Payton Pritchard on Jayson Tatum's Team USA benching: Now you gotta show people again, because they doubting

Celtics stars Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday had a chance to chat with Tom Brady at USA Basketball’s 50th anniversary party Monday. White said he had never met the Patriots legend. “That was dope,” White said. “He’s obviously the GOAT and I was pretty excited to see him. He congratulated us [on the NBA championship] and we talked a little bit about the parade and how it compared to theirs.” So, how were Celtics and Patriots duck boat festivities different? “Ours was warmer,” White said, smiling. -via Boston Globe / August 7, 2024

Charles Barkley: “Have the International Teams gotten better? 100%. They are still not better than the United States. You take away Joker and Giannis and Luka. All three guys are great, great players. Shai is great also. But we still got the next 10 best players in every game. Ain’t nobody bringing nobody off the bench better than Jayson Tatum. Ain’t nobody bringing anybody off the bench better than Kevin Durant. The international teams have gotten better, but there’s never an excuse for the United States not to win the gold medal. We got the best team. We got the best players by far. (…) Listen, if they lose, we can’t let them back in the country. We can’t. I told them they can’t come back.” -via YouTube / August 5, 2024

Even still, Booker said, his support for a countryman outweighed any residue that might have remained from Lyles’ comment. “The statement was said,” Booker said. “I think how it was said — you know, it was just out of context. I feel like it was something that was weighing on his heart for a long time. He’s gained a following since then. He held it down, though, so congrats to him.” Booker wasn’t the only Team USA men’s basketball participant who witnessed the incredible event in person. He was joined by the team’s managing director and former NBA player Grant Hill, assistant coach Tyronn Lue and teammates Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum. “That was dope,” Tatum said of the evening at Stade de France. “That was my first ever track and field event.” -via New York Times / August 5, 2024

One hypothetical question that Turner asked didn’t require a moment of thought: If the 2023-24 Boston Celtics went to the Olympics and competed against the world, could they take home the gold medal? Payton Pritchard: “I’d bet my money on it that we would. I’m not gonna say it’s a done deal for sure […] You win an NBA Championship. Go through a whole season like that and learn to play together — yeah, we’d be alright.” -via SB Nation / August 7, 2024

Jaylen Brown, obviously he had a big year, unbelievable year. Finals MVP, helped you guys get to Banner 18, but he’s left off Team USA. How did you feel about that? Did you feel any type of way of him voicing his opinion? PEYTON PRITCHARD: I know certain people are like it’s undercutting his teammate, but I was kind of like hey man, let him speak his peace. I think, yeah, let him speak. I don’t think Derek felt any type of way at all. I think we’re all brothers at the end of the day. When I saw it, not even having the consideration of putting him on was confusing to me. I think Jaylen is a top-level player. He fits everything they need. He can defend, play any role, and I think Jaylen would accept that. People sometimes have this version of him that he’s a difficult teammate or difficult dude, which is not the case at all. I love Jaylen to death and I got so much respect for him and the type of person he is.” -via YouTube / August 7, 2024

Adam Himmelsbach: Payton Pritchard on chasing another NBA title. “Hopefully we can win it again. We haven’t really talked about it yet but that doesn’t need to be talked about. It’s already what we want…We accomplished something great. But then we’ve got to do it again.” bostonglobe.com/2024/07/07/spo… -via Twitter @AdamHimmelsbach / July 8, 2024