Kevin Durant is considered one of the best scorers in the history of the game and overall also he has been a top name in the NBA for sometime now. Apart from playing for several teams in the NBA, Durant has also featured for the United Stated in the Olympics where he had the fortune of working with Gregg Popovich, one of the greatest ever to grace the NBA. Popvich after the event shared his experience of working with the 12-time All Star during the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Coach Popovich has won several accolades and have coached several top players in the world. But he finally got the chance to coach Kevin Durant during the Olympics in Tokyo. So before the San Antonio Spurs played the Brooklyn Nets, he opened up on how mesmerized he and the other coaching staff were watching Durant do his personal workout.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand,” Popovich said. “They just think he’s talented and he’s really good, he can get his shot off, and so on and so forth. “When practices were over, not just the other players, but coaching staff, we’d go and be mesmerized by watching him go through this individual workout,” Coach Pop stated about the Nets superstar.
Popovich shared how Durant used to completely dominate Will Hardy, the current Utah Jazz coach and made him run after balls for 45 minutes. “He’d go over at one of the baskets and usually Will Hardy (former San Antonio assistant coach, current Utah Jazz head coach) will com over there, and he’d bust Will Hardy’s butt for, like, 45 minutes chasing balls and throwing his back to him as he did his workout. Starting inside, going outside, making moves, pivoting, doing the whole deal.”
The experienced coach shared how the other players and teams don’t even know how much he loves the game and works on the basics and fundamentals to only improve even after so many years at the top. “And it was just his way. I don’t think other players from other teams knew that he did those sorts of things or that he loved the game in that way, through really working on all the basics and the fundamentals. It was special,” Popovich concluded.
Popovich is already one of the greatest coaches of all time and for him to be in awe of some player speaks volumes about them and their work ethic. Later in the Olympics, Durant ended up as Team USA’s leading scorer overtaking Carmelo Anthony as they won the Gold medal.
After a lot of off season issues with the Nets and Kevin Durant, the two parties ultimately decided to stay together and work for another season. Looking back at that now, it feels like it was a great decision for the franchise and for Durant himself as things are working out really well for him and the Nets.
The Nets have won 12 matches in a row and are now second in the Eastern Conference only behind last season’s finalists Boston Celtics. The Nets are just a game behind Jayson Tatum and company and that can change really very fast. Overall things are working great for the Nets with both Durant and Kyrie Irving working in tandem and making them look like a very formidable unit, one that can surely contend for the championship this time.
