FIRST TAKE | Nike racism Jaylen Brown - Stephen A. Smith on Team USA replace Kawhi by Derrick White

one of the biggest stories with Team USA came off the court but Team USA reversed course Wednesday and St Leonard home Hill selected the Celtics Derek white to replace Leonard Kawai continues to nurse the right knee injury dating back to the NBA Playoffs Grant Hill is a tough decision there are a lot of good players and he wants the best team the best fit took Jaylen Brown by surprise and got his attention White's teammate Finals MVP Jaylen Brown questioned that selection and seemed to imply in a social media post that Nike was behind it he'll denied that saying white was the right fit because his role will be similar to his role with the Celtics I think J Brun earned an opportunity to play on this Olympic team to me he's kawi Leonard 2.0 for we'll get into some football plenty of miscues in its first dress rehearsal for the Olympics on Wednesday night but it was a comfortable 8672 victory over Team Canada in front of a record setting crowd of 20,000 plus including former president Barack Obama and other dignitaries Anthony Davis put up a double double really leading things and Anthony Edwards as well added a team High 13 points Ant-Man in full effect remember when there were rumors that Stephen LeBron would play together well that was partially true at least for Team USA here's Steph in Lebron we know we're a lot better but we only been together four days so all over all the miscues offensive with the turnover the things we'll get better than that with that but it starts on the defensive end as long as we defend we going to give ourselves a good chance to win every night we just want to win gold I mean whatever that takes so we always talk about no matter what your stats are don't matter how many minutes you play like everybody on the floor commit to just doing what you has to do we'll be good going for the gold as they should all right coach break it down for me were you impressed with Team USA's performance last night over Canada I was impressed with what they did defensively they imposed their identity on the game on the defensive end their defensive identity was really good uh offensively for practice is they're not going to be exactly running the Princeton offense but you think about what they did defensively all right 20 blocks and steals combined 21 points off of turnovers held SGA and Jamal Murray to five for 18 from the field they were dominating defensively their size their length their athleticism so defensively if they're locked in what does that do creates easy offense it gets them out in transition they were really unselfish 25 assists 37 field goals a lot of those in transition so I thought I was really I was very press for 4 days in defensively they seem connected and active and alert all right we're going to keep it rolling here guys I want to get into a little bit of a controversy well many thought it was a controversial decision for Kawai to play in his first Olympics considering his injury history and missing 12 of the Clippers final 14 games with right knee inflammation and now that appears to be a moot point after Team USA decided to replace kaai with Celtics guard Derek white meanwhile Finals MVP Jaylen Brown took social media reacting to the decision posting the face with an emoji three times followed by another which read Nike this is what we're doing so Grant Hill was asked about constructing the Olympic roster Grant you got 12 spots and you have to build a team and one of the hardest things is leaving people off the roster that I'm a fan of that I look forward to watching throughout the season throughout the playoffs but the responsibility that I have is to put together a team and a team that compliments each other a team that fits a team that will um give us the best opportunity for success and um so you know whatever theories that might be out there um you know they're just that this is tough Courtney Fresh Off putting in work we saw Jaylen Brown out there in the finals on his way to ultimately winning the championship do you feel like this was a right choice Derek white over Jaylen Brown I guess by virtue of his position as a point guard being the better playmaker he shot better than from three-point range last season but no if you're GNA replace kawh Leonard why don't you replace Kawhi Leonard with someone who I heard coach say this on get up this morning is kawh Leonard 2.0 who is someone who is out there on the wing who can defend and can play in a team setting when I hear Grant Hill talk about trying to find the best 12 players to put on Team USA obviously it's going to be a hard decision but if you're going off of shot making and playmaking 80 to 90% of the roster can already do that why would you not put the reigning Eastern Conference Finals MVP on there the reigning Finals MVP on there someone who made $300 million which was at one time the highest the largest contract for an NBA player like very clearly he's one of the 12 best players ERS in the United States who would be eligible for this team I feel like there's a lot of politics at play here I covered AA for a long time I've covered the Team USA makeup and the way that this roster is often formed shoe allegiances the politics behind that are a big part of this and I know that when Grant Hill was talking about the fact that he wore Fela at one point trying to make maybe a little tongue and cheek remark there I think that speaks far louder to why Jaylen Brown was left off of this team than the actual ex's and O reasons about him not being a better fit to replace Kawhi Leonard on this roster okay I'll say for me you know it's unfortunate for Jaylen brown right when you have the opportunity to be the eastn Conference Finals MVP be the finals MVP and I thought he was the best player for the Boston Celtics throughout the entire playoffs right we know he can shot make we know he can create we know he can defend at a high level so it's unfortunate for him but I would also sit up here and say that I'm not mad at Derek white going to the USA basketball team and playing for the Olympic team as well because when you look at a guy who is a facilitator and watching that game last night early what did we see we seen how sporadic the USA basketball team was we seen the turnovers but now you have another ball handler a guy that can orchestrate things and put guys in positions to be successful also when you look at Derek white he's second Team all defensive team right he he was on the second team so he could defend at a high level him and Drew Holliday did that together in the back court for the Boston Celtics this entire season and it was a pivotal uh I would say uh showing for them throughout the playoffs and particularly when you're going against the Kyrie Irving and a Luca dunach in the NBA Finals but then also Derek white is a guy that can hit the spot up threes like I said I I would have preferred Jaylen brown but I'm not going to sit up here and slight Derek white like he's not a phenomenal player he was the third leading scorer for the Boston Celtics throughout the playoffs who was also missing Kristoff porzingis and a lot of they wer going it he was the leading assist man for the Boston Celtics throughout the regon and I'll say this again and I re continue to reiterate this it will come back to haunt them and me and Coach Greenberg we talked about this this morning in the production meeting forget up it will come back to haunt them if Kevin Durant can't be fully healthy that's when it will come back to haunt them I don't think it's going to haunt them if Kevin Durant is healthy and he's going out there and performing at a high level but once again I like Derek white I'm not not going to slight him because he got chosen but J Brown is the better player coach this feels kind of like a major snub to me where are you on this well first of all I don't think it's a conspiracy thing look Grant till is one of the most highly respected people in basketball as a player as a person his Integrity is but beyond reproach I don't think this is a Nike versus someone else conversation I think that look I believe jayen Brown is really special I think he impacts the game offensively in terms of creating offense by getting to the offensive blast creating offense out of the defense in transition getting to the rim his talent is undeniable he's proven he's a winning player he's proven he can play with other good players having said that I think what Grant Hill said from the bottom of his heart he's looking at putting together a team he knows that Derek white will Embrace a role all right a role that he's embraced all season long with the Boston Celtics he Derek white will be comfortable playing 10 minutes a game he's a ball mover the ball doesn't get stuck he's an elite Defender he's going to knock down open threes he's a terrific cutter he fits the international game that's not saying that jayen brown would not absolutely be a monster for USA Basketball me I do think jayen Brown is Kawhi Leonard 2.0 if you wanted Kawhi Leonard you should want jayen brown but you shouldn't slight either one of these guys two really talented guys two guys that impact winning I do not think that politics has anything to do with it I think it's just grant Tails saying you know what I want a guy that fits in will Embrace a 10-minute a game role Asos post to someone that might come in and expect maybe more you've got to keep 12 guys happy hard to keep 12 guys happy even when winning a gold is the goal is he the better fit is white the better fit with this team coach in terms of a pure fit in terms of the things that they're looking for on their team probably is a better fit but Harry you make a great point we talked about it earlier Kevin Durant's injured you need you need jayen brown because he brings that Dynamic ability offensively but more importantly I do like jayen brown because of his ability to impact the game and get you easy baskets but you look at the roster they've got some guys like Jaylen Brown all right they need to replace like like Courtney you made a great Point another ball handler would help them if one of those guards goes down if Steph goes down uh if Drew holiday goes down Drew holiday is maybe the most important player on this basketball team because he dominates the ball at the point of attack so I I'm very comfortable with Derek white I feel for J Brown course I think he's deserving but you can only pick 12 lost in all of this is the kawh Leonard decision to play and I kind of have an issue with that speak on it 68 games this past season the most he's played in eight years since he was last with the San Antonio Spurs for him to have the knee injury in the postseason it stops what the Clippers were able to do against the Dallas Mavericks and then to repeatedly tell us I'm not 100% And I get it you want to represent your country you want to be part of this team that's being compared to the Dream Team to the redeemed team to being part of History to go win gold in Paris yet you were a liability from the very start you knew that you weren't healthy and to make this decision and now have to have a quick swap in and out remember Derrick White wasn't there yesterday because he's probably on a plane out to Vegas getting ready for training camp I just really question why Kawai in knowing that he just just got the contract and you saw the statement from Team USA yesterday it was Team USA and the Los Angeles Clippers guiding kawhai towards this decision to withdraw that really it doesn't sit right with me because from the very jump he knew that he probably wasn't going to be able to last this stretch run through all the exhibition games and yes it's international basketball he wasn't going to be playing same sort of minutes he's playing in the NBA but he put himself in this position and put Team USA in this position where they were going to have have to make some changes to this roster and I wonder about how these injuries are affecting his psyche and what's going to happen for him going forward because the onslaught that we've seen over the last couple of years particularly his time with the Los Angeles Clippers how much longer is it gonna like become this sort of friend we're constantly questioning questioning how long how many games he's gonna play C if you had an opportunity to play USA basketball win a gold medal represent your country wouldn't you try to exhaust the opportunity and say you know what can I go once he realized he couldn't go or once USA Basketball realized he couldn't go you know what a decision was made they got a long time they had four practices it's no big thing Derek white has been part of USA Basketball you know Jaylen Brown has been part of USA basketball this is not a big thing I think the bigger thing is I think we're missing the bigger thing is if you're to Boston Celtics and you're the front office of the Boston Celtics all right you've got a deal with Jaylen Brown now this is a USA Basketball decision it's not a Boston Celtics decision but it could potentially become a Boston Celtics problem Brad Stevens now has an issue on his plate that he cannot ignore he's got to meet headon and make sure he addresses it between all four parties but qu quite honestly and Coach to that point A lot of people are arguing that Jaylen Brown is already slighted just in terms of marketing opportunities versus other players on his team and in the league for what type so [Music] [Music] [Music] let's fight for a better [Music] future first BL [Music] you have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated an ally has been defeated only the righteous will prevail light now give up an enemy has been defeated don't one for me you have defeated an [Music] enemy your team has destroyed a tower you have been defeated enemy double [Music] kill to Victory stepping through an enemy has been defeated you have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated stepping through to Victory H I got a hug an enemy has been defeated ultimate shut down an enemy has been defeated double kill your team has destroyed a tower on slot nothing can stop me blood bath the shackles of Destiny have been broken you have been defeated an ally has been defeated dominating shut down Ace for you have defeated an enemy an ally has been defeated double kill our base is under attack e imate enemy Ultimate Enemy double kill shut down

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Keywords: nba free agency 2024, first take, espn sc, get up, 2024 nba season, nba today, nba on espn, stephen a.smith, shannon, jay williams, kendrick perkins, richard jefferson, tim legler, brian windhorst, adrian wojnarowski, woj, michael wilbon, lebron james, steph curry, jayson tatum, joel embiid, paul george, klay thompson, demar derozan, nba

Id: -ggj9ts9jdc

Length: 22min 28sec (1348 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 11 2024