As Gregg Popovich steps away from coaching, here’s what made Spurs great a ‘generational leader’

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When the wine first pours at the table of Gregg Popovich, nobody takes a sip until the San Antonio Spurs coach raises his glass and makes a toast. 

No matter the occasion, no matter the company, the toast is always the same.

“We will sit down, he’ll pour the wine, and he’ll say it … every time,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, who played for and coached with Popovich.

“Here’s to Tim Duncan.”

The toast pays homage to the Hall of Fame big man who helped Popovich and the Spurs win five titles, but it also offers insight into Popovich’s humility and modesty, two of the many traits that endeared him to players and coaches during his 29 seasons leading the Spurs, which ended Friday when the organization announced he is stepping down as coach to be team president at age 76.

Popovich retires with a record of 1,422-869 (.621 winning percentage), the most wins in NBA history. His 170 playoff victories rank third all-time behind Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. He was a three-time NBA Coach of the Year and had 22 consecutive seasons with a winning record, the longest such streak in NBA history.

An Air Force cadet, he fulfilled a dream by coaching Team USA to the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which were held in 2021).  His decorated career was reinforced by the most basic of foundations: honesty, communication, care and accountability.

“Pop is a generational leader,” said Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, an assistant on the Olympic team.

In San Antonio, his culture of accountability and team-first thinking was forged through full-throated challenges of his players, even to stars David Robinson and Duncan. Players said his fiery and direct approach worked because he also showed unwavering compassion and care about them as people.

“Players believed Pop cared about them individually before he cared about them as basketball players,” said Terry Porter, who played three seasons for Popovich. “It was never just about basketball for Pop. He values family — your kids, your wife — and that helps with the buy-in, the trust.”

Peers lauded him as a trendsetter who was willing to take risks, and a coach who continually adapted his playing style to fit his roster. His first title in 1999 was forged through the defense of twin towers, Robinson and Duncan. His last title, in 2014, was defined by a dynamic offense that spaced the floor and toyed with chasing defenses with precision passing.

“Part of his brilliance is he has always been able to adapt,” said Spoelstra, who squared off against Popovich in back-to-back NBA Finals. “The Spurs were always at the forefront of whatever that next style of play would be. Early on, they pounded you with two bigs and controlled the game defensively. Then, when the 3-point line started to have more of an impact, they had the beat-you-with-the-pass game, which was just brilliant basketball. And that pivot happened seamlessly.”

Popovich’s vision was often unconventional, if not controversial. He first introduced what is now known as “load management” in 2012 when he sent home four of his starters before a marquee matchup against LeBron James and Miami. Popovich was irritated that the Spurs were thrust on national television while playing for the fourth time in five nights, and at the end of a six-game trip. The stunt incensed NBA commissioner David Stern, who slapped the Spurs with a $250,000 fine for “disservice to the league and fans.”

And midway through the 2006-07 season, Popovich moved All-Star Manu Ginóbili from starter to reserve to create more balanced scoring. It was a move that initially stung Ginóbili, but after understanding his coach’s vision, Ginóbili embraced the role, which sparked the Spurs’ to their fourth title while underscoring Popovich’s overriding message that team goes before individual.

Through it all, Popovich has deflected credit for his success, in private through his toast ritual, or publicly in curmudgeonly interactions with the media.

“He will be the first to say he doesn’t want to write a book, and he doesn’t want to do interviews to talk about himself,” said Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who played for and coached under Popovich. “He says that nobody wants to hear what he does, because it’s so basic. And honestly, that’s the beauty of Pop: the simplicity.”

It was the 1999-2000 season, Steve Kerr’s second year in San Antonio and 12th in the NBA, when Popovich took the sharp-shooter out of the rotation. Kerr was, in his words, “pissed off.”

“So I did the thing for a few games where I sat on the floor instead of on the bench,” Kerr said. “You know, it’s a subtle F-you as a player when you do that, sort of like a protest.”

Popovich took notice of Kerr’s protest, but didn’t say anything at first. Eventually, after a couple of games, he pulled Kerr to the side.

“He goes, ‘Hey, you are not that guy,’” Kerr recalled. “He said, ‘One of the reasons we signed you is because we know who you are, and what you can mean to the fabric of the team with your work ethic and energy. This goes against who you are. It’s not who you are. I understand you are pissed about not being in the rotation, but you can’t do that.’”

Immediately, Kerr said he felt chastened and humbled. He never sat on the floor for the rest of his career.

“He was right; it was BS, but we’re all human and have those moments,” Kerr said. “So what’s the best way to approach that as a coach? You address it. But he didn’t do it in a threatening manner. He did it in a compassionate manner.”

That’s not to say Popovich was soft. Quite the contrary.

His film sessions during the Robinson-Duncan era were legendary for how pointed and forceful Popovich was, particularly with his two stars. Often, coaches give leeway to stars in film sessions, either because they understand the stars are shouldering bigger responsibilities, or because they want to keep a harmonious relationship. Not Popovich. Everyone was held to the same standard.

“He used to go at Timmy and David in film sessions, like yell at the top of his lungs,” Kerr said. “Really challenge them, like, ‘You two MFers going to play, or what?!?’ We were all like, ‘Holy s—.’ But they loved him so much, and they knew he was right.”

Popovich, shown with Tim Duncan in December 2015, won five titles with the Hall of Fame big man and still toasts to him regularly. But he always held Duncan and his other stars to the same standard as the rest of the locker room. “They loved him so much, and they knew he was right,” Steve Kerr said. (Chris Covatta/NBAE via Getty Images)

One of Popovich’s mentors was Larry Brown, who ranks ninth in all-time NBA wins and is the only coach to win titles at the college and NBA level. Popovich in 1986 was on sabbatical from his job as coach of Division III Pomona-Pitzer, and he spent the year as an unpaid assistant for Brown at the University of Kansas. When Brown was hired by San Antonio in 1988, he hired Popovich as an assistant. Five years later, Popovich was the best man at Brown’s wedding.

“The thing Pop and I would talk about a lot, and agree on the most, is that there’s a big difference between coaching and criticism,” Brown said. “It’s all about telling the truth. And all the great coaches have had this knack of not being afraid to tell players something when they truly believe they are right. It’s a gift that Pop has.”

With Popovich, however, he was never so stubborn that he demanded his way or the highway.

Kevin Durant said during Team USA’s run to the gold medal in 2021, he pulled Popovich aside and pleaded to the coach to change the way the team defended.

“I said, ‘Coach, we need to start switching everything,’” Durant said.

Popovich countered, telling Durant he felt switching would cause the team to fall into lazy habits.

“But I was like, ‘Yo, trust me, man. If we switch everything, we will be a better team,’” Durant said.

Durant estimates the two went back and forth for nearly an hour until finally Popovich relented. Team USA started switching on defense, and the team was on its way to gold.

“That’s one of the things I learned about him: He will get out of the way,” Durant said. “I had to spend an hour talking to him about it, but eventually, he was like, ‘Alright. Cool. Go.’”

Popovich’s ability to balance being a stern and direct perfectionist, yet also be willing to listen to ideas and make changes, was important for those who played under him.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but he’s not like Riles,” Porter said of fellow legendary coach Pat Riley, whom he played for in Miami. “Riley is like, my way or there’s the exit. Pop is very strong and vocal about his beliefs — very much into this is what we are, this is what we stand for. But it wasn’t like, ‘It’s gotta be this way.’

“He was willing to bend or wrinkle or pivot, and take thoughts from players. It’s a trust, and that’s a huge factor.”

When Team USA would gather for practices, the players would often be greeted by a world map, with Popovich standing next to it.

“We would walk in there, and he would ask us … Where is Italy at?” Miami forward Bam Adebayo said. “Or where is Tokyo?”

Popovich called it “Where In the World?” — a tool to both educate and expand the conversation beyond basketball. If players answered correctly, Popovich awarded a Match Box toy car.

In San Antonio, he would often bring in guest speakers from outside of the basketball world. Porter — who played for him from 1999-2002 — said he would often begin practices with discussions about current events around the world.

It was all calculated. He wanted his players to be well-rounded, to engage with each other and form bonds. It’s why he first established what are now his renowned team dinners on the road. Now, many teams around the NBA arrange for team dinners at some point in the season.

“He just loved the idea of let’s go break bread and get away from the game,” Kerr said. “He even went to the point where he would have seating arrangements because he wanted certain guys sitting next to each other. The team meals were genius on his part. Nobody else did that before Pop came along. He was a brilliant, brilliant culture setter.”

Durant said his Olympic experience taught him why Popovich was so successful in San Antonio, and most of that understanding came away from the court.

“We would have these dinners, and just shoot the breeze about life,” Durant said. “We would talk about vacations, wine, family, what life meant. When you are with somebody like that, a person who cares about all those things on top of wanting you to be the best player you can be, then you want to go to work with that person, be around that person. You know how when you meet a good friend, someone where things just flow organically? Pop has that feel.”

Said Brown: “I’ll give you this saying I live by: The greatest leaders, in any profession, care about the people they lead. And the people they lead know the caring is genuine. And I think that’s what defines Pop.”

Popovich coached Steve Kerr as a player and later coached alongside him on Team USA, passing the torch to him for the most recent gold medal run at the 2024 Olympics. “He was a brilliant, brilliant culture setter,” Kerr said. (David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)

Popovich’s fingerprints are all over the NBA today, in particular with the schedule.

In November 2012, with one game remaining on a six-game trip, he sent home to San Antonio the core of his team: Tony Parker, Danny Green, Duncan and Ginóbili. The trip finale was against Miami, the Spurs’ fourth game in five nights, and TNT was broadcasting the game to a national audience.

Instead of a marquee matchup of teams that would eventually clash in an epic seven-game Finals, TNT and commissioner David Stern watched as Popovich sent out a starting lineup of Patty Mills, Boris Diaw, Nando De Colo, Matt Bonner and Tiago Splitter.

“I was there as an (television) analyst, and when I saw what he was doing, I knew it was immediately two-pronged,” Kerr said. “One, it was a middle finger to the league. Like, don’t schedule this game and make us play our fourth game in five nights. And two, it was a psychological game. If they beat Miami with their B-team, that’s a huge blow to Miami. If they lose, who cares?”

Stern, the night of the game, said Popovich’s decision to send players home was “unacceptable” and “substantial sanctions would be forthcoming.” The next day, he levied a $250,000 fine on the Spurs.

Never mind that the Spurs nearly beat LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade — they were within one with 13 seconds before losing 105-100 — Popovich had made his point.

“It was groundbreaking because fast-forward to today and we don’t do four games in five nights anymore,” Kerr said. “The league has really refined the schedule, and that all started with Pop.”

The Miami game — fine be damned — was the start of a larger movement by Popovich to conserve his aging stars for the playoffs. He would hold out players during taxing stretches of the season to make sure they were fresh for April, May and June. The approach didn’t always work — in 2017-18, star Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs couldn’t agree on the proper balance between rehabilitation and returning to play, resulting in a standoff that saw Leonard play only nine games. Nonetheless, Popovich was always an advocate for allowing players time to heal and play when ready.

“Rest was a big thing with him,” Udoka said. “He was all about the care of his players. He always talks about the best team he had was the one when Tim hurt his knee and sat out the ’99-00 playoffs. Tim wanted to play, but he wouldn’t let him, but that probably extended Tim’s career five years. So, he saw the big picture ahead of everyone else, when it wasn’t en vogue, and took the fines and rolled with it.”

Today, load management or resting is common in the league, so much so that individual awards now have a 65-game criterion attached to discourage players from missing games to rest.

Popovich’s coaching tree has many branches, including Mike Budenholzer (shown as a Spurs assistant in December 2000), who later went on to coach the Hawks, Bucks and Suns, winning a title with Milwaukee in 2021. (Nell Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

Tactically, Popovich is ironically known for a part of the game for which he is not fond: the 3-point shot.

For years, Popovich railed against the 3-point shot, calling it “boring” and claiming “it’s not basketball.” But he knew he had to adapt and became known for two aspects of the 3-point shot: taking advantage of the corner 3 (think Bruce Bowen, Danny Green, Matt Bonner) and devising ways to defend the corner 3.

“He was cutting edge,” longtime NBA coach and player Nate McMillan said. “Analytics weren’t really big until Pop started telling Bruce Bowen to only shoot in the corner. That’s the offense he created — if you are going to double-team Tim (Duncan), you are going to give up a corner 3. And now, the NBA is corner-3 crazy.”

Bowen, whose career was resurrected after he came to San Antonio, shot 84 percent of his attempts from the corner during his time in San Antonio, with a success rate of 42.4 percent, according to Basketball Reference.

Kerr, however, says Popovich’s brilliance was really in how to defend the corner 3.

“He was the first coach to say, we are not leaving the strong-side corner,” Kerr said. “Traditionally, you held off the corner because it was only a 2-point shot, and you didn’t worry about a guy hitting a 2. But once the 3 really started coming into play, he recognized immediately that was the easiest one, and that it would be much more challenging to make players try to hit a 2 over Robinson or Duncan that it was to shoot an open 3. So I think he revolutionized corner 3-point defense more than anything.”

Before the sixth game of his 29th season, Popovich on Nov. 2, 2024 suffered what the Spurs called a “mild stroke.” He did not return for the rest of the season as assistant Mitch Johnson led the team to a 32-45 record the remainder of the way (34-48 overall).

Now, with his announcement to step away from coaching, the game has lost what many of his peers consider one of — if not the — greatest coach in NBA history.

“With Pop, there’s no secret formula,” Udoka said. “It’s relationships and accountability. It seems so simple, but they are things everyone struggles with. But he does it better than anyone.”

His impact does not figure to fade. As his mentor, Larry Brown likes to say, he does not have a coaching tree, but a coaching forest. Current NBA coaches who either played for or coached under Popovich include Udoka in Houston, Kerr in Golden State, Doc Rivers in Milwaukee, Will Hardy in Utah, Brian Keefe in Washington and Quin Snyder in Atlanta. Notable former NBA coaches who mentored under Popovich include Mike Budenholzer, Monty Williams, Taylor Jenkins and Mike Brown.

“I apply what he does to what I do; it’s the foundation of who I am as a coach,” Udoka said. “You have to be who you are, but also, you learn with Pop that either you are going to hold guys accountable or not, or are you going to sweep things under the rug? That’s just how it is.”

And somewhere, Popovich will once again raise his wine glass and toast to the player who helped him win five rings. It will not be an act of false modesty, but rather a reflection of how coach and player need to be one.

“Utlimately, (the toast) is his humility to deflect the praise and recognize that none of it happens without Tim,” Kerr said. “It’s like him saying, all this stuff and notoriety is great, but if they don’t win the lottery and get Tim Duncan, none of the philosophies really pan out and turn into championships. And he’s probably fired. And he never forgets that.”

(Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Dylan Buell, Steve Freeman/NBAE, D. Clarke Evans/NBAE, Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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