Gregg Popovich has been the Head Coach of the San Antonio Spurs since 1996, easily the longest-tenured coach in the league. In that time, he has covered himself in glory, winning five championships and becoming the winningest coach of all time.
Popovich was able to build teams around stars like David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Kawhi Leonard, and all of them credit him for their growth and greatness. But some, like former NBA player Rashad McCants, don’t think Pop is that great. When he said it, he got eviscerated by Kenyon Martin and Gilbert Arenas.
McCants said, “This whole time I’ve been thinking Pop was a bad coach… Because he’s been losing without good players. When you’re losing without good players, it’s alright.”
Kenyon Martin couldn’t believe what he was hearing going back at him and asking if he was being serious. McCants continued, saying, “Just like Doc Rivers, you don’t got the Hall Of Fame players, you go in a skid of not performing at the level of winning championships.
“So Pop, since when what Kawhi? We ain’t seen nothing… You’ve been tanking this whole time and we haven’t noticed and now you wanna give him credit for being a good coach?”
When Kenyon Martin asked who made Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili great players, McCants disputed their Hall Of Fame status. And that’s when Martin lost it, saying, “Let’s stop the bullish*t. Tony Parker is a Hall Of Famer… Manu Ginobili was a second-round pick.”
Arenas backed Martin up saying, “You not understanding. The only person they got that was good was Tim Duncan.” Kenyon Martin doubled down, adding, “Man got five championships, and you talking about two seasons (of tanking). Five.”
The wild thing is McCants went on to keep spouting his take. This might be the best case for not giving every former NBA player a platform, and it’s a good thing that Martin and Arenas were around to sort the situation out.
Gregg Popovich Could Set Up Another Championship Window For The San Antonio Spurs
Gregg Popovich is 74 years old and it might be time for him to retire soon, but he now has the opportunity to coach the brightest NBA prospect since LeBron James in Victor Wembanyama. If Pop can maximize Wembanyama’s talent, he will be setting the San Antonio Spurs up to have another championship window in a few years.
While it is true that Popovich coached some incredible talents, he also built the culture and system that allowed them to flourish. And that point is a bad one in any case because Phil Jackson never won a championship without Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, and Pat Riley never did without Magic Johnson or Dwyane Wade either.
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