Gregg Popovich has been Tony Parker’s only coach since the Spurs drafted Parker with the 28th overall pick in 2001. After coaching him into what now is his 13th season in the NBA, Popovich said he felt bad for Parker in the wake of his star point guard being enveloped in the “quenelle” controversy.
“I felt bad for Tony,” Popovich said before the Spurs beat the Nets 113-92 Tuesday night. “He doesn’t have an anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim or anti-Christian bone in his body. That gesture was made three years ago and at that time he thought it meant something totally different — but which it did to him — it has morphed into something else over time.
“I think it’s a tribute to his leadership and his maturity to understand that it has morphed — which he found out — into something that’s pretty hateful. He realized that he needed to say something, that it’s not appropriate. There’s enough bigotry and racism and hatred in the world already.
“So that thing has been taken too far and when he was informed of that and understood it, he was very quick to denounce it and understand what he had to do. So I was proud of him.”
Parker was photographed doing the gesture with French comedian Dieudonne three years ago backstage at one of his shows. In a statement released through the team Monday, Parker said he didn’t know of the gesture’s negative connotations until recently, and that he never will repeat it now that he knows.
Former Magic coach Stan Van Gundy defended Nets coach Jason Kidd but criticized the Nets organization in a radio interview Monday night.
“I think with all the injuries it’s been hard to evaluate Jason Kidd,” Van Gundy said. “It’s been easy to jump on him not just because of the record, but the things coming out of their locker room, the situation with Lawrence Frank, the incident of spilling the drink on the floor.
“I mean this has looked like a bush-league organization much of the year — they don’t play with much effort at all, a very uninspired team. But at the same time, they had so many people hurt you just don’t know, and now they are not they are not going to be healthy all year. … You can do whatever you want with the coaching situation but it is not going to change the situation with their roster.
“They just don’t have a lot of options — they don’t have draft picks, they are way over the salary cap. They are probably in the worst situation of any team in the NBA right now.”
Kidd said that despite the rough start he still believes in this group moving forward.
“Well I think we have one of the best owners and so I’m confident,” Kidd said. “We’ve got a group of guys in there that are fighting and we can only take care of one thing and that’s tonight’s game. Everybody has their right to their opinion, but the guys in that locker room are fighting and we look forward to tonight’s game.”
After waiting for nearly two months, Andrei Kirilenko was back on the floor Tuesday night. He finished with four points, one rebound and two assists in 11 minutes in his first game since Nov. 8 in Washington. He had missed the previous 25 games, and 26 total, with back spasms.
“It feels great to be back, and get the feeling back of running, getting into the offense, defense and I think those 10 minutes were a great improvement for myself over the last month, and without getting any bad feelings. … So far, I think that’s a vast improvement.”