San Francisco-The coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, entered the interview room at the Chase Center Friday afternoon with a black t-shirt with a photo of Gregg Popovich.
“Pop will kill me for having worn this shirt,” Kerr said before the Warriors play Houston’s Rockets in match 6. “He would call me an unfortunate Rube.”
Kerr had mixed emotions on Friday when he was thinking about the enormous influence that Popovich, the most winning coach in the League, had on his life and his career. Popovich officially retired as a sparks in San Antonio after a 29-year race which included five world championships and the enthronement of the basketball renowned temple.
Popovich, 76, has moved away from training after undergoing a stroke at the team arena in November and another medical incident last month.
Popovich will become the president of Spurs basketball operations, and former goalkeeper of Stanford Mitch Johnson, a Spurs assistant who replaced Popovich, will become full-time head coach from San Antonio.
Kerr won two NBA championships as a popovich player in San Antonio.
“Pop is one of the most important people in my life for many reasons, and most of them go far beyond basketball,” said Kerr, who visited Popovich three weeks ago when the Warriors were in San Antonio. “But it’s a sad day. It is also an encouraging day, because it is a natural transition for him, organizationally, to move on to his next role.
“I think it also gives him the space and time he needs to recover health problems.”
The Popovich career coaching record was 1,422-869, and its 170 playoffs with the Spurs are the most trained by any coach with any team and the third largest number of Phil Jackson (229) and Pat Riley (171).
Kerr credited Popovich and Jackson, another of his former coaches, helping to revolutionize the position of one dictatorship to another based on collaboration.
“These two guys, in my mind, helped to create the current culture in which we are, for coaching and team constitution, where it is so based on human values, human connection, then a fierce competitive desire to go with it,” said Kerr. “This is what we are all looking for, and I think Pop has helped create this atmosphere around the league and in other sports too.”
Kerr was coached by Popovich in San Antonio for more than three seasons, first from 1999 to 2001, and again in the last season of Kerr as a player in 2002-2003 when he won his second NBA title with the team.
But the two would develop a close friendship beyond basketball, Popovich’s desire to express themselves on social issues having an impact on Kerr’s desire to do the same with his important platform, in particular with regard to racial inequalities and the control of firearms.
“I was 100% inspired by pop to have the courage to speak and take the tubes you are going to take if you do it,” said Kerr. “I knew how much he loved his country, and I knew how much his Air Force experience meant for him. And I think this conviction has combined, let’s say, the maneuver of this century politically. Everything BS began at that time, the Tour of the century, when social media and the Buffon have politically entered, we just entered this current era, we are cries of everyone.
“So I think he has already been condemning, but he saw what was going on, and he wanted to make sure he was speaking.”
Although the two were sometimes joking to shots through the media, there was always a deep well of respect between them. The two had enough in common that people hypothesized that the two would form a presidential ticket. A website, www.popovichkerr2020.com, has been created and presented cups and t-shirts in the style of campaign posters.
“It was probably one of the first coaches of the modern generation to really talk about social policy and injustices,” said Kerr about Popovich.
Kerr added that the former Legendary Basketball Coach of North Carolina, Dean Smith, helped to break the racial barriers in the south, “refusing to take his team in certain places to play or stay or eat”.
“I think pop is sort of in this Dean Smith mode to see the overview beyond sport, and it is the coaches that really stand out. I immediately think of (Jackson) in this regard, just guys who recognize the importance of sport and yet a importance, and find this balance and this perspective, then have a societal impact, and this is where pop is. “
California Daily Newspapers
