -via New York Times / August 15, 2024

ClutchPoints: Doesn’t get any cooler than this… The USA men’s basketball team signed autographs for each other after claiming the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics 🤩 (via @usabasketball ) -via Twitter / August 15, 2024

David Aldridge: Steve Kerr shouts out Devin Booker at the end of the U.S. press conference. “He was incredible this entire round. Just what he does, play to play to play. Rock solid. Completely changed his role from the NBA to now. He was kind of our unsung MVP. I just wanted to say that.” -via x.com / August 10, 2024

Porzingis will miss the opening weeks of the season after leg surgery, which is the injury he suffered in the Finals. So Tillman and the other big men will be especially important early on as the Celtics eye back-to-back titles. For now, the C’s will enjoy the summer ahead of training camp. “To see the video of the bench — (Jayson Tatum), Svi (Mykhailiuk), Jaden (Springer), everybody going crazy after I hit the 3, I was like, ‘Man, that’s sweet.’” Tillman said. “To see the team really like hype over me making that shot. So that was pretty cool.” -via Booth Newspapers / August 15, 2024

Charles Barkley: ‘They let Nikola Jokic play slow. I think they should have played a lot faster and every time we say something now people go crazy… There’s no reason for him not to play Jayson Tatum. Tatum would have been the second-best player on Serbia, probably would have been the best player on France. So for him not to get any minutes in two games… Come on man, that wasn’t right, that wasn’t fair. If you’re going to the Olympics you want to play, you want to play. So I was disappointed Jayson didn’t get to play, I was disappointed Tyrese Haliburton didn’t get to play, especially early. If you want to shorten your rotation in the last couple games that’s fine, but them guys dedicated their summer to the United States. -via YouTube / August 15, 2024