Gregg Popovich Held a Town Hall Meeting With Cornel West for High School Kids

Gregg Popovich showed that the NBA really cares when he held a town hall meeting with renowned scholar Dr. Cornel West and The Nation sports editor Dave Zirin to address high school students last Sunday. The 21-year Spurs head coach organized the meeting following his recent comments about president-elect Donald Trump, in an attempt to further address today's social issues to San Antonio youth. The event took place at the Jo Long Theatre of Performing Arts at the Carver Community Cultural Center.

Afterwards, Pop spoke with ESPN's Michael Wright about the recent rise of hate crimes and harassment towards minorities, immigrants, and physically and mentally disabled citizens as the reason why he felt the town hall meeting was imperative for the 350 students in attendance.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was in attendance and gave his praises. "It was big time. Cornel West is amazing," Ginobili said. "He's been fighting that fight for a long time. He's very clear, very well-spoken, had a lot of examples and names. He was right there. I had listened to a few of his interviews, and it's just mesmerizing to listen to him. So it was good to get to meet him and to listen to him face to face. And if you add that to the fact that there were 350 kids from Sam Houston High School learning and listening, I think it was very powerful. It was a great, great move."

Popovich also stated that this is the first of many similar events to come. The Sacramento Kings recently held a similar town hall meeting earlier this month with high schoolers and the city's police department.