MIAMI — Spurs wiseacre coach Gregg Popovich couldn’t help but take a playful dig at former Knicks/Nets point guard Jason Kidd for his rejection 10 years ago this July.
When asked if he admired Kidd for announcing his retirement and leaving $6.2 million on the table, Popovich said jokingly, “He’s made enough money — Jeez. Cry for me Jason, c’mon. He told me no a few years back. I hate Jason.’’
Turning more serious, Popovich said, “He’s a stud — always will be in my mind. He’s always going to do something that’s classy — an example for everyone else.’’
Kidd never played for the Spurs, who chased him in the summer of 2003 to the dismay of Tony Parker. Three days after Kidd’s retirement at age 40, Parker, at age 30, became the hero of Game 1 last night, hitting a wild 16-foot, getting-up-off-the-floor banker to seal a 92-88 win, putting him three wins from his fourth title.
Popovich and Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said the plan all along was to have Kidd and Parker share the backcourt, with the Frenchman at the 2.
“Anything we did with Jason was going to include Tony,’’ Buford told The Post. “We could’ve had three pretty good players in Jason, Tony and Manu [Ginobili]. I think they would’ve figured it out.’’
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Commissioner David Stern said Thursday he has no “regrets’’ on fining the Spurs $250,000 in late November for “resting’’ four starters in their lone SOBE matchup against the Heat.
When a San Antonio reporter asked Stern if Popovich’s move is now justified because he made the finals, Stern scoffed. Popovich sent his Big 3 — Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker — and youngster, Long Island’s Danny Green home.
“The simple answer is no,’’ said Stern, who added the owners will discuss the “resting players’’ issue at July’s meetings. “Pop is a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach and a visionary.
“On this one, he wasn’t resting Danny Green. We have some obligation to our fans to come up with some system that if you buy a ticket for a particular team, you see a representative sample of that team.’’
Stern’s implication regarding Green is Popovich’s motive was he may have been to stick it to the league for their condensed schedule that week.
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Another highlight was Stern saying the harsher luxury tax in the new collective bargaining agreement is working and used the Knicks’ failure to match Jeremy Lin’s poison-pill contract as the example.
Stern said the flux of coaching changes also is related, with owners unable to reconfigure rosters and needing a coach to get the most out of the talent
Stern, 71 in September, is stepping down in February. In his last finals press conference, he said of his tenure: “You look at the body or work and you say he steered the good ship NBA in a productive way.’’