Popovich was at right place, time
In another time, on another team, in another town, Gregg Popovich would have been fired long before now.
In fact, if the greatest coach in the NBA were starting his career today, he wouldn’t last two years before the players got together and fired the grinding, grating curmudgeon and replaced him with a younger, more lenient former player who would make training camp optional. Pop goes the weasel. Popovich, the longest tenured coach in all of professional sports, brought his dynamic, dynastic San Antonio team into Orlando last night for a 20th consecutive season as the Spurs held on to beat the Magic 98-96. He’s won five championships and has more than 1,000 career victories, and, yes, he’s done it his way -- his caustic, cantan-
kerous, irritating, media-hating way. Popovich is probably the only guy in America who applauded the way Cam Newton handled his post-Super Bowl interview.
Pop has undoubtedly built his championship résumé with skill, acumen, tough love and hard work. But don’t ever forget: Along with being clever strategy and smart career moves, he’s also done it with pure dumb luck.
Pop was at the right place, at the right time and drafted the right superstar all those years ago. Former Magic and Pistons coach Chuck Daly famously said long ago that NBA superstars must “allow you” to coach them. Tim Duncan is one of those rare superstars who would allow Popovich’s abrasive, aggressive coaching style. It’s not just coincidence that Duncan has been there for 995 of Pop’s 1,066 career victories -- the most for a player-coach combo in NBA history.
Already this season, five NBA coaches have been fired and we still haven’t reached the All-Star break. LeBron James fired David Blatt despite Blatt leading the injury-ravaged Cavs to the NBA Finals last year. Do you really think Pop would have survived if he’d drafted a controlling, high-maintenance superstar like LeBron or Dwight Howard two decades ago?
All of the NBA analytics geeks always shake their head at me when I tell them that NBA coaching and team-building is mostly luck. The Spurs are a perfect example. San Antonio is NBA royalty today because David Robinson got injured in 1996-97, the Spurs tanked to a 20-62 record and won the draft lottery. By happenstance, a once-in-ageneration superstar was available; a timeless talent without ego who preferred a small market and didn’t mind playing for a grumpy sourpuss like Pop.
A year before Duncan, Allen Iverson was the first player selected in the NBA draft. How do you think A.I. would have responded to Pop’s punctual and purposeful “practice” schedule? A year after Duncan, the Clippers took Michael Olowokandi with the No. 1 pick. How many championships would Pop have won with the Candy Man?
“They had one stroke of luck (by winning the Duncan lottery),” Magic coach Scott Skiles said. “But picking Tony Parker where they picked him wasn’t luck. Picking Manu Ginobili where they picked him wasn’t luck. … It took a lot of nerve to trade a major contributor like George Hill for rookie Kawhi Leonard, whose now in the superstar category. That was skill.
“But the point is valid. This is a player’s league. There are coaches who have records below .500 who I know are outstanding coaches. It’s no secret that talent drives this league. You have to get in a position where you’re fortunate enough to coach an extremely talented team.”
The Spurs tanked one season 20 years ago and drafted one of the top five players in NBA history. The Magic franchise they played Wednesday night has tanked three seasons and still hasn’t had an All-Star since Dwight left four years ago.
If you don’t think team building is mostly luck, look at the top two teams in the East and West. The only reason the Cavaliers are a contender is because they were lucky enough that LeBron was born in Northeast Ohio. The only the reason the Warriors are a contender is because six other teams lucklessly passed on Steph Curry and he fell to them at No. 7.
Somebody wise once said that luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer.
Gregg Popovich answered 20 years ago.
Now, he is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game.