Charles Barkley Reacts to Steve Kerr Benching Jayson Tatum, Reveals Michael Jordan-Led Dream Team's Strategy | CPT PPP Coverage

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If Elvis and The Beatles were in one show together, who gets to perform longer? That would’ve been Chuck Daly’s dilemma when he was tasked with coaching a squad of 12 NBA superstars in 1992. He compared the Dream Team to this combination of pop cult greatness in a different context but it applies to how smart he was about utilizing Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. His leading scorer, Charles Barkley still praises him for it. This is not the kind of admiration Steve Kerr is getting right now. Especially after he kept reigning NBA champ, Jayson Tatum on the bench during the opening game in Paris.

Like most fans, Sir Charles was also disappointed that Tatum was left out of Team USA’s first game on Sunday night. “He’s got to play,” Barkley said on NBA Radio the next day. “Everybody on the team has to play.”

Team USA had an anxious start against Nikola Jokic and the Serbian team before Kevin Durant and LeBron James turned the tide. Though they won with an impressive 110-84 win and a few individual records, fans weren’t happy Tatum didn’t have a single minute of play. The team’s head coach, Steve Kerr, expressed difficulties in giving all the players equal minutes. Barkley admits that’s hard but reminded that Chuck Daly figured it out.

The Dream Team was the first squad of NBA superstars and Chuck Daly came off two consecutive championships with the Pistons. Barkley revealed he struck an ingenious balance in the star power. “Chuck Daly did a fabulous job. He had two starting units. He said, ‘you guys are going to start when we think we’re playing against the best team. That was me and Michael and those guys.”

 As Chuck said, Daly rotated combinations while keeping Jordan and Barkley in the starting lineup at every game in Barcelona. Bird and Johnson missed games due to injuries. Daly saved his best combination for the gold medal game against Croatia – Jordan, Barkley, Johnson, Karl Malone, and Patrick Ewing. But Barkley says Daly played both starting units at 10-minute intervals. That way they all played roughly 25 minutes per game.

That’s how Daly made the Olympics work with active NBA titans. “You can’t expect anybody to go over there in practice and they’re not playing in the damn Olympics.” But it’s not clear if Kerr will take the double-Chucks’ heed.

Only an upside to playing in the Olympics

KD plays his finest in the Olympics and he’s been in an opening game in every appearance. That’s put him in an exclusive Team USA club with Barkley. Kerr had to play him when he returned from resting his injury at the cost of Tatum. He admitted he felt he was going “crazy” doing that but he had to make combinations work.

But Barkley said there’s no downside to playing Tatum. So everyone on the team didn’t have to play over 30 minutes. Durant scored 21 of his 23 points in nine minutes alone. But it’s unlikely Kerr would re-evaluate strategy at the last minute.

To Barkley’s point, rotating players like Daly did when it’s this stacked with talent is not going to hurt. But every player deserves his time to shine in the Olympics. Do you agree with the two Chucks?