Same Steve Kerr Taking 'Risks' To Endorse Kamala Harris Was Afraid To Criticize China

PublishedAugust 20, 2024 7:41 AM EDT|UpdatedAugust 20, 2024 1:19 PM EDT

There was Steve Kerr on Monday evening, inside Chicago's United Center, a mere jump shot from the very spot where he made that last-second 17-footer in Game Six of the 1997 NBA Finals that delivered a championship for the Chicago Bulls.

Kerr sank that memorable shot nearly three decades ago, and this night at the Democratic Party convention he delivered a full-throated endorsement of Kamala Harris to be the next President of the United States.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 19: Steve Kerr, Team USA Men’s Basketball coach and Golden State Warriors coach, speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Delegates, politicians, and Democratic party supporters are in Chicago for the convention, concluding with current Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her party's presidential nomination. The DNC takes place from August 19-22. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Reasons Kerr Voting Kamala

"The reason I said yes to speaking here tonight is that as a coach and former player, as a husband, a son, a father, even a grandfather, and as an American, I believe in a certain kind of leadership," Kerr told delegates. "I believe leaders must display dignity. I believe that leaders must tell the truth. I believe leaders should be able to laugh at themselves. I believe leaders must care for and love the people they are leading.

"I believe leaders must possess knowledge and expertise, but with the full awareness that not all of us have all the answers. And, in fact, some of the best answers often come from members of the team.

"And if you look for those qualities in your friends or your boss or employee or your child's teacher or your mayor, then shouldn't you want those same qualities in your president? And when you think about it that way, this is no contest. With Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, I see all those qualities."

Some people are going to be upset with Kerr but, on its own, there's nothing wrong with this. Kerr has a platform as a successful NBA and Olympic team coach. He also has a right to his opinion as a United States citizen.

The problem is everything after that is where Kerr missed the mark. Where he threw up an embarrassing air ball.

Kerr Paints Self As Hero

Kerr's speech, you see, was partly an attempt to portray himself as some sort of warrior (no pun intended) unafraid of backlash from anybody.

"I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risks," Kerr added. "I can see the shut-up-and-whistle tweets being fired off as we speak.

"But I also knew as soon as I was asked that it was too important as an American citizen not to speak up in an election of this magnitude."

Very brave, coach.

Many liberal sports personalities have been fired or canceled for speaking out on behalf of other liberals and their causes.

So, very bold.

But where was this brave and bold Steve Kerr when you were asked about human rights atrocities in China?

Where was this guy when he had a chance to speak truth to the power of the Chinese Communist Party, but instead wilted like a flower in a drought?

TOPSHOT - Golden State Warriors and Team USA head coach Steve Kerr walks on stage to speak on the first day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 19, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party's nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

The Time Kerr Dishonored Himself

That weak, lame Kerr was on full display in October of 2019 when the NBA became engulfed in the Daryl Morey controversy.

You remember that one. The former Houston Rockets general manager took up for the people of Hong Kong demonstrating on behalf of freedom at about the same time the NBA was scheduled to play games in China.

"Fight for Freedom," Morey tweeted then. "Stand with Hong Kong."

The tweet was soon deleted and the NBA, dependent on China for revenue from television and marketing deals, actually condemned Morey.

Yes, the American sports league sided with the communist country rather than the American standing up for people's basic freedoms.

Kerr, ubiquitous in commenting about anything he deems wrong with America, was asked if he had a comment on the Hong Kong issue.

Steve Kerr Didn't Know Repression Bad

Kerr was given a chance to stand with his NBA brethren against a repressive communist government. But Kerr, a good sixth man in his playing days, refused the chance to get in the game.

"Actually I don't," Kerr said sheepishly. "I mean, that's a really bizarre international story and a lot of us don't know what to make of it. It's something I'm reading about just like everybody is, but I'm not going to comment further."

Kerr said he had to email his brother-in-law, a college professor, to ask what he should know about Chinese history – one supposes so he could understand why those pesky Hongkongers wanted freedom from government censorship and other human rights violations.

Days later, perhaps assuming the brother-in-law got back to Kerr, reporters asked if he'd ever been asked about human rights in China.

"No," Kerr replied. "Nor has [America's] record of human rights abuses come up either...People in China didn't ask me about, you know, people owning AR-15s and mowing each other down in a mall."

Yes, that's a foul.

UNITED STATES - JUNE 13: Basketball: NBA Finals, Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan (23) and Steve Kerr (25) victorious with NBA Championship trophy and NBC Sports media announcer Jim Gray after winning Game 6 vs Utah Jazz, Chicago, IL 6/13/1997 (Photo by Manny Millan/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X53013 TK3)

American Self-Loathing On Display

Kerr was asked about China's disregard for human rights, an issue the U.S. State Department outlines on its website. But rather than addressing religious freedom abuses, forced labor, arbitrary arrests and the stifling of expression, Kerr took a veiled swipe at America's freedom to bear arms.

Kerr used repression in China to advocate for a rollback of the Second Amendment enshrined in America's Constitution.

There's nothing heroic or smart or exceptional about that. It's dishonorable, actually. And that guy was droning on about leaders displaying "dignity" on Monday night?

We see you, Steve Kerr.

You're not that hero from the 1997 NBA Finals anymore.