Blame it on the one controlling the steering wheel? That could be reasoning drawn from all the narratives targeting coach Kerr for benching Jayson Tatum entirely against Nikola Jokic and the Serbian squad. However, it’s not just Team USA’s head coach who might be on the bad side here. Tatum, in recent hours, has gotten empathy from the hoops community after missing out. But to explain the other side of the coin, Colin Cowherd took charge of highlighting the key reason for the Celt’s omission from the Dream Team 2.0.

Cowherd and his guest, John Middlekauff, discussed the performances of Team USA players. The media vet addressed Jayson Tatum’s problem as he said, “When you put Jayson Tatum around Alphas, he is invisible. So we always said this for years: ‘Jaylen Brown was the Alpha, and Tatum was more talented.’ But this year in the playoffs, Brown wants the ball.”

What Cowherd was implying here was JT was not the one to be eager to get the ball. At least it hasn’t visibly seemed that way. That also might be the reason that Jaylen Brown was not on the roster since he could shadow Tatum’s presence in an overflow of offensive beasts. However, if that’s controversially the case, Tatum is still unable to prove his standout identity on this Team USA roster while being present on the court.

Pulling the same string with the Team USA Olympic stars, on ‘The Colin Cowherd Podcast’, he continued, “When you put Tatum around other Alphas, an Olympic team, he did not get on the court! I mean, so Steve Kerr did not put him on the court like Tatum is so passive and so collaborative.” Adding a reference to his argument, Colin mentioned how one wouldn’t want to work with the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, or Kobe since they’re too “feisty,” but Jayson Tatum is “collaborative,” so he belongs to the other side.

And that might be one of the reasons that Jayson Tatum did not get to play for even a second in the first group game. But why is his presence not felt on the court, as per the media vet, considering all his accolades and recent NBA championship?

Jayson Tatum was deemed “passive-aggressive” among Team USA having hard opposites

Jayson Tatum enjoyed about 17.6 minutes on average in the 5 exhibition games that Team USA played, which is considerable time after looking at coach Steve Kerr’s time distribution remark. “It’s really hard in a 40-minute game to play more than 10 guys,” the HC said. Also, he made it to the starting roster yet only contributed 7 points along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists against the Boomers. In the exhibition game against Germany, he got six rebounds along with an assist, charting only four points.

Overall, he took up more of the role as a rebounder than as a scorer.

He did not seem to be aggressive enough to go for the ball himself. Colin Cowherd claimed the same, as he said on his show, “I’ve noticed this while watching the 5-0 exhibition run. He didn’t play against Serbia. I don’t know when he’s on the floor. I can’t tell when he’s on the floor… He’s just not aggressive. And when you put a guy that’s kind of passive around other super aggressive guys on a basketball floor, dude shrinks.” Ultimately, the presence of such a person like Jayson Tatum in an extremely competitive environment is negligible.

With giants of basketball like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Anthony Edwards on the floor, eager to steal the show, it was just a matter of time before Jayson Tatum got omitted from the Dream Team 2.0. However, different teams require unique tactics, and Team USA needed an offensive one against Serbia.

It will be worth watching how JT fits into Steve Kerr’s plans for Team USA’s Olympic run.

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.