He became an idol.
Popovich's time as coach of the San Antonio Masturs ended Friday, and he ended his tenure in that capacity six months after the stroke – no matter what – didn't know that. He resigned, Mitch Johnson promoted from acting coach to head coach, and like that, the Spurs began a new chapter.
Popovich won't go anywhere. He is still the team president. He will be around. He will have an impact. His role may depend heavily on him, which is the right he has gained over the past 30 years or so. His view of the world has shaped many things the Spurs today. The same goes for the rest of the league, as evidenced by any lineup today.
Some of the best players in the game – Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous -Alexander, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Spurs were born outside the United States among the franchise of Victor Wembanyama. Will they join the league without Popovich? Almost certainly, yes. But will Popovich and the Spurs help create a path for more international players to enter the league? Absolutely. “They are pioneers of international games,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Spurs. “They have been scouting internationally with a deep attitude before many other teams.” Basketball is played around the world, and Popovich (always a student) wants to know all of that. In the late 1980s, he found players very common in Europe. As the story goes by, Popovich still cannot stroll around places like Belgrade without gaining recognition. This is not an exaggeration either.
Just look at the Spurs’ roster of all time: France’s Tony Parker and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili form one of the three-pointers in league history with Tim Duncan, another player who may have a little different view of the world, grew up on the Us Virgin Islands.
Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Marco Belinelli, Beno Udrih, Jakob Poeltl, Fabricio Oberto, Pau Gasol and others are also part of the Spurs' plan. Popovich has international coaches – for example, Italy's Ettore Messina made headlines in Europe when she joined the Spurs. Popovich picked the brains of others while coaching the U.S. national team, including former French national team coach (and Wembanyama's coach) Vincent Collet, who was on par with Olympic Gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
“There are smart people everywhere,” Popovich once said, about when he took over as the American coach. “None of us figured it out. Everyone brought something to the table that you probably didn't think about.”
If anyone can almost figure it out, it's Popovich.
He is the basketball Hall of Fame. The NBA's historically victorious leader. The Spurs' five-time championship. Guiding the United States to obtain Olympic gold. This is what everyone knows. Ask the people who run San Antonio Food Bank what they do quietly for them, the answer will take some time. The same goes for the Innocence Project and St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and the same is true for two other reasons he supports.
Popovich is more than just a coach. He was a guy from Indiana who could shoot well, was smart, and put it into the Air Force education, which should have made the 1972 U.S. Olympic team a player, got a little disappointed from it, and started learning how to coach, took over the III team in California, which lost 88 consecutive sessions on the III team in California, and turned it into a championship, turned it into a championship, and we rode it here.
Air Force Academy – where he will return many times after graduation – teaches him countless lessons, including embracing different perspectives and never stop developing.
“What you've learned is to overcome yourself,” Popovich said. “It has nothing to do with you.”
He never stopped learning, either. He changed the Spurs. It also changed the NBA. Forget the championship, the record, the single line and everything else. Popovich helped change the NBA.
That was his legacy.
