- Richard Jefferson spent two and a half seasons with the Spurs under Gregg Popovich
- Jefferson recounted Popovich yelling at him on the bench for teammate Gary Neal taking terrible shots
- Popovich brutally told Jefferson he’d take those shots, too if he put him in the game
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has never been one to go too easy on his players, and it turns out he once went off at Richard Jefferson for someone else’s mistakes. On the latest episode of the Road Trippin’ podcast, Jefferson recalled Popovich yelling at him after Gary Neal took a couple of bad shots.
“He takes me out of the game, I’m sitting on the bench,” Jefferson said. “Gary goes in there, shoots two stupid a** shots. Pop comes down to the end of the bench and starts yelling at me. He goes, ‘You see those bull**** shots by Gary? I’d put you in but you’d probably do the same f***ing thing!’ and then walks off.”
Once the game ended, Jefferson told Neal what had happened, only to find out it had happened to him as well.
“After the game,” Jefferson continued. “I tell Gary, I’m like, ‘Man, Pop came out, you know those two shots you shot at the beginning of the third. Pop comes down and starts yelling at me, cussing me out for some s*** you do.’ He goes, ‘Really?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘Oh he does that to me all the time about you.'”
(starts at 29:04 mark):
Classic Popovich right there. He is probably one of the few coaches who can get away with doing that. This was still probably mild by Popovich’s standards, considering some of his antics back in the day.
Tony Parker revealed that Popovich had pushed him to tears multiple times during his rookie season. Parker added that it sometimes bordered on abuse, what his head coach was doing.
During his Hall of Fame speech this year, Popovich even said he’d be in handcuffs had he coached Parker now the same way he did in the past. The 74-year-old did add, though, that Parker thinks he has mellowed down a lot now. Popovich had to, as he would no longer get away with it with today’s players.
Richard Jefferson’s Time With The Spurs
Jefferson was traded to the Spurs from the Milwaukee Bucks in 2009 and had a solid stint with the franchise. San Antonio kept winning at a high rate during the regular season, but the 43-year-old’s time there coincided with some difficult times in the postseason for the franchise.
The Spurs were 50-32 in his first season but got swept by the Phoenix Suns in the Conference Semifinals. Then in 2010-11, they were the top seed in the West with a 61-21 record, but lost to the eighth-seeded in six games in the first round.
Midway through the 2011-12 season, Jefferson was traded to the Golden State Warriors, bringing an end to his time as a Spur. In those two and a half seasons, he had averaged 11.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
What To Expect From Popovich And The Spurs In 2023-24?
The last four seasons for the Spurs can be defined by one word that had never been associated with them in the past: mediocre. They have failed to even win 35 games in any of those seasons and went 22-60 in 2022-23.
Fortunately for them, they did win the lottery thanks to that poor record, and so Popovich got his hands on Victor Wembanyama. Suddenly there are some expectations in San Antonio now, but I don’t see them making any noise.
While Wembanyama does make them better, the Spurs didn’t really add any notable names in free agency. I’d see them winning around 35 games and missing the playoffs for the fifth season in a row. It’s going to take a couple of years before this team is in a position to compete for what would be a sixth title for Popovich.
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