The first few days of the week have been eventful. It began with news in the midwest that the Milwaukee Bucks had fired their head coach and future Hall of Famer, Jason Kidd.  

Kidd went 139-152 during his 3 ½ year tenure as coach of the Bucks. During his tenure in Milwaukee, Kidd guided the team to two NBA Playoff appearances.

But that wasn’t enough to keep Bucks brass happy. Upon his firing, the Bucks were an eighth seed with a 23-22 record despite the pretty consistent play from their All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo and recent trade with the Phoenix Suns which shipped speedy guard Eric Bledsoe to Fear The Deer nation.

Speaking of Antetokounmpo, ESPN’s Ramon Shelburne reported that the Greek Freak offered to take his grievances to Bucks management and fight Kidd’s firing. Giannis loves his coach and didn’t want to see him go.

But, business is business, right?

Jason Kidd tells ESPN that Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo called him about 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he’d been fired by the Bucks and offered to help save his job.

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) January 23, 2018

Joe Prunty took over as the Bucks’ interim head coach. He and the Bucks got a win Monday night against the Phoenix Suns.

Prunty is no stranger to hoops, comes highly recommended and is another disciple from San Antonio Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree. Prunty began as a video coordinator with San Antonio before becoming an advance scout and assistant coach for nine seasons, beginning in 1996.

Speaking of San Antonio, they’ve made headlines in the last 48 hours. A multitude of NBA league sources indicate that Spurs forward, Kawhi Leonard and his reps are disconnected from the Spurs organization.

Last Wednesday, the Spurs announced that Kawhi Leonard would be out of action for an “indefinite period of time” as he’s been dealing with a lingering quad injury that has burdened him since the NBA Playoffs last year.

Leonard’s right quadriceps tendinopathy recovery has carried over into this season, causing the one time NBA Finals MVP to miss the first 27 games of the season.

Retired NBA vet and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose told ESPN’s First Take yesterday that Leonard doesn’t want to be in San Antonio.

According to Rose, Leonard wants out because the Spurs have been ‘unable to attract elite-level, all-NBA-caliber free agents to come play with him.’

Added Rose:

“Players talk about wanting to win and wanting to be a champion, but ultimately they want to do it on their own terms,” Rose said. “And when you go to San Antonio, guess who is the CEO of that organization? Gregg Popovich. It’s going to be his way.”

Before the Spurs’ 114-102  home win over the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, Popovich rebuffed confusion or the Spurs being a soap opera. “Some people wrote some articles. I understand it, but soap opera? It’s a soap opera if we talk about it every day, I guess,” Popovich said.

“I don’t get it. We won’t talk about it. There’s nothing to talk about other than what we’ve already said.”

As for the Cavs, the Oklahoma City Thunder scored 148 points on them on Saturday without Kevin Love who called out sick.

That got folks talking. Was Love really sick? Some of Love’s teammates reportedly called Love out in a team meeting.

Cleveland is 3-7 in their last 10 games. During their last 10, Isaiah Thomas has returned from injury, J.R. Smith has struggled, the talk of LeBron James leaving at seasons end has resurfaced along with the debates on whether Cavs head coach Ty Lue should lose his job.

Mind you, the Cavs currently hold a 27-19 record and are sitting in third place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

Ashley Nevel says it best

The Cavs will get it together. Don’t push the panic button just yet!

Kemba Walker is apparently on the trading block. A Bronx, New York native, a return home as a member of the New York Knicks is what anybody from the 5-boroughs would want.

The Milwaukee Bucks were reportedly in preliminary talks before the Kidd firing and the usual suspects, teams in the NBA Finals hunt like the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers have made calls.

“Kemba Walker is a player that can come to a team and score you points. If he came off the bench he could be a Lou Williams Jr. He can help a team win.” @ScoopB has high praise for the @hornets point guard. Which team should go out there and make a trade for the UConn alum?

— Bud and the Manchild (@Budandmanchild) January 23, 2018

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says that Charlotte has been encouraging teams to make offers and appears eager to discuss attaching Walker to a larger trade in which another team would take on one of the Hornets’ several less desirable contracts.

Not so fast; Hornets majority owner, Michael Jordan is not trading him unless he’s shipped out for something really good.

“It’s not like we are shopping him,” said Jordan.

“We would not just give him up. I love Kemba Walker. I would not trade him for anything but an All-Star player.”

Walker would be a nice addition to any team. He can score in volume and will be a scorer for hire like the Los Angeles Clippers’ Lou Williams and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Jamal Crawford.

Be on the lookout for where he goes next!

RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson checking out Bangkok, Thailand’s Temple of the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho . Photo Credit: @Scoop_B Instagram.

Check out all of my commentary on the going ons of the NBA on Syracuse, NY’s Bud and the Manchild by pressing play at the top!

While on Bud & the Manchild, I also discussed my recent 15-day vacation to Thailand where I visited the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

If you’re a Street Fighter 2 fan, Sagat’s battle stage is in front of the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which is located at Wat Pho.

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The post Scoop B: Milwaukee Bucks, Jason Kidd part ways, Cavs, Spurs & Kawhi Leonard drama & a trip to Thailand appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Nov 19, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reacts in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Last night, the San Antonio Spurs were massacred 126-99 in game one of their Western Conference semifinals matchup against  the Houston Rockets.

During his post game presser, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was not pleased!

As per For The Win’s Nina Mandell, here was the exchange: 

Reporter: “Pop there’s nothing for us to ask except to get your take on what the heck just happened.”

Popovich: “We lost. They won. And they played better.”

The reporter followed up with another question and Popovich had a more complete answer about what exactly went wrong in the game (“sure we competed but I don’t think we executed”).

Timing is everything in the art of interviewing. It’s listening, it’s research and more importantly it is about being a person.

Real G’s do real things and Coach Pop is about as genuine as it gets! That said, get ready for a genuine response.

I realized that first hand last year, when I chatted with Coach Popovich about leadership.

Check Out Coach Gregg Popovich and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson Talk About Donald Trump & Drake On Scoop B Radio Overtime

In high school, I read The Autobiography of Douglas McArthur. General MacArthur commanded the United States through the Southwest Pacific in World War II. The autobiography thoroughly highlighted MacArthur’s military career, his personal life and the battles during World War II. MacArthur was one of only five men promoted to the five-star rank of General of the Army during World War II. What left an indelible mark on me while reading MacArthur’s book was his dedication to leadership, his constant examples that he left to his subordinates of his character and his emphasis on behaving in a manner in which peoplewould want to follow him.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich in the U.S. Air Force. Photo Credit: San Antonio Express News

While reading that autobiography back in high school, MacArthur reminded me so much of Popovich. Popovich, himself spent five years in the service in the United States Air Force.

Popovich’s dad wasn’t in the service, but when you ask the Spurs coach who his models for leadership were. His answer might surprise you.“I try not to idolize too many people,” Popovich told me.

Whoa! That’s real!

”I think that all idols have feet of clay and I think that especially in our country, we tend to mythologize people. So I look to people that I’ve known personally, whether that’s a coach or teacher, a relative; somebody that I respect because I know them. But people who I don’t know that have been mythologized, I don’t know them much. At the top of my head, Thomas Jefferson was a great guy; he was a slave owner. You can make that similar analogy with a lot of other people who have been idolized. They all have flaws. So I go for people that I know.”

After last night’s she-lacking by the Rockets, some folks were ready to write the Spurs off. The Rockets after all, are very talented: James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Patrick Beverly and Lou Williams are some of the names on that roster. Credit is due where credit is due! 

Malik Rose won two championships with Popovich in 1999 and 2003. Now the Atlanta Hawks’ manager of basketball operations, Rose once told me about Pop: “He’s not afraid to say what he believes and stand by it. He genuinely cares about his players. It’s more than basketball.”

Coach Pop is no slouch. He is this generation’s Phil Jackson because he wins and has gained the respect of his players and players on opposing teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul. Coach Pop has seemlessly been able to navigate the passing of the torch of players during his career, as well.

David Robinson retired in 2003 and passed the torch to Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. Duncan retired and now the keys are in the hands of Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. It is not likely that the Spurs will go down like they did last night against the Rockets. The team is not chopped liver. But it will take defensive adjustments and players not reacting like Dewayne Dedmon did to Nene last night.

In the meantime, let’s watch Pop continue to be Pop and make us reporters search for the next question.

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The post Scoop B: Getting San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich To Answer Questions Is All About Timing appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.