TOKYO — The best weapon or tool Gregg Popovich has had at his disposal throughout his illustrious coaching career has been severely limited this summer.
This has nothing to do with the proliferation of international talent that’s been causing Team USA trouble or a delayed NBA Finals that prohibited one-quarter of the Olympic team from joining in until just before the first game.
Popovich’s famous wine-soaked dinners have been, at best, subdued at the Tokyo Games by restrictions related to COVID-19.
“I feel like it’s not the same, you know, having been with Pop at the (World Cup),” said Jay Wright, a Team USA assistant and Villanova head coach. “We are locked in here, so I can tell you it’s not the same. (Chief of staff) Sean Ford is working hard at it, but it’s not the same. I’m feeling for Pop, but he’s handled it well.”
Throughout his 2 1/2 decades as coach of the San Antonio Spurs and his two summers directing Team USA, Popovich, 72, is notorious for taking his coaching staff, and occasionally players, to postgame meals or food-and-wine parties on off nights at exclusive restaurants. In the U.S., he has lists of restaurants in every NBA city he frequents, and when traveling abroad he and his aides do their homework to find the choicest restaurants with top wine selections.
Here in Tokyo, Team USA is not allowed to leave the team hotel to go to a restaurant for 14 days, due to COVID-19 protocol at the Olympics. On Thursday, Tokyo officials said there were 3,865 new reported cases, an increase of 162 percent in one week. So, the Americans are essentially stuck at their Hilton hotel, on the northwest edge of town.
