Gregg Popovich can walk away with zero regrets.
He has nothing left to prove.
Only Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson have won more NBA titles as head coaches, and unlike Popovich, they did it with the trappings that come with major media markets. Pop, to his credit, made the world take notice of the San Antonio Spurs long after James Silas, George Gervin, Larry Kenon and the Bruise Brothers took their leave.
Those five titles wouldn’t have been possible without great leaders such as Avery Johnson and David Robinson and transcendent talents such as the Admiral, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard (before he left). But Pop was the constant who held it all together.
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South Texas’ most high profile renaissance man grew out his white hair during the last two seasons and had to show more patience with his youngest team in 25 years as it grew under his watch.
And, just like that, it could all be over.
Pop could call it a career.
Wednesday’s 100-96 road loss to Memphis in a playoff play-in game would not go down as the most storybook exit, but Pop has had so many great moments since taking the helm in 1996. Despite the disappointing finish, he enjoyed this latest group because it spoke to his love of teaching the game the right way.
“They just stuck with it, no matter what the travel was or how many games we had to play down the stretch,” Popovich told reporters Wednesday night. “It was tough on them, but they didn’t complain. They made no excuses. They did the best they could.”
If this was it, it was it, even if he isn’t divulging any plans for now.
San Antonio Express-News scribe Tom Orsborn, a veteran Spurs reporter, has long been the one writer who always dared to ask the toughest questions to a coach who has routinely gotten a pass for being surly and sometimes rude during interviews. After the ESPN broadcast team failed to delve into whether we were watching Pop’s final game, Orsborn asked in the postgame interview.
“Not gonna go there,” Popovich said. “The season just ended. We’ve got a lot of time for that.”
Pop, at a spry 72 — he’s like the cool old dude who stays up late to play Call of Duty with his college grandsons — could coach another five or 10 years. He’s in great shape and loves teaching.
The question has to be whether he’s ready to stick around and put in the work it will take to get young pieces such as Lonnie Walker IV (22 years old), Dejounte Murray (24), Luka Samanic (21) and Keldon Johnson (21) to develop in the manner he helped develop the aforementioned franchise greats en route to those titles.
Even with a nice mix of youth with 30-something veterans Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan and Patty Mills — the lone holdover from the glory years — these Spurs just weren’t up to the full task against the Grizzlies. They dug a 27-6 hole in the first quarter and moved heaven and earth just to make it interesting — actually taking a 98-97 lead down the stretch — before succumbing.
Seven-foot center Jonas Valančiūnas chewed up the Spurs’ interior with 23 points and 23 rebounds and guard Dillon Brooks was an absolute truck going to the bucket. The young Spurs are simply not good enough at this point of their development.
San Antonio went 65-78 these last couple of years and missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since Gerald Ford was president. The 2-11 finish to the season came after a promising 18-13 start took a huge gut punch from COVID-19.
Added challenges came after the release of LaMarcus Aldridge — who subsequently retired from the Brooklyn Nets due to a heart issue — and the late-season loss of guard Derrick White, who was limited to 36 games in a breakout season in which he averaged 15.4 points.
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The wins didn’t happen with enough regularity, and Popovich made more headlines for his unwavering criticisms of President Donald Trump’s administration and, closer to home, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott than he did for anything on the court. Pop never held his tongue when it came to issues outside of sports because he understands the importance of using his platform to fight for fair treatment of everybody.
“Thank you for teaching me about basketball, but even beyond that, teaching me that it’s not all about basketball,” Duncan said to him during Sunday’s Hall of Fame acceptance speech. ”It’s about what’s happening in the world; it’s about your family. Thank you for everything.”
Under his watch, the Spurs were an omnipresent power with a record 22 straight playoff appearances starting in 1998, an era of consistent dominance that included five championships. Pop added to his legacy by hiring Becky Hammon as the first full-time female assistant in the history of the four major professional leagues. She went on to become the first head coach of a NBA Summer League team and actually coached the Spurs after Pop was ejected during a 2020 game.
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He’s on to coach the USA national team now and will presumably be in Tokyo this summer if the Olympics take place as planned. As for coming back or hanging them up, he won’t worry about anyone’s clock on any kind of announcement, but it isn’t in him to leave the organization in purgatory between now and when training camp starts in October.
I can’t see him waiting too long to either make an announcement or quietly tell general manager R.C. Buford that he’s coming back for a 26th season.
If the end is here, Pop’s successor will inherit a roster loaded with potential and the largest pair of coaching shoes in the Association.
Good luck following a legend.
