SAN ANTONIO \u2014 As he slowly made his way across the practice court where he used to be in charge, El Jefe stopped for a brief moment to say something to his successor.<\/p>\n
Gregg Popovich, the Hall of Fame former Spurs coach, grabbed current head coach Mitch Johnson and associate head coach Sean Sweeney, said something briefly, then was swiftly on his way out the back door.<\/p>\n
Since Popovich retired last May after suffering a stroke six months prior, his presence around the team has largely stayed out of public view. To the outside world, the occasional sighting of the 77-year-old coaching legend has been treated as if he were a mythical presence, just beyond a footprint of Bigfoot or a splash from the Loch Ness Monster.<\/p>\n
But Spurs guard De\u2019Aaron Fox revealed that Popovich actually addressed the team Wednesday as they began preparing for a first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the winningest coaches ever, one of the coaches with the most rings ever,\u201d Fox said Friday. \u201cSo it\u2019s only right that he felt like he needed to come in and preach to the choir.\u201d<\/p>\n
After congratulating the group on its 62-20 regular season, Popovich explained how much things are about to change as they begin a run at a championship. He said the Spurs\u2019 biggest challenge is to make sure that, whether they have a good or bad game, the process that got them to this point doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
\u201c(His message was) not to really do anything different from what we\u2019ve been doing all season,\u201d second-year guard Steph Castle said. \u201cI think he kind of just gave us another perspective on how well we\u2019ve been playing and the position we\u2019ve put ourselves in. So, just keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing to get in those spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Popovich may not formally address the team often, he has continued to be a presence with the team. Popovich has been in the gym at the practice facility four to five times a week and is a fixture in the workout room as current players pass through, Spurs CEO RC Buford told The Athletic. Tim Duncan and other Spurs legends often join Popovich when they are in town visiting.<\/p>\n
Buford sees this as a reflection of the bonds Popovich built with his players over the years, which go well beyond the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the reason why, with Pop\u2019s stroke rehabilitation, Tim\u2019s in the gym with him every day, and that\u2019s not because Pop is telling him to be there,\u201d Buford told The Athletic. \u201cIt\u2019s because Tim feels the emotional connection to want to be there in the ways that Pop was there for him. Anytime people are in town, they\u2019ll be in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keldon Johnson, who played five seasons with Popovich and is the longest-tenured current member of the team, maintains a close relationship with the man who shaped his career in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks amazing. He\u2019s doing great. It\u2019s always good to see him,\u201d Johnson told The Athletic last week, noting that he just talked to Popovich in the gym the day before. \u201cHe stays in touch. He texts me or calls me from time to time, probably every other day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Popovich checks in with Johnson to provide feedback on his play, telling the Sixth Man of the Year hopeful what he needs to work on to get better.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the same time, he\u2019s very encouraging, telling me that he\u2019s proud of me and things like that,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s definitely still himself. He\u2019s still sharp. He\u2019s still very much Pop. He has not skipped a beat at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Popovich has even been mentoring players like Castle, who only played a few games under him before the coach stepped away to recover from a stroke on Nov. 2, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s helped me and a lot of the other guys on the team, just having somebody to talk to,\u201d Castle said. \u201cWhether games are going good, games are going bad, just knowing Pop, he\u2019ll always tell you the real.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Castle, that meant blocking out external feedback from whatever the final score or stat line may be and focusing on the work he does every day to prepare for games.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep in my head. Not really going off result-based things,\u201d Castle said. \u201cReally just trying to use the process and understanding what got us in those positions. Whether we had a good game and bad game, just trying to do everything the same way and the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox said that Popovich\u2019s presence does not add pressure. The players have grown accustomed to him being in and out of the building throughout the season. In fact, Popovich\u2019s presence around the team makes Fox and the rest of the team want to win even more.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust seeing how he\u2019s progressing, seeing how well he\u2019s doing,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the ultimate satisfaction, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 As he slowly made his way across the practice court where he used to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,2116,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-590750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}