Chapter 5
Coaches and Management USING Their Voices Matters
In 2003, I made the choice to use my voice as a platform to speak out against the invasion of Iraq. I was playing for the Washington Wizards at the time in the nation’s capital, so I was right in the middle of the heart of the activism. I wrote a few different poems and speeches about what was going on and began performing at local poetry spots. As I began performing more and more, I started meeting more like-minded people who would invite me to different rallies and events and demonstrations throughout DC. So I kept performing. Kept writing. Kept speaking out. I was now beginning to get standing ovations for my poems and speeches.
I really wanted to get my message out. I told the DC newspapers I wanted to write something for them about this topic and was met with a resounding no. John Mitchell of the Washington Times said he would love to print something on the topic, but there was no way that his conservative newspaper would ever be supportive. Steve Wyche at the Washington Post said that while they weren’t anywhere near as conservative as the Times, the chances were pretty much slim to none of them ever running this story. I was thoroughly disappointed. I talked to these guys every day after every practice and every game. They were usually begging for some type of a story or inside scoop or something about the ins and outs of what was going on with the team, but when I had something meaningful to discuss, something that affected our entire country, they didn’t want to touch it?
So I kept speaking at different events across DC. Some rallies had all of twenty-five people, others had hundreds, but whenever I got a chance to speak at a rally, I did. Then one day I was invited to a rally at the National Mall. I had no idea how enormous of an event it was until we got there. Malcolm was in a stroller at the time and my wife Nichole was pushing him around with the baby bags and formula and snacks and rattles and toys and everything else.
So we get to the Mall and there are literally thousands of people there. Dr. Cornel West was speaking and a person with headphones came up to me and asked me if I needed anything and said that I was on next. I was like, “Y’all got me following Cornel West? Could you put someone in between us or something?” He said he had seen me before and that I would be just fine.
So I performed a poem called “The Field Trip” and the crowd went crazy. Dr. West came up to me and gave me a hug and—I’ll never forget it—said, “You young brothas gotta carry the torch. That was brilliant.”
Dr. Cornel West called my poem “brilliant.” I was interviewed by Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now! I ran into sportswriter Dave Zirin, whom I had met at an anti–death penalty rally, and he asked me why hadn’t I talked about this to any of the newspapers. I told him that I tried but nobody wanted to touch it. He informed me that he was working for a small paper called the Prince George’s Post (PG Post for short) and he would be happy to write it—and he did just that. The title was “The Anti-War Speech Everyone Is Talking About,” and soon it was everywhere.
This was during the summer, so we had not officially begun practice yet. The next week I was at the Verizon Center working out and received a message that Mr. Pollin, the CEO of the Washington Wizards, wanted to speak to me in his office. When I heard that, I remember saying, “Well, I guess this is the end for me.” I didn’t really think this one through at all. Abe Pollin didn’t ask anyone to talk to him in his office and definitely not in the off-season.
As I enter his office, Mr. Pollin has this big smile on his face. He shakes my hand and begins to tell me that his son attended the antiwar rally and was raving about my speech. He said he read the text and was really impressed. We then began to have a lengthy conversation about politics. We covered Iraq, the Bush administration, child malnutrition in Africa, Vietnam, inner-city schools . . . We even debated the gentrification processes taking place throughout the city. He told me of his dedication to building housing units for people at a range of different incomes, not just the high-income bracket.
Needless to say, I was very impressed. We looked up and an hour and a half had gone by. He told me to keep standing up for what I believed in and said not to be surprised if I received a tremendous amount of criticism, but that he respected the stance I was taking, and any way he could help or support me, to just let him know.
I went home and told my wife what had happened and she was just as surprised as I was. It was extremely refreshing to have someone in his position offer words of encouragement and support.
There is a notion, especially after the apparent blackballing of certain players like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Craig Hodges, and now Colin Kaepernick, that athletes will be punished by the powers-that-be if they speak out. But I didn’t suffer any repercussions whatsoever. Now, I don’t know if my experience in DC was the norm, but I had no management pushback at all. As reflected in the following interview with the current CEO of the Wizards, the organization is continuing its fine tradition of supporting players when they speak out on issues that are important to them and their communities.
It was great to hear Ted Leonsis express so much support for the activism of the Wizards players.
Etan: After everything happened with former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling getting caught on tape making racist comments in April 2014, I noticed that you were one of the first NBA CEOs to condemn him. What prompted you to speak publicly?
Ted Leonsis: I acted organically, not coached and not handled. It was an authentic response . . . because his comments were just not acceptable in any way, shape, or form . . . I think the league acted accordingly, and Adam Silver had the same reaction that I did. When I watched Adam address this situation, I was so incredibly proud.
Etan: You said, “There should be zero tolerance for hate-mongering. Hate speech demonstrates an ignorance that is unacceptable, and I implore all of us to help eliminate any form of discrimination. I have full confidence that Commissioner Silver will conduct a thorough investigation and act accordingly upon his findings.” And you issued this response almost immediately after the tape was leaked.
Leonsis: And I meant every word of it. Again, that was my natural, unfiltered, uncoached, unhandled response. That’s what I felt in my heart, and I felt led to make that known . . .
You know, we expect so much from our athletes in the NBA . . . so if we are asking them to be exemplars and leaders in the community and really hold them to this incredibly high standard, why would we say, “Be with the people, but don’t have an opinion on issues that directly affect the people”? Why would we tell them, “Don’t get political”? . . . These are really experienced, intelligent people who probably know a lot more about what is going on in the community than we do . . . They know I am not going to attempt to silence them. I know a lot of players have their agents telling them, “This may be bad for business,” or, “You’re alienating this group if you do that.” And my position, or my advice if I am asked, is, the worst thing for anybody is inauthenticity.
Etan: Do you think players on the Wizards now feel that they have that freedom and support from you and the entire organization?
Leonsis: Without a doubt . . . I think this next generation of players, the thing that is going positively for them is, they make a lot of money, and money gives people freedom . . . it gives them independence. So before, the prevailing notion—whether true or not—was, If I talk about this subject, I may lose my sneaker contract or some other endorsement or sponsor. Now, not so much.
Etan: Last summer, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police officers. It was really a horrific time. Wizards guard Bradley Beal came out strong about those murders.
Leonsis: It was also very personal to Bradley. It was organic; he gave an honest, not-coached, not-handled opinion. And when I read it, I said, “Good for Bradley. He is letting his voice be heard.” Bradley was definitely authentic and he had our full support as an organization.
To me, the only time I would ever get involved, or offer advice, is if I felt that someone had put you up to it. Or if I knew someone felt really strongly about something, and their manager or agent advised them to keep silent because it may hurt their chances of being successful with the Wizards. I would assure them that they have the freedom to speak their minds and to be passionate about whatever it is they are passionate about . . .
And I think these have become really big platforms for people. And each generation of players, their cognizance around the opportunity is becoming better all around.
I was part of Mark Cuban’s first draft class in 2000. Myself, Courtney Alexander, Donnell Harvey, and Eduardo Nájera. Mark Cuban changed the way NBA CEOs conduct themselves. He was outspoken, argued with the refs, argued with David Stern, got fined, and kept arguing. One time in the Dallas Mavericks locker room (he was always there and had his own locker, something that I am pretty sure wasn’t commonplace in the NBA), I asked him why he always argued with and criticized the refs. Didn’t he know he was going to get fined?
He said it didn’t matter, that if something was not right or fair, someone needed to speak up about it. “So let them fine me. Nobody is above being criticized, not even David Stern.”
I was like, Whoa, okay, this cat is different.
I was very excited to interview Cuban. He has been outspoken about the Trump administration since the election. He has been an NBA CEO who doesn’t dissuade his players from using their voices and speaking out. In fact, right around the time I was speaking out about the war in Iraq, Steve Nash, then on the Mavericks, was doing the same.
Steve Nash is a nineteen-year-career, two-time NBA MVP recipient with a dazzling highlight reel of passes that will keep him regarded as basketball royalty for a long time. But he also made a huge mark with his willingness to use his voice and his platform. After the US invasion of Iraq, Nash began wearing a T-shirt during warm-ups that read, No War. Shoot for Peace. He verbalized his perspective to reporters: “I believe that us going to war would be a mistake. Being a humanitarian, I think that war is wrong in 99.9 percent of all cases. I think it has much more to do with oil or some sort of distraction, because I don’t feel as though we should be worrying about Iraq.”
Nash’s comments incited a backlash from the media; some journalists were outraged that a professional athlete had the audacity to criticize President George W. Bush, especially after all the newfound patriotism following 9/11.
ESPN’s Skip Bayless, then of the San Jose Mercury News, not only told Nash to “shut up and play” but suggested that basketball players “are paid money because they serve as an escape.” Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News said that athletes “seldom know what they’re talking about.” But just as Abe Pollin did with me, Mark Cuban continued to give Steve Nash the support and freedom to speak his mind and stand up for what he believes in, as he continues to do today with the present-day Maverick players.
Etan: You have been very critical, to say the least, of Donald Trump. We talked to Steve Kerr and you don’t really see that a lot with coaches, and you definitely don’t see it a lot with NBA CEOs. So, what really pushed you to come out so strong in this election?
Mark Cuban: I was never really into politics all that much. Back when we drafted you to the Mavs, it’s not like I was out there taking a stance in the 2000 elections, or the 2004 elections, or even the 2008 elections for that matter. And when Trump entered into the presidential elections, when he first got in, I was for it, shockingly enough. I thought he was honest, open, authentic, wasn’t a politician, spoke his mind, wasn’t scripted, and because of that, he put my quotes in his book and showed the world that I supported him. And I was really anti-Cruz. I thought Ted Cruz would be dangerous, plus he was smart, and that was a bad combination, so I said I’m gonna help Donald and see what happens. And the problem was, the more I got to know him . . . (laughing) the worse it got. So that led to the point of, do I say something or not say something? And seriously, the more I got to know him, the more it bothered me that if this guy wins, it’s not going to go in the direction that I think this country should go.
Etan: So there were things that you did like about Trump at first?
Cuban: Well . . . I think corporate taxes should be lower. Put this all in the context of: there are things that we need to accomplish socially, and we have to figure out how to pay for them. But I’m a believer that with a little bit less taxes—not a lot, but a little bit less—the economy can grow more and that creates more tax revenues. It’s not about reducing total revenue, it’s about increasing total revenue . . . For every dollar you put into the government, instead of 90 percent going to the people who need it, 70 percent goes to the people who need it. When you try to start and run a business, there are so many rules that you need to spend a boatload of money on lawyers and accountants instead of just doing your business. And that’s all the way down to the local level.
Etan: One of the things I did like about Trump—I do have the ability to point out something positive—was when he said that you can’t become a lobbyist if you were recently working for the government.
Cuban: Exactly, and I like that he wants to reduce two regulations for every one you create, because it reduces the friction. My attitude is that we do need to help people, but if we are going to help people, let’s do it the right way. The government right now has gotten so big and disconnected and bureaucratic that it doesn’t accomplish the job it needs to do . . . And it’s a little bit of a disconnect that he just wants that money to flow right back into people like me and my pocket.
Etan: The 1 percent.
Cuban: Right. And in reality, I’m not worried about it getting back to me. I just don’t want the government to keep getting bigger and bigger, because it just won’t work at some point. In his mind, the more money I have, the more money I will have to invest, and if I invest wisely, I can build bigger businesses that will benefit more people. It doesn’t always work that way, of course. But if business invests more, you’ll get a greater return on that money than what the government can. But there are still obligations that we have to our citizens and people who are disadvantaged, and I definitely believe that people should work for it, I don’t believe in just giving anybody anything. So we may agree in the tactics, but strategically, we are just in a very different place. So I don’t want people to think I am just some full-time, biased Trump-basher and critic . . . There are some concepts of his that I as an Independent can agree with. Now socially, that’s a whole different story. What he wants to do with immigration, the EPA, rounding up immigrants that are illegally here, his implementation of ideas are so lacking and so not thought through, and ultimately so not presidential.
Etan: Talk a little more about the social part, because I could name quite a few problematic areas of his platform—the Muslim ban, the rhetoric, the racism, xenophobic rants, misogyny.
Cuban: That’s the part that’s appalling, to be quite honest. He has absolutely no leadership skills, no management skills whatsoever, and you see it with all the leaks. A good leader . . . would go office to office and say, “Listen, if you have an issue, bring it to me.” He would ensure the people who work for him that he will hear their grievances and take into consideration their concerns, and they would come to some common ground . . . The reality is, if you believe in the economic stuff we just talked about, if he were a good leader, if he had the communication skills, he could go out and say, “You know what? I was a little abrasive during the elections, but I want to bring people together and here’s how I think we can accomplish that.” And he probably could get a lot more than the people who voted for him to support him. But to your point, he doesn’t know how to deal with people. He is like that athlete you grew up with who passed school but never really did the work, where they would sit in the meeting and they would say, “What do you think?” And they just fake it till they make it. That’s him.
Talking politics with Mark Cuban. He was as spirited in discussing Donald Trump as he is on the Mavericks sidelines cheering for his team.
Etan: So let’s talk particulars. The Muslim ban: your thoughts?
Cuban: There are two sides to it. If you want to “keep us safe,” just picking these six or seven countries is not keeping us safe. That does nothing. Now, if you want to improve the extreme vetting program for all refugees, then just say that. “I want to improve our system, and we are not picking out specific countries, or religions, or ethnicities. But anyone who is a refugee from anywhere, we are going to go through a more extensive vetting process for the safety of all Americans.”
Etan: Well, if he would have said that, I don’t think anybody would have had an issue.
Cuban: Right! That’s my point. So on one hand, he was trying to do that, but on the other hand, he was proving to the people who voted for him, who showed up in masses, that he is exactly who they think he is.
Etan: He was using the dog whistles.
Cuban: Exactly, and of course everyone wants to be safe, but we want to be humane too. And reducing the refugees isn’t going to change anything. It’s not like President Obama didn’t deport any refugees. But he communicated. Trump doesn’t know how to communicate, even on an elementary level, and he loves to blow that dog whistle, like you mentioned earlier, just to get the people all riled up. And then Rudy Giuliani comes on and says how great the Muslim ban is and I’m just thinking, They can’t be serious here. So one of the reasons I turned against him is that Donald Trump makes no effort to learn, really learn, not just read the footnotes but actually learn the issues. He hasn’t read a book in thirty years. If you asked him about Obamacare, he couldn’t detail for you what was wrong with it.
You saw that in the presidential debates. It wasn’t even close as to who was more knowledgeable. He would say things like, “Obamacare is a death spiral.” Really? Why, Donald? . . . He is just going to tell you what he has been told to say. And if you don’t understand the issues, how are you going to understand the impact of immigration? How are you going to understand the impact of free trade or fair trade? How are you going to understand the impact of health care or human rights? You’re not going to, and that’s his problem. He’s just not smart enough for the job.
Etan: So what do you think about the misogyny? I have daughters, you have daughters.
Cuban: You know, I have heard a lot in my lifetime, and if you wanna be a player, be a player, but abusing somebody and harming somebody, that’s way past ridiculous. And I’m not going to name names, but I know some of the women, and it wasn’t funny. It wasn’t like he was just hitting on them, or even making questionable comments. It was like some crazy stuff, and it was wrong, period. And nobody cares who he is sleeping with—at least I don’t—but if you are physically abusing people, that’s a whole different issue.
Etan: I agree. Let’s talk about the racism, especially during the elections. I mentioned the dog whistles, and we can see who he plays to in Texas, where you are from, and in Oklahoma, where I am from. There is a certain demographic that . . .
Cuban: Oh, you mean the rednecks.
Etan: I wasn’t going to say that, but there is a certain demographic and it was troublesome to hear and see that demographic feel empowered because they felt he represented them. So they voted against their own interest, and he of course played to that, although he cares nothing about them.
Cuban: He knows exactly what he is doing in that respect. He may be ignorant and oblivious in certain areas—well, a lot of areas—but he knows exactly what he was doing here because it was an obvious strategy that proved to have worked. He knows the dog whistles, he knows he’s inciting people, and I don’t think he has a problem with it, and that’s as scary as anything . . .
You know, I think resistance is a good thing. Especially in this case with Donald Trump . . . There’s rarely fights, people aren’t burning things; it’s just people standing up and cheering and shouting what they think is right, and that’s always a positive. I don’t think he will last four years because he is so uneducated about governing that he’ll screw up on something and not realize he did it and get impeached for something, because if you don’t read, you don’t know. If you don’t know the rules of basketball, and you decide to just run with the ball without dribbling, it ain’t gonna work. I want him to succeed, because the economy does well if the country does well. Even if you have someone that you hate at the top of the food chain, you can still do well. You don’t always have to love your boss and you don’t have to always like the people you work with.
Etan: Athletes are speaking out at a level that we really haven’t seen since the sixties. Do you think that’s a positive development, and do you encourage your players to speak their minds?
Cuban: Definitely. But in terms of the bigger picture, should athletes and coaches and CEOs, as you say . . . should they all speak out? Definitely when the Iraq War happened and we had Steve Nash who spoke out against it, and I was perfectly fine with that. Athletes should speak out. You’re a citizen. It’s your right to speak out. And if you don’t take advantage of your rights as an American citizen, it’s not about the game, it’s not about the sport—it’s about you. Of course, you don’t have to do it. Everybody isn’t politically outspoken or even has a political opinion. I avoided politics forever, but you should definitely have the freedom to do so if you choose.
My mother used to tell me how people would stop her in the grocery store, at the mall, at church, wherever, to warn her about various repercussions I could face from speaking out the way that I had ever since I found my voice in high school. People would warn her that no university was going to want to recruit a rabble-rouser. That proved to be incorrect, and although Coach Jim Boeheim and I may have had some strained relations over the course of my four years in college, he never once suggested that I should not be the outspoken person that I always was. From the day I was on the front page of the Syracuse paper protesting a policy that allowed campus security to use pepper spray on students, to when I was speaking out on the NCAA exploiting college athletes. Now, Coach Boeheim didn’t agree with me and felt that it was perfectly okay for him to enjoy a lavish multimillion-dollar salary, his own radio show, TV deals, endorsements from Nike and various other companies, and that the “opportunity” given to college athletes was more than enough compensation for us. Still, he never attempted to silence me.
In fact, I just recently commended Coach Boeheim on using his platform to bring about change when he spoke out for the need for gun control after his nine hundredth win. He became the third coach in NCAA history to win that many games, and he seized that moment when he had the ear of all of college basketball to say: “If we in this country as Americans cannot get the people who represent us to do something about firearms, we are a sad, sad society. I’m a hunter. I’ve hunted. I’m not talking about rifles. That’s fine. If one person in this world, the NRA president, anybody, can tell me why we need assault weapons with thirty shots in the thing. This is our fault. This is my fault and your fault. All of your faults . . . If we can’t get this thing done, I don’t know what kind of country we have.”
Of course, not every situation is like the ones I have had. But from college with Jim Boeheim, to the pros with Mark Cuban, to Abe Pollin, to Coach Eddie Jordan who was also very supportive of my activism, to Sam Presti, to Scott Brooks who told me that he had read a few of my articles over the years and thought that I touched on a multitude of topics that were difficult but very necessary for people to discuss—I just didn’t experience what I always heard people were afraid of. Now, there are definitely people who have experienced repercussions, such as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges, but that was then and this is now. We are living in an age where for the most part athlete activism is being encouraged and met with praise. Again, you will always have people who will criticize, but it is unnecessary to have the same fear of repercussions as so many people once had, especially when you have so many coaches who themselves are using their platforms and their voices to speak out on different issues, such as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
After the 2016 elections, Kerr spoke passionately to the media about his thoughts on Donald Trump. He said that not only did he disapprove of the lack of respect that Trump had shown so many, but that he was outright disgusted. In his own words:
Maybe we should have seen it coming over the last ten years, you look at society, you look at what’s popular, people are getting paid millions of dollars to go on TV and scream at each other, whether it’s in sports, or politics, or entertainment, and I guess it was only a matter of time before it spilled into politics, but then all of a sudden, you’re faced with a reality of the man who’s going to lead you has routinely used racist, misogynistic, insulting words . . .
I hope he is a good president. I have no idea what kind of president he will be because he hasn’t said anything about what he’s going to do . . . But it’s tough when you want there to be some respect and dignity, and there hasn’t been any. And then you walk into a room with your daughter and your wife, who have basically been insulted by his comments, and they’re distraught. Then you walk in and see the faces of your players, most of them who have been insulted directly as minorities. It’s very shocking, it really is.
I was glad to be able to sit down with Coach Steve Kerr and ask him to go into this subject a little deeper.
Etan: What pushed you to speak out the way that you did and as strongly as you did?
Steve Kerr: I think just the injustice that I was seeing. There are a few issues that I am particularly passionate about, one being gun control. My father was murdered, so gun control is always something that I am very passionate about, and that was really the first issue that I brought up with the media about a year ago. So, that kind of opened up the door a little bit. Then the elections came and people started asking me for my opinion and reaction . . . In the past, the media didn’t ask me about political or social issues. But between the Kaepernick situation and the elections, athletes were all of a sudden being asked more and more about these topics.
Etan: Did you have a conversation with your players after the election?
Kerr: Yes, we talked leading up to the elections, and we talked the very next day after the elections. I asked the guys how they felt the day after, and everyone was extremely upset, but we had a great discussion about it and it was great for us as a team. Everyone had a chance to vent, which was definitely needed for them and myself. It was a very intense discussion, but we needed it. I like to get the players’ opinions and for them to have a voice and to think about things other than basketball all the time, and it was really productive for us to do that, especially at that moment after the elections.
Etan: Trump’s misogyny: how did that affect you as a father and husband?
Kerr: My daughter and my wife were so disgusted when the tapes came out of Trump talking about grabbing women by the you-know-what. You start examining the totality of the situation and you start thinking that this man is in the most important leadership position in the world. Forget politics, forget policy, forget gun control or abortion or tax laws, forget all that—there are always going to be people on both sides of those issues—but dignity, human respect, those things are the most important things in a leadership position. And the only way to get through the issues that we argue over year after year is through genuine human connection and respect and communication, and those things have to start at the top. So when all of a sudden you see the guy who is going to be leading your country using these profane remarks and treating people like dirt, that’s pretty upsetting.
Etan: Do you think that more coaches speaking out is a sign of the times and how drastic of a situation we are in with Trump?
Kerr: I think it’s a couple of things. First of all, I think there’s definitely a call to action right now that maybe didn’t exist over the last twenty or thirty years . . . But you’re right, coaches in the past have generally not been at the forefront, it’s been mostly players. But I think the connection with Pop [Gregg Popovich] and Stan [Van Gundy] and myself is that number one, all three of us feel very comfortable in our own skin . . . We have had success so we have some job stability and security. But beyond that, I don’t think that any of us really have any fear about being fired over saying something that is just, if that makes sense . . .
Etan: So you think the same pressures on players not to speak out are on coaches as well?
Kerr: Maybe even more so, because I think coaches are definitely representatives of the organization. Whereas players are viewed more as the labor force and coaches are more perceived as being on the management side. And I had that conversation with our owner, Joe Lacob, and I was very sensitive to the fact that I . . . was representing my views . . . I wanted to make that clear to Joe, and he and I had a really good discussion about this. He was very respectful of my right to speak and I was respectful of the idea that I needed to toe the line a little bit and make sure that people understand that these are my remarks and not the remarks of the Golden State Warriors organization.
Etan: How were your conversations with the team about the Kaepernick situation?
Kerr: Well, I asked them how they felt about it and I reassured them that they had the organization’s blessings to do whatever they wanted and whatever they felt was right, but they also had a responsibility to let us know beforehand because it directly affects the perception of our franchise . . . and that we had to prepare for the best way for the organization to react to people’s responses to that. But I reiterated that they were grown men and American citizens and they could do anything they want . . . I think with Kaepernick, we all saw his message become more refined as it went, and he did a great job of seeking counsel from people—for instance, going from sitting on the bench to kneeling, I thought that was a great step for him. It showed more of a respect for the flag.
Etan: It would be great to see more organizations and more coaches follow your lead and the Golden State Warriors’ lead in how you give them the freedom to be who they are. Would you like to see that become more prevalent as well?
Kerr: For sure. I think that’s just my coaching philosophy all around, whether dealing with politics or the game itself. I ask our players all the time: “How do you want to guard the pick-and-roll? You guys are the ones on the floor. This is what I suggest, but what do you think?” And I believe it empowers them and I think the same thing should be true with off-the-court issues. “You guys are grown men, what do you think? Your opinion matters. But understand that if you’re going to speak out, make sure that you are informed on these matters.” I think that’s where some people can get in trouble: if they are not quite informed on a subject but they bring the subject up. It’s easy to get cornered . . . so you better be prepared and ready to stand up for what you believe in and what you think is right.
When a coach like Steve Kerr has conversations with his team after Trump’s election, and he can teach and learn at the same time—that’s how it should be. He gave them the space to vent and air out that anger and talk about it as a team. That’s how coaches should handle their players. Respect their opinions and give them a safe space to voice them while also being secure that what they say can’t and won’t be used against them. I can’t stress how important that is. Not only from a standpoint of respecting their opinions, but from one of team unity. It brings guys together. As one unit. You are able to learn more about your teammates and what affects them and what they are passionate about.
On November 14, 2017, Time magazine published an article by Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy in which he wrote the following:
After reading the book Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, I invited its author, the acclaimed scholar and expert on race Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, to come talk to our team. He discussed the difference between nationalism and patriotism, and it stuck with me. Nationalism, he said, is supporting your country no matter what, right or wrong. Patriotism, on the other hand, is caring so deeply about your country that you take it as your duty to hold it accountable to its highest values and to fight to make it the very best it can be. Under this definition, these athletes and coaches are role models of American patriotism.
I wanted to ask Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith how important it was for coaches to use their platforms, and he brought up a lot of good points. A former NBA player turned commentator, Smith talks about the effectiveness of having someone like San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich publicly speak on various social issues. How some people are simply going to hear it differently coming from Popovich or Coach Kerr. That’s just a fact. I remember being floored by Pop discussing white privilege in an article. He was simply asked the question what Black History Month meant to him and his response was priceless: “It’s a celebration of some of the good things that have happened and a reminder that there’s a lot more work to do. But more than anything, I think if people take the time to think about it, I think it is our national sin.”
He went on to say, “It always intrigues me when people come out with, ‘I’m tired of talking about that,’ or, ‘Do we have to talk about race again?’ The answer is, you’re damn right we do. Because it’s always there, and it’s systemic in the sense of when you talk about opportunity, it’s not about, well, if you lace up your shoes and work hard, you can have the American dream. That’s a bunch of hogwash. If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally . . . We have huge problems in that regard that are very complicated, but take leadership, time, and real concern to try to solve. It’s a tough one because people don’t really want to face it. And it’s in our national discourse.”
But he didn’t stop there. He continued, “We have a president of the United States who spent four or five years disparaging and trying to illegitimize our president, and we know that it was a big fake, but he still felt for some reason that it had to be done.”
I remember seeing the clip of Pop saying that and being like, Wow!!! I never would have imagined that he felt that way. I remember seeing Coach Stan Van Gundy speak after Trump was elected and again was floored when he said: “I didn’t vote for [George W.] Bush, but he was a good, honorable man with whom I had political differences, so I didn’t vote for him. But for our country to be where we are now, who took a guy who—I don’t care what anyone says, I’m sure they have other reasons and maybe good reasons for voting for Donald Trump—but I don’t think anybody can deny this guy is openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnic-centric . . .”
Powerful, powerful statements. Never before have so many coaches in any sport used their positions and their platforms to speak about an election in this way. We are definitely living in a special time.
Etan: How significant is it for coaches and management to use their voices around social justice issues?
Kenny Smith: I think it is vitally important because, when you think of your coach, a lot of people relate that to a father figure . . . So, how could a coach, who is coaching Black players, and is seen as a father figure, not have some form of Black consciousness? . . . In addition, them having Black consciousness is a great awakening to the masses who they also touch. And that’s why it’s vital that Steve Kerr, Stan Van Gundy, Popovich, and Cuban are all a part of this activism. It will make them allies to further the cause. It wasn’t important to the masses in the sixties until non–African Americans thought it was important.
Etan: They speak to an audience who is not going to be able to hear Colin Kaepernick.
Smith: Unfortunately, some of us have the mind frame that if it’s not happening to me, then why should I be concerned about it? So those coaches saying, “No, it’s not happening to me, but I am concerned and bothered and frustrated by it,” that raises a different type of awareness that I don’t think we could do on our own.
Etan: Who surprised you the most?
Smith: Steve Kerr and Van Gundy. Only because Steve Kerr has typically been very quiet and mild-mannered, and he spoke with so much intensity . . . And Stan Van Gundy just blew me away because of the passion behind it . . . as if he himself was experiencing this. Or that it happened to his brother or father . . .
Etan: Moving from the NBA ranks to the high school ranks, there were a lot of coaches who collectively with their team took a knee. What did you think about that?
Smith: I never understood the problem that people had with Kaepernick . . . If you think about this, how can we as a country not support that? He took a knee in order to make a statement, and he explained his reasoning and his logic very eloquently afterward, so whether you agree or disagree with what he was actually saying, how could we as a society not support his right to do so? I thought it was beautiful what he did. I thought it was beautiful what the college players and high school players did. I thought it was beautiful what the WNBA did. But for people to be upset with them to the level that they were upset just baffled me.
Etan: A lot of the young people are saying, “We protest, y’all are mad, we riot, y’all are mad, we speak out, y’all are mad, we take a knee, y’all are mad, and then we’re killed by the police, and y’all are silent.”
Smith: I have a little bit of a different viewpoint. I think that it’s almost like they want you to be violent. When you riot, they expect that and they can accept that. And they know how to react to that. But when you . . . express your opinions and your viewpoints eloquently, as Kaepernick did, and as a lot of the high school and college athletes I saw did, that’s more intimidating. They don’t know how to handle that. The thought-provoking responses are met with more hostility. Intelligence is probably the sharpest weapon and intelligence is feared . . . You are mentally challenging me and I can’t handle that, and it makes me even more angry. That’s what we dealt with then, and that’s what we deal with now.
Etan: I coach AAU and I know you do as well. How important is it for a coach to also be a mentor, specifically at the amateur age?
Smith: I have been blessed to have great coaches who were also great mentors . . . Basketball teaches lifelong lessons, and we should utilize sports as a vehicle to be able to instill those lessons into our young men. I think the educational value that sports can provide is severely underrated. People think that it’s all about winning and getting buckets, and it’s absolutely not. I have a kid on my team and I was talking to his parents, who were telling me that they felt their child should be playing more, and that they were considering moving him off the team because they were not happy with the amount of playing time that he was getting. So I told them, “Your son is going to go to the next team, and he is going to play about the same amount of minutes.”
But on my team, he has a quality he’s learning that is far beyond basketball. If Johnny says, “Let’s all meet over here at ten,” every single one of the players will be over there with Johnny. Some CEOs don’t have that quality . . . And his parents were completely unaware that he had that potential inside of him, but I have been nurturing and encouraging that, and it will be invaluable to his character far beyond his basketball career, wherever that may take him. So you would be doing him a disservice by removing him for a situation that is nurturing a special quality in him.
Etan: How important is it for the Inside the NBA crew on TNT to use your forum to educate and lead in the same way we were talking about?
Smith: Well, it wasn’t always that way, but I think as of late, it has become that. I think that Charles [Barkley] has a lot to do with that, honestly. Even though we may not like some of the things he says, his ability to bring unique ideas and nonbasketball vernacular to our show all started with him, and people have to recognize that. People look at us as the voice of basketball, and it’s important for us to be able to tackle all types of issues, and to not shy away from anything if that’s what’s on the hearts and minds of the people. We are not the game, but we are the voice, for sure, and we have separated ourselves to be able to make that statement.
Like Ted Leonsis, the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, has said that he values and respects the opinions, thoughts, and beliefs of the players even when he doesn’t necessarily agree with them. The NFL, obviously, with what we are seeing happen to Colin Kaepernick, may be quite different, but when I spoke with Silver, he expressed great pride about how he personally values activism.
Etan: What makes the NBA different from other leagues?
Adam Silver: I feel like I really only know this league, and I will say that, to me, I inherited a legacy of activism within this league. People like Bill Russell, who not only was an activist in terms of things that mattered in society, but also even on behalf of player rights. Bob Cousy, another person who I’ve gotten to know well over the years in the league, who is one of the founders of the Players Association along with Oscar Robertson. There was a precedent and a history here at the league of using the league and our players’ voices on important issues that mattered far beyond the game of basketball . . . I like to think it would be no different at any other well-run company that has highly valued employees. It’s critical in this day and age that your employees do feel that they have a vital voice about the direction of the company and about the conditions under which they work.
And so, when the Donald Sterling matter happened, my first instinct was to turn to our players, and at the time, Chris Paul not only was a member of the Clippers, of course, but he also was the president of the union . . . We quickly established a rapport in terms of how we were going to deal with this situation. A lot of credit goes to Kevin Johnson, former player . . . Kevin happened to be leading the search for a new executive director at the Players Association, so he was also someone that, in essence, I could partner with at the time . . . We could talk through the implications of Donald Sterling’s statements and what made sense and how as a league we should react . . .
I will say, what is special about this league and something I’ve worked very hard at, is making sure that players feel safe having a voice on important societal matters, because I’ve heard from employees in other industries, other companies, athletes in other situations, where they have told me they have a strong point of view but they’re concerned that it will have a direct impact on their employment . . . I think that because of the strength of the Players Association, players have felt comfortable and safe speaking out on issues that matter to them . . . In fact, we’ve made it a point to encourage players to be active participants in our system. To have a voice . . . They have a point of view about what’s happening around them. I qualify it by saying “in a respectful way,” but that’s just me.
Etan: With the Donald Sterling situation, none of that happens if you don’t listen to the players, you know what I mean? None of that happens if you don’t make the decision to value what the players actually think and feel.
Silver: Right. Well, again, I’d say that we are a league that is roughly 75 percent African American. The speech in question here was, of course, directed at African Americans, and I felt that the players had life experiences that I, by definition, could not have had . . . I felt it was very important to understand from a player’s point of view exactly how those words were impacting them. And to understand even from them what their expectation was in terms of the league reaction and also how it was affecting their ability to do their job. Because, remember at the time, it happened early on in the playoffs, but the Clippers were very much alive in the playoffs. Even in fairness to Chris, and others on the Clippers, who were being asked by some people to boycott games, to stage protests, that they also were focused very much on their game and basketball, understandably. In part, they were looking to me. They wanted to let me know how they felt but they were also looking for me to lead . . . I think for many of the players I spoke to, they were not in a position to even know the range of options that were available to them with the league.
The answer is yes, it was my job to bring all of those points of view together. Whether those be the players, whether it be other NBA owners, business partners of the NBA. So that then became my job: it meant that I had to be the ultimate decision maker. But again, having the support of all these various constituencies and the players’ willingness to talk with me directly and share their feelings . . . was very impactful on me.
Etan: What you are saying, just so we are crystal clear, is that you have pretty much given them a safe space—as long as they speak respectfully, of course—to utilize their voices and follow in the tradition of Bill Russell, Kareem, and Oscar Robertson, without fear of repercussions.
Silver: We are not a political party, we’re a business. But I also feel as a business in this day in age, especially when I think of our young fans, and we probably have the youngest fan base of all the major sports, that there is an expectation that we are going to stand for something . . . What I have tried to encourage among those players, and even among our fans, is to not become one-issue voters when it comes to the NBA. There is a type of person who can say to me, “Well, if that’s your position, I’ll never watch an NBA game again.” I really made an effort with those people to say, “Well, all right, but just because we disagree on this issue, I would hope that ultimately you would respect us for having a point of view, and I’m very interested in understanding why it is you disagree with us . . .” I’ve had those same discussions with some of our players, and some of our owners for that matter as well. The Sterling issue seemed very straightforward; some of the others we’ve been involved in have not been as straightforward. There are genuine policy disagreements. But there I felt, once again, we have this platform and sometimes it’s a platform just to encourage dialogue . . .
People have made the comparison of our arenas to modern-day town halls. You have people from different walks of life all coming together for a common purpose to cheer for a team or cheer against a team, and we should be mindful of that and encourage people that it is safe to express a point of view. It doesn’t mean that they have to agree with you, but what I would like to encourage back is that people would respect the league. Respect our players’ point of view.