20 Second Timeout

Reflecting on Gregg Popovich's Remarkable NBA Coaching Career

Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke at the San Antonio Spurs' arena on November 2, 2024, and he did not return to coach the team last season, but he also did not formally step down; today, Popovich and the Spurs announced that he is retiring from coaching to become the team's President of Basketball Operations. Interim Coach Mitch Johnson will replace Popovich on a full-time basis; officially, Johnson's 32-45 record last season counts toward Popovich's career statistics, so Popovich finished with a 1422-869 regular season record in addition to a 170-114 playoff record, which included five NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014). Popovich earned the NBA Coach of the Year award in 2003, 2012, and 2014; the only other three-time winners are Pat Riley and Don Nelson, while Larry Brown received the award three times in the ABA plus one time in the NBA. Popovich ranks first in career regular season wins, third in career playoff wins, and tied for third (with John Kundla and Pat Riley) in championships won, trailing only Phil Jackson (11) and Red Auerbach (nine). Popovich was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023 alongside (among others) his former players Tony Parker and Pau Gasol. Popovich's first two championship teams featured Hall of Fame big men David Robinson and Tim Duncan, while his next three championship teams included Hall of Famers Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker. The NBA Finals MVP for Popovich's last championship, Kawhi Leonard, will be inducted in the Hall of Fame as soon as he is eligible.

Popovich played basketball for the Air Force Academy and later became Air Force's coach before coaching Pomona-Pitzer from 1979-88, taking one season off to be an assistant coach under Larry Brown at Kansas. The connection with Brown proved to be critical, because Brown later hired Popovich as his lead assistant with the San Antonio Spurs from 1988-92. After the Spurs fired the entire coaching staff, Popovich landed in Golden State as an assistant coach under Don Nelson. The Spurs changed ownership and then brought back Popovich as their general manager. Popovich replaced coach Bob Hill with himself after the Spurs started 3-15 without David Robinson in 1996. Popovich took over the day that Robinson returned to the lineup. The timing did not look great, but Popovich had so much subsequent success that the circumstances of him hiring himself are forgotten by most. Robinson suffered a season-ending injury just six games into Popovich's tenure as coach, and the Spurs finished with a 20-62 record; they used the number one overall selection in the NBA Draft to pick Tim Duncan, who became the franchise's cornerstone player, leading the team to five championships while winning three NBA Finals MVPs and two regular season MVPs.

During his prime, championship-winning years, Popovich deflected any praise directed toward him by declaring that he was just fortunate that Duncan let him coach him. That sounded like a funny, self-deprecating line, but like many jokes it contained more than a bit of truth: Duncan retired in 2016, and since that time the Spurs advanced past the first round just once; in the first post-Duncan season, Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs to a 61-21 record and a Western Conference Finals appearance. Two first round losses followed, and then the Spurs missed the playoffs each season from 2020-25. The last era of Popovich's coaching career was forgettable; the Spurs tanked to try to get the draft rights to Victor Wembanyama, finishing 22-60 only to then go 22-60 the next season with Wembanyama in the fold. The Spurs have not won more than 34 games in a season since 2019.

Gregg Popovich's FIBA coaching career was up and down--he was an assistant coach on Team USA's disastrous 2002 and 2004 squads, and Team USA failed to medal under his direction in the 2019 FIBA World Cup--and at one point Team USA lost five games in an eight game stretch while he was at the helm, but he led Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in 2021 before his protege Steve Kerr took over the reins for Team USA.

Popovich's demeanor during press conferences and in-game interviews became a much-discussed topic. I sympathized with his impatience for ridiculous questions, but I would say that in recent years he behaved boorishly in response to legitimate questions about the poor performance of his team; he was past his prime, and probably sensitive about that. 

I interviewed Popovich when the Spurs were in the midst of their most dominant years, and I did not find him as intimidating as some reporters did for the simple reason that I prepared for all of my interviews (not just my ones with Popovich); a prepared reporter is ready for any situation, and is also generally going to be treated with more respect than a reporter who spouts cliches while betraying a lack of even the most basic understanding of the topic at hand (this does not just apply to basketball); during one interview, I asked Popovich which statistic he values the most, and he told me that he focuses on defensive field goal percentage. Popovich also admitted that he coaches more by feel than by statistics: "I would depend more on what I see and feel than on overdosing on stats." In more recent years, Popovich's demeanor became more arrogant and condescending, and this was not just in response to stupid questions; like many NBA stars (and he became as big of a star as any player), he developed an unseemly sense of entitlement reflected not only in rude answers to legitimate questions but also by providing social and political commentary that has not been sought and is not grounded in deep research.

Overall, Popovich's legacy is tremendous and enduring; he won at an elite level for a long time, and he is highly respected by both his players and by his opponents. Hopefully, he will make a complete recovery from his stroke and be able to work in the front office as long as he would like to do so. 

Labels: David Robinson, Gregg Popovich, Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Victor Wembanyama

posted by David Friedman @ 11:55 PM

1 comments