San Antonio Spurs legends Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker finally got inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. During their induction ceremony, both the coach and the former player couldn’t help but share riveting anecdotes from their dynasty days. When it was his turn to speak, ‘Pop’ joked about the coaching techniques he used on Tony Parker back in the day. Amidst these stories, the 74-year-old admitted that his coaching from back then would likely have put him in handcuffs if practiced today, much to Parker’s agreement.
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Despite being at an age when most coaches retire from the NBA, Popovich has been going strong for the Spurs. He has now been the franchise’s head coach for 27 years and is set to serve 5 more, as he recently penned an extension worth $80,000,000 after Victor Wembanyama was drafted.
Four weeks after signing the richest NBA coaching contract in history, Pop revealed some untold truths about coaching the dominant Spurs dynasty.
‘Soft’ Gregg Popovich explained why he has changed since coaching fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Tony Parker
During his time on stage, Gregg Popovich admitted that he asked for perfection from Tony Parker since his very early years in the NBA. He joked about how harsh he was with the French legend, as the former star point guard looked at him knowingly from his seat on stage. Reminiscing further about the good old days, here is what Pop said, as seen in Ben Hustle’s tweet.
“With Tony (Parker), I just asked him to be perfect. At 19, that was tough. If you can switch the social situations that we have now compared to back then, If coached him now, the way I did then, I would be in handcuffs. Seriously, I would be behind bars, don’t you think, Tony? (Parker nods with a big smile).
But I have mellowed, right? He tells me I’m soft now. So, I can’t go back to those days, you’ve got to change.”
It is important to note that while the subject matter is a bit heavy, both parties laughed it off. Perhaps Parker understands that the Spurs wouldn’t be as successful as they were if Pop didn’t coach the team that way. He deserves quite a bit of credit for it.
However, Popovich’s handcuffs joke surely adds to the running narrative that the NBA is getting softer by the day. It will be interesting to see how a ‘soft’ Popovich trains the French sensation Victor Wembanyama.
Many were worried for Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama has been hyped up to be arguably the greatest NBA prospect of all time. And so, when he was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs as the #1 overall pick, most fans were happy, since Pop’s experience almost guarantees him teaching Wemby the right things. However, some were worried that Popovich may end up being overly harsh on the Frenchman.
Speaking on these worries, here is what the player in question had to say.
“He works out more than I thought. You know, every morning he’s there, running on a treadmill, lifting weights. He communicates a lot with me and he doesn’t want me to make… you know he wants to take care of me and he wants me to avoid making some mistakes and it’s really pleasant. I thought I would experience the yelling a bit earlier. I haven’t yet, but I’m ready.”
Perhaps the head coach and the young star are destined for greatness. Only time will tell how their relationship pans out.
