If the last few days before Warriors training camp are a precursor to how the season may go, head coach Steve Kerr is going to have his hands full headed into the season. Two-time MVP Stephen Curry stated during a media session Friday that he had no interest in continuing the tradition of championship-winning teams going to the White House. Curry’s lack of interest in going to the White House insulted President Trump who tweeted out that the Warriors invitation was rescinded.
Cavaliers forward LeBron James came to the defense of Curry on Twitter, calling President Trump a bum. Other NBA Players came to the defense of Curry, as many thought what President Trump did was uncalled for.
One of those who thought what President Trump did was uncalled for: Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr. Kerr spoke to Sports Illustrated about his feeling on the entire ordeal. In the interview, Kerr reveals that the Warriors probably weren’t going, but Kerr had enough respect for the office of President that he had to keep an open mind on not going. Kerr took to Sports Illustrated to pen a first-person piece about his thoughts, and as always, the Warriors coach was eloquent and cogent.
Via SI:
Look, I’m a basketball coach and what I do obviously pales in comparison to what the president does. But our jobs are similar in at least one respect: If you want to be an NBA coach, you need to be prepared to be criticized. You kind of know that going in. If I coach poorly and we lose the game, I hear about it. That’s okay. It’s really where we coaches earn our money, accepting and dealing with criticism and keeping the ship moving forward. There has to be an inherent understanding when you enter into any public position of power that this is what happens. People are going to take shots at you and it’s incumbent upon you to absorb those shots. Maybe you respond diplomatically, but you maintain a level of respect and dignity. What you can’t do is just angrily lash out. Can you imagine if I lashed out at all my critics every day and belittled them? I’d lose my players, I’d embarrass ownership, I’d embarrass myself. Pretty soon I’d be out of a job. It’s a basic adult thing that you learn as you grow up: People aren’t always going to agree with you. And that’s OK.
Instead, we get Trump’s comments over the weekend about NFL players, calling them ‘sons of bitches’ for kneeling during the anthem. Those just crushed me. Crushed me. Just think about what those players are protesting. They’re protesting excessive police violence and racial inequality. Those are really good things to fight against. And they’re doing it in a nonviolent way. Which is everything that Martin Luther King preached, right? A lot of American military members will tell you that the right to free speech is exactly what they fight for. And it’s just really, really upsetting that the leader of our country is calling for these players to be ‘fired.’
No matter what side of the aisle one happens to sit in, that person would have to admit that Kerr has a point about the leader of the free world being expected to stay above the fray, instead of inciting it. One can hope that perhaps President Trump can learn from this ordeal, even if it doesn’t seem likely.
But the national kerfuffle has been another in what seems like a long line of public incidents that the Warriors seem to have found themselves in, between Kevin Durant’s twitter antics and the international incident known as ‘China Klay’. The Warriors have a lot to button up before the season kicks off in less than three weeks.
