Gregg Popovich can now call himself the coach with the most wins in the NBA. The living legend of the San Antonio Spurs, without a doubt one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, is regarded by friend and foe alike, you will never read a negative word about him. What made Popovich so unique? Sporza listened to two experts, Rik Samaey and Joerik Michiels.
Nobody expected that Gregg Popovich would ever become the coach with the most wins in the NBA when he took over the reins at San Antonio in 1996. At the time, there was even some jeering here and there, when Popovich – then general manager at Spurs – appointed himself coach.
Nearly 3 decades later, Popovich has been rocking everyone, all the while with his beloved San Antonio. Under Popovich, the Spurs won 5 titles, only Phil Jackson (11) and Red Auerbach (9) do better. Connoisseurs consider him the best coach in the current NBA, one of the best ever.
In addition to his obvious qualities as a coach, it is striking that everyone is always full of praise for Popovich, an endearing personality. The young Belgian coach Joerik Michiels, the driving force behind Elite Athletes, experienced this personally a few years ago.
In a restaurant full of NBA personnel, Gregg Popovich, to everyone’s surprise, asked if he could sit at our table.
“Together with my colleague Olivier, I was invited to the Basketball Without Borders Camp of the NBA in 2018, where the greatest European talents of the moment came together. Gregg Popovich was there as head coach,” Michiels tells Sporza.
“We were actually the only two people who had nothing to do with the NBA. There were about 100 NBA crew members there. Nevertheless, Popovich came up to us after one of our training sessions to tell us that he was very impressed of us and that he had seen many things that he had never seen before.”
“The next evening, in a restaurant full of NBA staff, he asked to everyone’s surprise if he could sit at our table for dinner. He said that he would like to talk about other things. It was a super cool and very instructive evening for us.”
Joerik Michiels (r) met NBA-coach Gregg Popovich (m).
Sense of humor required when recruiting players
The fact that Popovich did not feel too good to join some young Belgians typifies his personality. Joerik Michiels asked him straight away why he enjoys so much respect. “Because he treats everyone equally, from superstar to rookie to the person who mops the floor. That was his answer,” recalls Michiels.
More than his basketball vision, Popovich shared his vision of life. “He told us to never forget that basketball is just a game, no matter how important we think it is. A garbage collector has a much greater impact on society than we who are coaching a game.”
“You could feel everything that he is very sincere. Very down to earth too. He really took his time to talk to us and was genuinely interested.”
Popovich told us to never forget that basketball is just a game, as important as we think it is.
Popovich’s sense of humor is also legendary. “Humor is even a quality on which he selects players, he told us. Anyone who does not have a sense of humor does not fit in his team. He attaches great importance to that,” says Joerik Michiels.
“He solves a lot with humor. During that camp we did a test in which players had to assume a certain attitude for 7 minutes. Many players gave up. The next day Popovich himself joined in. He did that in such a funny way that the other players now held on, just like himself by the way. The way in which he solved that was really very clever.”
“As a coach, I really learned from him how important it is to build a relationship with your players, through physical contact. An arm over the shoulder, high-fives, a nudge. Physical contact creates a bond. The way The way he does that – not only being top tactically but also in the relationship with his players – has really influenced me and a lot of coaches.”
Rik Samaey: “He always ensured a lot of balance in his team”
Gregg Popovich’s basketball is characterized by a fast “ball movement” and real team play, without big egos. Among other things, these ingredients have ensured that Rik Samaey, ten-time Player of the Year in Belgium, does not hide his love for the Spurs.
“Popovich started with Spurs and has turned it into a real ‘franchise’, with a distinctive playing style and way of coaching,” says Rik Samaey, who also sees Popovich as one of the pioneers of “load management”: players and then rest a match.
“That was unseen in Michael Jordan’s period. But Popovich sometimes kept players aside when they had to play 2 days in a row. Not everyone was behind that, but now almost everyone does it.”
To me, Gregg Popovich definitely belongs in the top 5 of all time.
“Popovich has also worked with many foreign players. He didn’t introduce that, but they did fit into his philosophy of a lot of passing and a strong defense. He always struck a very good balance both offensively and defensively.”
The Spurs have dwindled a bit in recent years. “As a coach, you are only as good as the material you receive. But Popovich has never left. He has experienced high mountains and deep valleys. For me he definitely belongs in the top 5 of all time.”
“I expected that he would retire when stars like Duncan, Parker and Ginobili dropped out, but he kept going, even after his wife passed away in 2018. He is now 73. At his age, that is not so obvious anymore. .”
