KD and Eddie catch up on the Summer Games, new music, and what’s to come in NBA free agency.
Team USA men’s basketball is on the hunt for a fourth straight gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. NBA free agency begins Monday evening. Kanye West is about to release Donda (we think).
That means Kevin Durant and Eddie Gonzalez had a lot to discuss on the latest episode of Boardroom’s “The ETCs.”
Here’s a preview of what KD said about the Olympics:
“There’s a lot of tight games in these competitions. There’s also a few blowouts as well, but it’s a lot of tight games, and that’s how it’s going to be. We played Nigeria in 2012, and you look at that team, it had maybe one NBA guy. Now you look on their team and they got seven, eight NBA players who actually play minutes in the league. Who actually stepped up and rose up. So it’s a chance for me to get better, do other things that I don’t normally do in a regular season.
“When you play against Team USA, there’s no expectation for you to win. You’re playing way more free than you’d normally play, so you’re starting to see some players showcase what they can do outside of their NBA teams.
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“It’s been good because [Gregg Popovich] challenges you every day. Your mentality, your IQ for the game. Physically, he’ll challenge you. Practices are tough. But what I learned from being around him for a week is that he likes players that can — I wouldn’t say challenge him back — but have that dialog with him in practice. Tell him what they see, not be afraid to talk to him.
“He’s open-book, and he likes to joke a lot, too, so if you got a little wit to you, you can survive around Pop. And it’s good to be around the guys that work with him, too, like Ime [Udoka] that worked with him before, Chip Englud, Steve Kerr, they all worked and have been around Pop for decades now. So it’s good to see his whole staff around and see how they operate, because they created a dynasty in San Antonio. To see it up close is cool.”
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