Steve Kerr still didn’t learn his lesson with Walker Kessler

Despite starting Walker Kessler, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr limited his minutes.

The FIBA World Cup has come to a close, and the folks at Team USA didn’t even medal. Heck, even the Canadians got a Bronze. The United States, home of the richest basketball talent in the world, didn’t even medal. And that’s all on head coach Steve Kerr. While criticisms of not playing Utah Jazz big Walker Kessler were fair, he sure didn’t really listen to them.

At least not really.

Kerr started Kessler in the third-place game but only played the 22-year-old 16 minutes, despite the fact he had the fourth-best box plus-minus on the team. It’s as if Kerr was trying to prove his philosophy on basketball could work no matter what.

Well, guess what, it didn’t. And it’d be one thing if  Kessler didn’t play that much and someone like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 40 points on your squad. That’s not what happened. Instead, it was Dillion Brooks of all people who scored 39 points, while going 7/8 from three.

Sure, Kessler couldn’t help much on that end of things, but if we’re being honest, he would’ve been able to keep Brooks and others out of the paint. Outside of Brooks, the Canadians weren’t great from three, meaning a lot of the damage came within Kessler’s wheelhouse.

A wheelhouse he’d be able to manage if he were on the court longer than 16 minutes. Yet, Kerr’s obsession with proving that his small-ball lineups could compete in the international game was clearly the priority.

Even if Kessler is a prospect for joining the Americans in the Olympics, it’d be fair to say he should re-think that if Kerr stays on as coach. He’s not apt at using bigs properly (look how badly Jaren Jackson Jr. was used), and the last thing you want if your Kessler is to have your legacy and name tarnished by a coach who doesn’t value you.