Coaches find it hard to focus
As a violent mob of rioters invaded the U.S. Capitol in the hours prior to their NBA meeting in Indianapolis onWednesday, Rockets coach Stephen Silas and Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren said they had spent the day following the news, rather than focusing on the game, while making plans to address the situation with their teams.
Bjorkgren said he would talk with his players before the game. Silas was unsure when he would talk about it but was clearly extremely impacted by watching the news and following reports out of Washington.
“I’ve been obviously watching it all day, disappointed in how everything’s kind of unfolding,” Silas said. “Obviously, our country’s divided right now and it’s really disappointing to see. And you know, it’s kind of a cloud over me at this point right now. Talking to my daughters about it and really just watching the news all day is not a good day.
“It’s funny. … My mom watches CNN constantly, like all day long. And she’s depressed all day long. I’m like, ‘Mom, you got to stop watching that stuff.’ That was me today, just watching, really paying attention … to the lawlessness. You never think you would see something like that in this time. That seems like it would happen in another country or another era. But that’s who we are, where we are right now.”
Silas said “the timing has to be right” to discuss it. There were not discussions about whether the games would be held, he said. But it was difficult to focus on preparations.
“Absolutely. It definitely is,” Silas said. “This is what I’ve been doing the last few hours, not necessarily concentrating on the Indiana Pacers, concentrating on the United States of America, which is infinitely more important than a basketball game. But my job is to coach this team and do the best I can to lead us to a victory.
“There’s so many layers to it. There’s what’s going on at the Capitol building, and there’s the why. There is a long history of division in our country when it comes to political party, but it seems right now there’s more of a division in just humanity. That’s what I’m grappling with and struggling with right now.”
Bjorkgren said he had already decided to talk about the events of the day with his team but knew his players would want to playWednesday.
“I will address that with the players as a group and with the leaders on this team inMalcolm ( Brogdan) and Victor ( Oladipo),” he said. “We want to always stay up to date and current on what’s happening in the world and the NBA led by these players, the NBA itself, the organization, has done a tremendous job in continuing to educate the people of the world about the things that are happening. So, definitely will talk to the team about this.”