Gregg Pops off on Trump
Coach rips prez on coronavirus
Speaking before Friday night’s Nets-Spurs game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ripped into Donald Trump’s response to coronavirus.
“I think most people understand the situation we’re in. Anything we can do in any facet of our lives, either as groups or individuals that can bring honor to our country, that can make us not be embarrassed about the way our government performs its job, would be wonderful,” Popovich said.
“Mr. Kudlow told us a couple days ago that it’s ‘airtight,’” Popovich said. National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow said Feb. 25 that “We have contained this. I won’t say airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight.” The president said “the tests are all perfect” Friday, while the U.S. government still appears unable to do widespread testing.
“Who would say that? Just logic wise, intelligence wise, you wouldn’t say that, even if it was airtight… Today it was our president blaming Barack Obama for the fact that we don’t have the kits that we need right now. Seriously. I think he thinks Barack Obama tripped Mary Decker,” Popovich said. (Mary Decker is a middle-distance runner who fell in the 3,000 meters at the 1984 Olympics.)
Popovich then continued his tirade with a throwback to the Bush administration.
“There’s a reason for it, I’m not just being flippant or being disrespectful. Weak people who are basically demagogues at heart make those guys’ arguments,” he said.
“If you protest something, if you’re disloyal, if you’re unpatriotic, I can still remember Dick Cheney telling anyone who didn’t like the Iraq war that you’re hurting the troops because you’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy, like Vietnam
all over again.” Popovich went to the Air Force Academy and served in the 1970s.
“The lies, the lies but they use those sorts of arguments which are ridiculous and false, but they really think people are going to fall for that. Hopefully enough of that crap has happened to where we understand that all we want is the truth and want to be proud of our country. We don’t want to be embarrassed by what our country does on an international basis, and especially don’t want to be part of a situation where government really doesn’t care about people.
“If you look back at the first day of when the stock market went down, the last sentence of what came out of President Trump’s mouth was ‘but the stock market’s OK. The stock market’s good.’ Seriously. If it affects him personally in a financial or political way, and it’s positive, he’s all for it, and he’ll tout it, and he’ll brag forever. But if it goes against him, whether it’s a person or an organization, he’ll go after them. And we all know why. Because he’s a coward.”
DURANT TO OLYMPICS?
Popovich doubles as the head coach of Team USA’s men’s national basketball team, and he did not rule out the possibility of Nets star Kevin Durant joining the team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“My feeling on that is that I would want Kevin to be absolutely ready to go, working out, playing five-on-five,” Popovich said during his trip to Brooklyn on Friday. “If his organization and he both feel it’s time to play, I wouldn’t want to be any part of him being 60% or 70% and just start to get in shape because of the Olympics.”
Durant signed a four-year max contract in Brooklyn over the summer but has not played a game and is expected to miss the entire season rehabbing from a ruptured Achilles tendon he sustained in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
“The Olympics are important, huge, but he’s got a career to take care of here with the Nets,” Popovich continued. “I would rather have him do that if he’s not totally ready to play this summer.”
Durant won gold medals at the last two Olympics. Adding him is a no-brainer for Popovich and Team USA: Durant is a four-time scoring champion and one of the greatest scorers the game has witnessed. He averaged 19.5 points in two Olympic runs and scored 30 points in the gold medal games in 2012 and 2016.
The issue would be one of public perception. Durant would be playing in the Olympics before playing for a Nets team paying him $164 million over a four-year span. He will collect $37.2 million this season without having played a game.
This is the position the Nets put themselves in when they signed a player who had suffered a season-ending injury at the very end of the 2018-19 season. Durant has made steady progress in his Achilles rehab and has advanced to three-onthree drills at the Nets’ practice facility.
Durant’s manager, Rich Kleiman, did not rule out an Olympic return for the super scorer.
“Definitely a possibility,” Kleiman told The Washington Post. “He allowed his name to be in the group of finalists. But there are other benchmarks in front of him that are more important before he makes those decisions.”
Kleiman also provided some comfort for fans unsure of Durant’s capabilities returning from an Achilles injuries that has ended many careers over the course of NBA history.
“I have no question he’ll be back better than ever,” he said.