The U.S. team was hampered by the loss of about nine top players, who were concerned about safety in Greece and refused to play. With a makeshift team, the U.S. lost three games and finished with the bronze medal.
A year later, Stern named Jerry Colangelo to head the U.S. Men’s National team and Colangelo chose Mike Krzyzewski as the head coach. Colangelo was asked about Popovich, and the former Suns owner said he thought Popovich was too bitter about the ’04 experience and had burned out on international play. That irritated Popovich so much that he issued a statement denouncing it.
It is well-known that Popovich and Colangelo are not mutual admirers. Stern hired Colangelo. So if you are Pop, who do think really prevented you from being the Olympic coach?
Popovich is a military man. He went to the Air Force Academy. Before he went into coaching, he was prepared to spend his life working for his country. He’s as passionate of a patriot as anyone. So how devastating do you think it’s been for him to know that Stern has played a significant role in him not being able to lead the United States basketball team in the Olympic Games? That had nothing to do with Pop resting players, but the point is Popovich has never genuflected when Stern walked in the room, and you can be sure Stern is irritated by that.
Stern’s decision to fine the Spurs is also troubling on a competitive basis. Anyone who has spent any time around Popovich is 100 percent certain that every decision he makes is designed to enhance his team’s chances of winning a championship.
In Miami, the Spurs were playing for the fourth time in five nights in four cities. They won the first three of those games. Their next game after the road trip was Saturday night against Memphis and it was a far more important game than the Heat game (but, of course, not on TNT).
The Grizzlies are a Western Conference opponent. Two years ago, they beat the Spurs in the first round. The last scenario Popovich wants is to lose the home court advantage by one game to the Grizzlies and have to play a second or third round series with Memphis holding the home court.
So he chose to rest his players against Miami so they could be more competitive against Memphis. And maybe it worked. The Spurs won the game 99-95 — with the help of an egregious non-call toward the end of OT.
Stern knows that it made sense for Pop to rest players and he knows that because he knows basketball. He has been criticized by some for not having a feel for the game, but nothing could be further from the truth. He is a basketball man.
The rule enacted to clean up flopping may not be perfect, but it is part of Stern’s attempt to correct a deficiency in the game and something he took the initiative to do. He has talked in the past about adopting the European rule on goaltending, where the ball can be swatted away after it hits the rim and, again, that is from his own observations.
Those examples by no means are comprehensive, but the point is the man is hardly ignorant about basketball. He has a much better feel for the game than incoming commissioner Adam Silver, who is more of a business man.
Ironically, that may work in Silver’s favor because instead of going off half-cocked when he sees something that bothers him, he might have a more measured – and yes, a more mature – response.
It was Silver who was asked last season by USA Today about Popovich resting players and Silver replied: “The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams, and Gregg Popovich in particular is probably the last coach that I would second-guess.”
Too bad Silver’s boss didn’t feel the same way. There was no reason he shouldn’t – unless, of course, Stern’s response was personal and not professional.
Jan Hubbard has written about basketball since 1976 and worked in the NBA league office for eight years between media stints. Follow him on Twitter at @whyhub. For Hubbard’s archive from SheridanHoops.com, click here.
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