Former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich visited the team’s practice this morning, spending some one-on-one time chatting with Victor Wembanyama, Julian Champagnie, and Mitch Johnson
“Now listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.”
“Now listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini Rob Pelinka meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.
It’s going to be somebody that you absolutely trust. And at that meeting…
Pelinka: No one knows who rigged the trade. When I heard it, I was creaming myself. I knew Nico, knew he was headstrong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he offered me Luka, I let it go through. And I said to myself, this is the favoritism we’ve chosen. I didn’t ask Silver who gave the order… because it had nothing to do with fairness!
Goddamn nice reference
Just rewatched that last night. Respects to Don Popovich.
“I always thought it would have been clemenza keldon, not tessio sochan”.
“Tell Wemby I always liked him, it was nothing personal, just business. Hey Timmy, think you can get me off for old times sake?”
I know, pop, u told me already
“You think I’m skimming off the top Pop?”
“You’re unlucky”
” I drink more wine that I used to”
“RC, can you let me off the hook? For all times sake”
Love it
The Spurs “family” culture is insane. Love it
Fuck im so jealous of the Spurs man. Poppa is an icon and a fucking legend.
Nico might not have lost the fanbase if he showed videos like this with Powel /s
Spurs culture and Kerrball has infected the league. And that’s the greatest success anyone could have.
Presti Kerr are all from the Spurs school.
Damn I don’t know Presti came from that tree. Makes all the sense in the world why OKC are they way they are
Feels like ages ago now but Presti used to be known as the guy trying to recreate the Spurs in OKC. Harden being the HoF level left handed shooting guard sixth man coming off the bench was based directly on Manu in San Antonio.
Which is amusing cuz some mouth breather journalist and fans are like “Spurs should try to emulate OKC!” Fuck outta here.
He was the reason we drafted Tony Parker actually. He was locked in on the international scene from the jump.
Yup. He convinced Pop to give Parker a second tryout, because Pop was unimpressed with his first one.
Spurs culture is about high character players who wanna play the right way, selflessly, and want to win. And emphasizes building through draft and less Morey style chopping up through trades
Kerrball is the on court extension of that which many teams have adopted.
Presti got his start with the Spurs and worked his way up. He was one of the louder voices for the Spurs to draft Tony Parker. He left the Spurs to become GM for Seattle, and his first trade was to get the 5th pick in 2007 draft so he could get Jeff green. His first two picks as a GM were Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, haha. He then followed that up by picking Westbrook and Ibaka in 2008 and Harden in 2008.
The rest is history. The man is a wizard. IN PRESTI WE TRUST.
It’s infecting the WNBA too. In the 4 years that Becky Hammon has been there, her team has won 3 championships, and her star player A’ja won 3x MVP and 3x DPOY
Her jersey is in the rafters in San Antonio 🩶
I really wanted us to hire her instead of Billups.
Billups: you wanna bet?
Kerr just shitting on one of his own players publicly & allowing a culture of no accountability from one of their key players is totally great.
Just because he learned from the spurs doesn’t mean he can create it 1 to 1, are you a sith?
I know what the philosophy is for Presti, but what is Kerr’s philosophy and why do you think it has infected the league?
Selfless basketball geared around movement, cutting and relocations. Most importantly a read and react system on offense with tons of help on defense. And you want the team to not chase wins in the regular season but instead struggle and play the harder way.
In the playoffs, teams will force you to play in different ways and you want the team to seamlessly know how to adjust. The entire regular season trains them for that. This is also why low iq bums like Kuminga cannot survive whereas Podz can thrive.
The goal is to coach the role players to learn to play off the superstar. That helps the role players and the team in the long run.
So many teams have adopted these principles for their teams.
This is why Mitch isn’t coaching this regular season to just win games, he’s trying to give as many players floor time as possible while staying competitive. That’s why the team’s ending up with several players with 20 to 30 minutes each, including Victor and De’aaron. He needs to go 8 or 9 players deep sometimes so Carter Bryant can get some minutes. Sucks that Jeremy ended up out of the rotation, but with Steph, Harp, Julian, KJ and Carter all being ahead of him on the wing and Uncle Harry needing to play to provide spacing and leadership he was the odd man out.
Yeah I’m quite happy for you guys. Also confident you guys won’t do dumb aggressive moves. Victor is a gem. Mitch seems right.
Ceiling is very high.
I secretly hope you guys hire Kerr. He’ll definitely get you guys a ring with Victor
The team that does HEB commercials together stays together
The ESPNarticle about Pop’s dinners years ago changed my perspective on him so much.
Leadership is such a difficult task, and it made me change my approach to leadership.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26524600/secret-team-dinners-built-spurs-dynasty
Reminds me a bit of FC Barcelona. Both super successful “family oriented” teams
Probably the reason why they’re the best franchise since the turn of the millennium.
Great to see Pop being taken care of and enjoying himself. Classy org for sure.
The smiles Dylan and Carter give to the bench right after they make crazy plays always warms my heart
Actual pre nil transfer college basketball family
You would think Kawhi would’ve bought into too, considering how close he is to uncle Dennis.
He has been at more games lately too. He usually has Tim with him to which is really wholesome to see
He may never be 100 percent but he may be getting a little better
I think his facial expressions are shot, as is unfortunately a side effect of a stroke, but his mind and humor are definitely still there.
It’s a shame he can’t coach Wemby. Probably could’ve seen the beginning of another dynasty from you guys.
Yah though, from this video you can even hear him pretty clearly (through the basketballs) which is nice to see
My mom had a stroke about 3 years ago and it took a long time but she finally got back to being mostly normal again. The only real difference now is she will tell you the same story 3 or 4 times in a month before she stops and like you said, her facial expressions aren’t normal anymore. She still has them but they are slightly off.
Considering his age he came out of it a lot better than many, which is great to see. Mind looks as sharp as ever and thats the most valuable thing you can have as get you old.
He’s definitely improved since the Mitch announcement, it’s clearly visible.
One of my favorite Pop moments was during Duncan’s jersey retirement ceremony. Pop was thanking Tim for letting him coach him as hard as he did as that enabled him to coach everyone else. Pop looked at Timmy while saying this and he had to take a moment to compose himself because it looked like he was about to cry.
Just a beautiful relationship based on mutual respect and admiration.
That’s nurse Tim
Does Tim Duncan actually live in San Antonio?
Yeah he does, and he owns a small chain of custom car shops he started, his kids go to a local episcopal private school, he shops at HEB etc. He’s very local and splits his time between here and St. Croix about 60⁄40.
You spyin on him or sum 😭😭knowin where the kids go to school is crazy
If I am then so are the local news station affiliates and sports pages?
No one bothers him here. There’s a Chismosas page and someone posted a video of him putting his groceries in his car and the community WENT off on this lady. They dragged her for not letting him shop in piece and not even blurring his license plate. Most of the Spurs alums move around town totally unbothered.
This is how I know you’re not from OKC because every sports fan in a small market knows who’s still around and who’s not
All the small market towns are the same way. Leave the stars alone.
Stars usually leave anyways, best shot you have is to make the star love being in your town
I think his kids are college-aged now. Certainly the older.
Iirc he lives close to the old practice facility and was always there a lot (not sure where the new facility is)
La Cantera-ish, so not that far from the old one
Don’t they basically all live off I-10 outside 1604?
They would never comment on it, but it seems like either Timmy or Manu are available for him at all times.
I think technically somewhere between Austin and San Antonio, but yes. Or he goes boating around Austin, I’ve seen him in the Summer time.
Like a basketball Gandalf and Aragorn
It’s good to see him lucid and seemingly enjoying his life’s work. I bet he is super real about his life right now.
Yeah good to see he’s recovering well. Still breaks my heart seeing him like that, you see he shrugs at one point and only his right shoulder goes up for it. God damn, fuck strokes.
I will forever be sad that he did not get a proper goodbye as a coach. A game that at least he would know would be his last.
If it helps, that’s probably the last thing he’d have wanted lol
I didn’t even mention him getting a tour, but just leaving on his own terms
Leaving on your own terms is a luxury most people don’t get in life honestly
damn…
Fr on that man
I didn’t know if he’d have ever left if it was on his own terms.
“OK, you can hang my name to the rafter, but only when no humans are around”.
He would have done something to get ejected in the first quarter if he did have one.
The fact he can still come in to the gym and contribute to the organization he built for decades and not have to watch the Spurs be in the gutter during his retirement years is a living legacy not everyone gets to see.
Spurs are very competitive in the west right now, and a big part of that is the culture he helped create. I’m glad he gets to be a part of this from the outside instead of having to deal with the daily stress of being a professional coach. Man needs his Metamucil and a break.
Tim didn’t either which is about on par for both of them. We kinda figured it was his last season but still would have liked to see him get his flowers.
Man, Timmy gave me the worst birthday present of my life when he announced his retirement.
I don’t mean to be ignorant, but is something wrong with Pop’s left hand?
He had a stroke, he might not be able to properly use it anymore
This hurts my heart seeing people don’t even know me get old :(
A family friend of mine got a stroke and she’s in her 30 and barely a bit older than me. Chronic Stress into high BP caused that one for her but at the time it seemingly came from no where. Bad genetics and going through a divorce was the catalyst. Every friend&family gathering we have during the summers is hard to watch because she’s still recovering but still can barely even walk and it’s been 3 years. Life isn’t fair at times.
Still sad to see. The I 45 rivalry is a thing but outside of Dallas, we’ve always tended to respect ya due to essentially just Pop. It’s honestly sad to see it but the man is a warrior. Lost his wife and then this but keeps going. That’s admirable and inspiring
He had a stroke. Looks like he has permanent disability from it which is why he had to step away as head coach
There was that small chance he could, but he had an incident at a restaurant months after the stroke that pretty much killed any chance at a return
What was the restaurant incident?
At a restaurant and started feeling bad, and then fainted (according to anonymous restaurant employee). Maybe had a mini-stroke. Then wheeled out into ambulance and taken to hospital.
The medical particulars weren’t announced, but 2 weeks later announced stepping down.
People who have strokes tend to have issues with one side of there bodies. Also creates speech impediments. They can be there cognitively but have difficulty speaking or writing. It can be REALLY frustrating to stroke victims. Deal with them every day at work.
I have a family member who recently experienced a stroke. She gets incredibly frustrated she can’t express herself.
that’s my mom right now, had a stroke in november
It’s really frustrating. My dad passed away bec of stroke. It was a year of suffering being bed ridden
My dad is permanently and severely disabled. Got a stroke at work and was a year from retirement. Wheelchair bound and incontinence are a terrible combination.
I’m so sorry…my dad had a stroke this summer and it is very scary.
He had a stroke I believe.
Looks atrophied/paralyzed, probably due to the stroke
He had a stroke he probably can’t move it much if at all.
obviously he’s not in great health. but happy to see him out and about and maybe even improving how he feels in doing so
He had a stroke
Reminder, if you or a loved one ever have symptoms like this please go to the ER immediately. You may be able to get medications or intervention to resolve or drastically improve symptoms, but only within a few hours after symptoms start
Don’t be a tough guy, don’t try to “sleep it off”
I’m a physical therapist and work with a lot of people who have strokes. His wrist/hand look to be flaccid. He probably doesn’t have much muscle activity on his left arm as a whole as usually the who limb is affected in a CVA. He most likely has issues with his left leg as well but not guaranteed.
He had a stroke, dickhead
It’s partially paralyzed from his stroke
Champ should be a Spur for life. We’re literally robbing him by paying him 3M til ‘27
TIL that getting paid $3m/yr is robbery. I would never have to work a day again in my life with even 1 year of that payment rate!
feeling valued is tied to what your peers get, if you found out your coworker was paid 3x you were for doing less you’d feel mugged off
Julian’s contract was fair at the time of signing. But he rapidly increased his production since then so now he’s underpaid
Yeah, he was undrafted and cut by the 76ers before going to SA and is having a breakout year. It’s not that crazy considering his situation. I bet he doesn’t finish the current contract out and gets an converted on an extension to like a 3 yr 45m contract or something like that this offseason
He’s not talking about 3 million in our sense of the amount. He’s talking about it in NBA terms buddy.
That’s like 10 bucks an hour in our terms, but pulling Dennis Nedry duties.
Mitch sitting there talkin and bouncing his heels like he talkin to an grand uncle ❤️
Sad to see Pop like this
It’s nice to see him out and enjoying himself, but yeah it’s like how visible the difference was watching Peter Boyle pre-stroke vs post-stroke on *Everybody Loves Raymond”.
I actually looked this up because I never heard of a stroke. It turns out that he had a stroke in the early 90s pre Raymond, but he had had a heart attack on the set, so that could cause the issues you would have seen. He also may have had the myeloma that ended up killing him just two years after the show towards the end of filming.
There’s a longer video of him more lively and energetic while clearly giving Vic coaching advice. This video cuts that out but you all should go see it on the Spurs sub. He looks much better and almost like his old self.
Gotta cherish whatever state theyre in when alive. Its more sad when theyre gone
Meh he is lucky it seems he can talk and stuff fine. My grandma has aphasia from a stroke and stealing your voice is so cruel
“I just came by to say bye to some of you bums who are going to get traded tomorrow”
Damn, this makes me happy and sad all at once. Pop is the fucking best. One of one.
Mitch fired, Wemby amd Champagnie traded??
Imagine AD on the Spurs bench though. He’d look so good in SA in his street clothes
The finest of street clothes gracing the spurs bench
Once upon a time my dream destination for AD was the spurs. That once upon a time was like seven years ago but still a nice thought I guess
If anyone could’ve saved his body it’d be the Spurs
Spurs should’ve traded high on LMA in 17-18 after his career year for Davis.
Never would have happened, but it didn’t stop me in 2k18.
the only logical answer!
I was there. Pop hit 5 halfcourt shots in a row to win a game of horse and then dunked all over luke kornet.
Least competitive Pop moment
Pop and Wemby. Idk if it’s just them chillin in the gym that imagine is a special one.
The culture in that building has to be unparalleled
Pop is a fucking national treasure.
Best thing for this team to have pop chime in every now and then, impart some wisdom to the leaders and check in on the young stars
One the good ones. Not just a coach.
Never anyone more stand up than this man! Even if you weren’t a Spurs fan, you could be a Pop fan!
Pop is Basketball Gandalf.
Such a solid franchise.
You literally don’t see this in any other organization or sports team. GSG!!!
“The next one who misses a three point shot, buys me a new walking cane”
i wonder what it’s like for those kids, knowing this slack-jawed old fat guy has forgotten more about basketball than they might ever know
Hopefully he’s giving Mitch instructions
Spurs are the team I pull for in the west mainly to see this guy get another one. What a treasure
In Pop We Trust
As an occupational therapist let me tell you this man has PLENTY of ball knowledge to still pass down. Physically yes he’s taken a toll, but the mind can still remain sharp.
I wish Pop was still coaching and able to speak on today’s issues in this country. You know he would not be holding back
I’m not crying, you’re crying! Hate seeing Pop like this, but I’m beyond glad he still finds solace with the team.
Forever a legend 🙌🏽
Love this man
Pop is the best.
Man I hate the passage of time so much. Sucks seem him get so old but fortunate to still have him for a little bjt longer
Spurs will win one in the next 3 years
Love Pop.
I love that guy. He has always been real. Amazing person and coach.
El Jefe
I’ve tried reading the title correctly but the “former” just doesn’t add up in my mind
He’s like a modern day John Wooden. An absolute treasure, and I hate the Spurs.
Honestly, considering he had a serious stroke, he looks decent and is clearly able to communicate somewhat well still, which is important for longer term recovery. Hoping all the best for pop
It’s heartbreaking to see him like this
So glad to still see Pop around. Truly the GOAT
That man needs to have all expenses covered and meals comped in San Antonio
At least increase his pants budget…
This is giving me Master Shifu and Po vibes.
Wemby learning what he can from this man will only continue to raise his ceiling.
Wishing coach Pop well, glad to see he is in good spirits.
Galdalf meets Dumbledore meets Obi Wan Kenobi.
All the best to our grandpa Pop.
Very heartening to see him out and about, all the best with remainder of your recovery Pop!
“I’m moving to Portland to open a winery. I want you to come with me. Texas is no place for guys like us.”
He never filed a formal complaint about the Lakers getting Luka?
F’n Goat of a coach and human 🐐
I was hoping he would run for President. Maybe have Kerr as VP.
The first line had me scared, ngl
I hope this man lives forever
Replace ‘former’ with ‘Legendary’
Glad to see him still around the team
Holy shit, Wemby is huge.
Strokes don’t play. Imo he’s the greatest basketball coach ever, his closest rivals in the last 20 years or so all worked under him and to me that adds value to his case to be the 🐐
How many of the current Spurs roster played under Pop?
Keldon, Wemby, Vassell, Champagnie, and Sochan. Castle and Barnes for a few games, as well.
Half or so, he coached some last season.
That’s right. For some reason I thought it was two seasons ago he had to step down.
Home girl just casually rocking some Travis Scott’s
Just found out my dad just got diagnosed with liver cancer. It’s hard watching our heroes get older.
Pop is a teacher of ball and life. 💐
Legs looking quite healthy and full. No wheelchair or walker in sight - just a cane. Losing your ability to a huge killer for seniors - I’m glad Pop’s rehab is going well
o7
Pop will be back. You don’t need a left arm to coach. Just a mouth.
sucks to see him like this, but glad he’s still around and seems to be in good spirits.
What’s going on with his left hand? It has not always been like that right?
The wikipedia page has since been changed, but on Google’s display of Popovich’s wikipedia page calls him “the winningest coach in the NBA” lol
💔💔 this legend might not be with us much longer. Much love n respect to Pop 🙏🏾
The dude just can’t stay away from the game.
Poppa and Warren Buffet announced retirement on the same day.
Legendary lol
Pop can come at anytime to the facility, sadly the stroke took a lot out of him.