There has been a lot of buzz around Gregg Popovich recently after he surpassed Don Nelson to claim the record for most coaching wins in NBA history. There have been wholesome and wonderful stories that have come out about Pop, like Manu Ginobili explaining how Pop tried to rally the Spurs after their heartbreaking NBA finals loss to the Miami Heat in 2013.
However, coaches don’t become the greatest ever by just being nice to their players, and Pop is no different. There is most definitely a tough side to Popovich and even his best players aren’t exempt from it. Tony Parker addressed how difficult it was for him under the legendary coach when he came to the Spurs, revealing that Coach Pop almost drove him to tears during his rookie season in his book, Beyond All Of My Dreams (via thepostgame.com).
“From my first NBA practices, Gregg Popovich was really hard on me. ‘Get your head out of your a**!’ He cursed a lot and said other crazy things. It wasn’t easy to handle.
“During my rookie season, I sometimes had tears in my eyes in the shower after practice. I told myself, ‘I’ll never be able to satisfy this coach. He’ll never be happy.’ All he did was push me. Push me to test my limits. But there were never limits.”
“It sometimes bordered on abuse with me… There’s no denying it — Pop helped me a lot. It’s still hard to say what my career would have been like with another coach. I think I still would have had a great career. He surely helped me to outdo myself at certain times. I think that we helped each other, and that we pushed each other.”
Parker was crucial to the San Antonio Spurs winning 4 of the 5 NBA titles they won under Popovich, even claiming a Finals MVP in 2007. When records like the one Pop currently has are broken, it’s easy to overlook the tough road it takes to get there in favor of the happier stories, but this story provides some insight into what it takes to be considered among the greatest of all time.
