Stephen A.‘s still IRRITATED with how Steve Kerr treated Jayson Tatum at the Olympics 👀 | First Take

PA Anthony towns is there right now the Knicks have compromised defensively that's number one number two Mel Bridges you talked about how his shot changed and he ain't making shots the way that we are accustomed to seeing throughout his career he got to fix that okay that's number two number three when we look at the Boston Celtics let's understand two things that have happened here Jaylen Brown should have been on Team USA in my humble opinion he believes as a person that just spoke to him just interviewed him a couple of days ago he firmly

believes he should have been on that team just like firmly believe he should have been on the all NBA team just like he firmly believes he should have been on the all NBA defensive team so he's got three snubs and three huge chips on his shoulders and then you take into account Jason Tatum I want to State this for the record which you sit right next to me because you did such an outstanding job hanging out in Paris covering Team USA and the Olympics ESP a send me to no damn Paris okay ain't never happened

I ain't been overseas okay windy all over the damn world okay but you deserve it here's the deal and it's very important to point this out y'all I don't give a damn how Jason Tatum look you don't go up if you're Steve cerr and Steve Cur is a four-time champion a great coach a great a he was a champion as a player in Chicago and San Antonio he should have been a champion as an executive in Phoenix if Mike dantony had listened to him and brought Tom tho there as a defensive coordinator okay and he

damn sure has been a champion as a coach nothing but profound respect for him we going to State this as long as I'm breathing what Steve Kur did to Jason Tatum in the Olympics is egregious you don't go up to an all NBA first team player over the last three years who just won a championship a month earlier who spent the year averaging 27 a game and walk up to him before a game and say I don't know how I'm gonna find minutes for you in a 40-minute game that's Jason Tatum we're talking about here

and as Jaylen Brown said to me Jason Tatum was pretty pissed off he said I was pissed off for him we all War cuz he deserved better than that that's a chip that's walking on his shoulders too so you got a reigning defending NBA champion but you do understand that the Jason Tatum we saw last night wasn't the guy in the Olympics totally I'm just but what I'm saying to you is knowing basketball the way we all do you can't justify walking up to a player that great before the game and saying I don't know

we go this is early ear what if the coaches decided he was their 11th best player and they were playing 10 really you you saw 11 players better than Jason T it including two of his teammates who defer to him Steve C I don't know I don't know if it's 11 better players right now in the league than Jason to be honest with you I get what you're saying the fit the fit I'm telling you in the Olympics Team USA evaluated he was their 11th best player and they were playing and and that's why and

that's why two games that we should watch this year and an NBA Finals we should hope for this year is the two regular season games Boston's going to play against Golden State and we should hope that Jason Tater me Steve cerr in the NBA finals because let me tell you something there's no justification for that I don't give a damn what anybody says in the end my last point to tomorrow is Thursday October 24th Jaylen Brown will turn 28 years of age in March Jason Tatum is going to turn 27 they're the Champions one has

been the six Conference Finals the other has been the five Conference Finals and they're the ones with the biggest chips on their shoulders why it's scary that's why it's scary three things I I agree with Wendy 100% I can't make a big deal about first off K won the Olympic gold medal so it wasn't like they lost and they didn't play him secondly the game's 40 minutes the 40 minutes Steve it's not 48 it's minutes and Durant played great and was a big factor and that was sort of I watched all the games and that

was Jason I don't blame Tatum for using that as a motivation don't get me wrong but the kill cerr on that is not fair that's number one Play not fair not fair no but not fair you again again in the throws of competition if something happens and you manage not to make that decision that's fine you're going to walk up to a player that gifted that talented and say I don't know if we're going to be able to find any time for you over 40 minutes you have any idea how insulting that is to somebody

that Cali he had D he had obviously Durant he had he had can I ask question we had a lot of guys real question real quick while with Wendy right next to me before the semifinals and the finals when Steph Curry exploded how dides Steph Curry look terrible but he was playing but he was playing he had he he got the opportunity to be terrible is what I'm trying to say even though we knew he was going to be great eventually you're correct but it has to do with the matchups and the other positions we

stop no it ain't no no it's not no thank you and all this man first of no it's not first of all we're playing in a in a game today in the NBA where it's a positionist game okay Jason Tatum is a guy that could play again the one through five at 69 610 if you so can D bio who played in front of them hold on but what I'm saying guard dein Booker okay got minutes in front of Anthony Edwards got minutes in front of him what Stephen A is say Stephen A Smith is

saying he's right when you got a guy like Jason Tatum who resume is longer than a CVS receipt you do not disrespect him the way that Steve Kerr did and I'mma say this I'm gon say this the rest of the league you could thank Steve Kerr for what Jason Tatum is about to do to you I don't disagree with that and that's fine I'm just saying I'm just saying the NBA game and the Olympic game are two different things you can't look at them and say well he's this in the NBA and this is an

Olympic game it's different it's different by the way it wasn't just Steve Kerr you know that coaching staff had Eric spoler on it and Ty Lou on it and Mark Fu on it and they made the decision as a group that they was going to be that he was going to be out for those Serbia games it was evaluation that's disingenuous I'm accusing you being disingenuous here with here's the reason why we can sit up here with teammates man now we can sit up there and we can have disagreements or whatever but damn it when

a decision is made we going to ride with each other what I look like up [Applause] [Music] [Applause]