Former NBA champ Nick Young stated on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast that Boston Celtics guard Derrick White should not have been selected as the replacement for Kawhi Leonard on Team USA. Instead, they should have gotten a scorer like Tyler Herro.
“Herro knows his role, to come in and score and get buckets,” said Young. Then, speaking as he was Team USA, said “But we don’t support that, we support someone who can come in and play defense all day and block shots.”
This is honestly a ludicrous take. White is one of the best defenders in the league, and Young would rather have Herro in. White might not be a great scorer all the time like Herro, but he torched Herro’s Miami Heat with Herro defending him. White brings the defense to another level, and heats up on the offensive end.
Plus, Team USA lost Leonard, who is arguably one of the greatest defenders in NBA history, and Arenas and Young would rather have Herro, a good scorer and sixth man. Team USA was filled with All-Star level scorers, so defense would be preferable.
Arenas built off of Young’s take, saying that all the players on Team USA were focusing on defending since everyone could score, but that’s just not true. If it was, they would switch everything and defend everyone perfectly. However, if Team USA’s guards were getting worked on the defensive end, the coaches would put in White to lock it down and provide shooting.
So should Team USA have taken Herro this year? Probably not, because Herro would not fit into their gameplan, while White did.
Nick Young says Team USA should replace Derrick White with a scorer like Tyler Herro off the bench
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 16, 2024
(🎥 @GilsArenaShow / h/t @HeatCulture13) pic.twitter.com/SCBN7UfJ9E
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