Expectations for Celtics trio as Team USA preps for Olympic opener

Expectations for Celtics trio as Team USA preps for Olympic opener originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The United States men’s basketball team and its triumvirate of Celtics champions starts its quest for gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday with a group-play matchup against Serbia (11:15 a.m. ET on NBC).

What are reasonable expectations for the three Boston players — Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White — who comprise a quarter of Team USA’s roster?

Here’s what we’ll be watching for in Paris as these green-teamers hunt gold:

Jayson Tatum

Tatum might be the future face of USA Basketball, but even coming off an NBA title, he’s more likely to play a supporting role in Paris. The question is whether he will be given the sort of minutes — and touches — that might allow him to leave his superstar mark on the quest for gold.

As part of Team USA’s 2021 gold medal squad, Tatum had some notable outbursts, including a 27-point night in a group-play tilt against the Czechs. He also put up 19 points on efficient 8-of-14 shooting in the gold medal game against France.

Alas, the absence of players like LeBron James and Steph Curry that year created opportunity in Tokyo. Tatum came off the bench for most of those games, too, but simply might not see as much usage with players like Joel Embiid and Anthony Edwards also now on the roster. There are a lot of mouths to feed.

The key for Tatum will be efficiency. Over 123 minutes at the Tokyo Olympics, he totaled 91 points while shooting 55.2 percent from the floor and 44.7 percent beyond the 3-point arc. He was +78 in plus/minus during his court time, maintaining a career-long trend of making good things happen whenever he’s on the floor.

Emboldened by both a previous gold medal and now an NBA title, it’d be easy for Celtics fans to yearn for Tatum to dominate play, to further cement his place among the league’s elite. That simply feels like it’s more likely to happen in four years when the Olympics are stateside in Los Angeles.

Tatum can still leave his mark on this Olympic squad, it simply feels like the spotlight is more likely to land on…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/expectations-celtics-trio-team-usa-124243019.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-07-26 12:42:43

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.