NEW YORK — Now the U.S. really is Gregg Popovich’s team.
He’s been the Americans’ national team coach for a few years but there was never a guarantee he’d actually get to lead them in competition. The U.S. first had to qualify for the Basketball World Cup, where the Americans can then play their way into the 2020 Olympics.
With that done, Popovich can lobby players to go to China with him.
He won’t.
“I just think that would be inappropriate for me before games to go up to one or two guys on each team and say, ‘Hey, are you going to play for us this summer?