Once again Steve Kerr had a great interview with Tom Tolbert and Adam Copes on KNBR yesterday and they also had Gregg Popovich, who’s obviously in town for the Spurs-Warriors game tonight. Check the previous article for our thoughts on who starts in place of Stephen Curry.
I’ve often said here at LGW, we try to give the perspective of being the 19th man on the squad — 15 regular NBA contracts and three two-ways. Over the years I’ve evolved my fandom from the vanilla peanut gallery type, although me and my seriously competitive Northern California Japanese League basketball buddies always thought we could relate better than your garden variety fanatic who calls in to radio shows.
To then having access to the Golden State franchise (my first media day was probably 2011) to attending every practice, morning shootaround, pregame, and postgame, to including such availabilities on road trips for nearly a decade.
Guys, there is nothing better than experiencing this team close-up and, like Steph has said a million times, enjoying the process. So with that, please enjoy what Coach Pop had to say about Steve from a player perspective and let’s keep the positive vibes up for Coach.
As for the Spurs-Warriors preview, Kerr said he hadn’t figured out yet who would start or what the rotation would be. One thing is for certain: Trayce Jackson-Davis has been deemed by the coaching staff and the analytics as important for the playoffs, therefore they are ramping him up to 16-20 minutes per game to get him reps. Oh, and the whole TJD joking he wanted 30 minutes per game from Steve if he beat Kerr at the charity poker tournament Friday night (we’ll have a behind-the-scenes video on this soon) was overblown — TJD was kinda goaded into that by the 95.7 people. 🙄
Here’s the two-minute clip of Pop then Kerr with Tolbert, which I’ll put on our Instagram (transcript below):
ADAM COPES: Kerr gets the new contract. He’s done this for like half as much or less than that, the amount of time you have. Does he deserve this new deal?
GREGG POPOVICH: “No, he doesn’t. He’s stealing. He’s just flat stealing. I can’t believe ownership did that. If I was part of ownership, it would have been, ‘Hey, look, here’s what we’re going to offer. If you don’t like it, we got 10 people here waiting to take the job. So if you want to take it, go ahead.’ And what did they do? They filled up his wallet.”
TOM TOLBERT: He is the best. Now that was Comedian Pop. This is what Pop had to say shortly after that.
POP: “He’s one of those guys that every player should be so thankful that they even get to be around him because he’s the most centered, mature teacher I’ve been around in a long time, not super highs, not super lows. Class when you win, grace if you lose, and just teaching the game, participating with the players, high standards, everybody’s accountable, but it’s done with care and with love and with a thought that all we’re trying to do is be our best, do our thing, and then go home. That’s pretty rare, and he does it in spades.”
TOLBERT: What does that mean to you to hear that from someone like that?
STEVE KERR: “That’s pretty cool. Yeah, that’s pretty cool. Pop really has been one of my mentors, and he’s become a great friend. Since I became a coach, that changed our relationship. We became colleagues, and then, of course, we coached in the World Cup and the Olympics together, which was the first time we’ve ever been on the same staff, and that was amazing. But I hold him in such high regard. He’s one of the finest people I’ve ever been around. And just the character and the moral compass and the humor; he just gets it. He’s dead serious about his job, but he never takes himself seriously. He laughs at himself and laughs at the world. But at the same time, he just finds that balance that every person should have, great compassion and care for people. But never takes himself too seriously. And every day is a gift. He’s fun to be around.”
👍👍💛💙