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NBA FINALS: SPURS v HEATJune 5, 2013Gregg PopovichMIAMI, FLORIDA: Practice Day Q.  Can you talk about Tim Duncan in 2007 First Team All‑NBA, 2013 First Team All‑NBA. His numbers are virtually the same over this time span, why do you think he has been so consistent in maintaining his game at such a high level at this stage of his career? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Timmy, he's a consummate pro. He takes great pride in fulfilling his responsibility to his teammates. He feels it very strongly. It's just a personal character quality that he has. It's as simple as that. He works himself hard all summer long. He's got high standards. He wants to participate and compete at a high level, and he has the discipline to do it. It's about character, and he's got it. Q. I was going to ask you along those lines, Pop. Last year you put in the boxscore "Did Not Play‑Old." What was Tim's reaction‑‑ COACH GREGG POPOVICH: What did you say? Q. Last year you put in the boxscore "Did Not Play‑Old." COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I did that. Q. What was Tim's reaction? We don't always see Tim's sense of humor. Can you talk about that. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: He loved it. He thought it was funny as hell. There were some others who did not enjoy it, but Timmy got a kick out of it and I got a kick out of it. It was fun. And it was true. He was older than dirt. That's the deal. He was tired that night. He's old. So I could have lied. I could have said he has a broken ankle or something. I just said he's old. Q. And just as a follow‑up to his tremendous career, he has a chance to become a second guy to win a ring in three different decades. How amazing is it to have sustaining success? He was in his first Finals 14 years‑‑ COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Truly amazing. That's how amazing. I agree with you. How amazing? How am I supposed to answer that? Really, really amazing. Not trying to be a wiseguy. What am I going to say? He's ridiculous. He's amazing, as you said. Q. Gregg, three years ago, after Miami signed those guys, Pat Riley said you were one of the first guys to call him, maybe one of the only guys in the league, to congratulate him. Take us back to that mindset and what you thought that they had done. And address the mutual admiration these two franchises have. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, you know, I still call him Coach Riley. I can't help it. I guess he's Executive Coach Riley and all that, slash whatever. But he's been a competitor obviously his whole career since he was a player in college and beyond. He put together a team fairly, within the rules, that is a monster. So why wouldn't he get credit for that? Why wouldn't you congratulate him for that? So I did. I always respected his competitiveness and how he ran things in New York and L.A. and so on and so forth. And as an executive he's done the same thing. He lets people do what they do, puts things together, and he put together a hell of a team. And so I called him to thank him because I respect him so much‑‑ not to thank him, but to congratulate him. That's the last thing I do is thank him for doing that. Q. Pop, one of the things they call LeBron around here is "1 Through 5" because he guards all five positions. Sometimes in the span of about five possessions. How much would you anticipate him on Tony in this series? And if they do match him up that way at times, do you think Tony is going to be concerned about it one bit? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: No matter what they do, we just have to live with it and play. At this point in the season we're not going to change very much what we do. There's no time for it. And as far as anticipating what people might do, I try to stay away from that. Because you can drive yourself crazy. That's what the game is for. You make adjustments during the game, hopefully to help your team. But whatever is presented is what has to be dealt with. But ahead of time, to think of 50 different scenarios, I think muddles the mind a little bit too much. It's a basketball game, go play it and see what you've got. Q. When LeBron was in here he basically talked about everything you guys did to him in '07. Basically said it's not going to work now. "I'm more comfortable. I can handle that."  What is the challenge to put together your report on him now versus what it was back then? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, LeBron is a different player than he was in '07. That was like ancient history. He was basically a neophyte at the time, wondering how all this stuff worked and how it's put together. We were very fortunate at that time to get him so early. But at this point he's grown. He doesn't care what you all say. He knows basketball better than everybody put together in this room. He goes and plays the game and does what's necessary. So he'll be a lot more of a problem than he was in '07. That's for sure. Q. Timmy is generally regarded as the best power forward of all time. Do you think knowing him so well, legacy matters to him or is it just about the moment, the game and now? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I don't want him to sound disrespectful. He has great respect for those that have come before him, and he loves the game. But as far as personal accolades or legacy, it doesn't even enter his mind. Very honestly.  That's not disrespectful to basketball. It's who he is. He plays the game, he enjoys the game, and respects it. But anything that's put towards him in an accolades sort of way, that's not something he spends any time thinking about. I guarantee it. Q. Pop, what has allowed Tony Parker to take his greatness even to another level in these playoffs? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think that circumstances have changed Tony, on the mental side of the game. He was always quick, and he's fast, and he finishes well at the rim. He's improved his shot as time has gone on. All those sorts of things are obvious. But I think the Olympic experience really changed him. And two years ago against Memphis he didn't play very well against Conley, it really bothered him. He sort of floated in that series a bit. Then he went to the Olympics and really enjoyed that experience playing in that environment. It seems like every year there are more and more French players everywhere. Just a multitude of them. So he got a big kick out of that. Then he hurt his eye, and he couldn't be himself at the end of that Olympic run. And when it ended, he said to Timmy and he said to me that he realized, and getting older a little bit, how important it was and how he didn't really appreciate maybe the beginning championships‑‑ it all happened so fast and he was young and I'm on him and he's trying to become a point guard and so on and so forth‑‑ and now with a little bit of maturity and understanding how difficult it is, he really committed himself to being mentally ready to play night after night after night. It's easy to go get 28 or 30 one night. It's easy to get 20 and 10 one night. But will you do that night after night and will you guard at the other end of the court? And will you lead and will you support your teammates when things are going badly in a game? All those sorts of things on the mental side he's improved over the last couple of years. That's what's allowed him to take another step. Q. Pop, when Jeff Van Gundy was talking the other day, he said that sustained greatness is the hardest greatness to attain in sports. He was talking about you and Tim. I'm just wondering from your perspective, how are you able to maintain a franchise that's contemporary with three guys that are in their 30s as your best players, and one of them that's closer to 40 than 30? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think that it's a real simple answer. Nobody really likes it. They want me to say something different. It's a total function of who those three guys are. What if they were jerks? What if they were selfish? What if one of them was, you know, unintelligent? If, if, if. But the way it works out, all three of them are highly intelligent. They all have great character. They appreciate their teammates' success. They feel responsible to each other. They feel responsible to Patty Mills or to Danny Green. That's who they are and how they're built. I think when you have three guys like that, you're able to build something over time. So I think it's just a matter of being really, really fortunate to have three people who understand that and who commit to a system and a philosophy for that length of time. I don't know what else to tell you. It's on them. Q. Pop, getting back to Tony Parker for a second, you had him when he was so young. And early in his time with the Spurs there was some talk about Jason Kidd when he was a free agent. At what point, after that went by the boards, did you come to the realization that no, this was the guy for the long haul as a point guard? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: Well, your question infers that there was an either/or, and that would be false. That's not what I had in mind at all. I wanted both of them. It wasn't to get rid of Tony Parker. Tony was really young, and I had a hard time convincing him of that. But I was probably a little bit out of the bubble machine at the time. It seemed to me that it would be a great move if we could get Jason to help mentor Tony. My illustrious NBA career ended a week and a half. So what the hell am I going to teach him about being a point guard? That was a joke. That was a joke. I thought that Jason Kidd being there, being the mentally tough person that he is and with his skills, that would be the greatest education for Tony Parker. And Tony can go play 2. Let him play the 2 position. He was a scoring guard at the time anyway. Not a great shooter, but we could figure it out, and let Jason be the point. As Jason gets older, let him move over to 2, let Tony take 1. Brilliant, brilliant. This is great. Let's go get this thing done. Tony did not love that idea at all. But we still tried to do it. And Jason didn't come. He went somewhere else. So it wasn't an either/or. I wanted them both. Q. Gregg, when you look at the way the league has evolved over the last couple of years and over the last few decades, even last season when you and Miami were both in the top ten in rebounding rate, and this year both of you guys are towards the bottom in that league in that category, obviously it didn't matter that much because you guys are in The Finals. Has the league gotten to a point now where you can kind of compensate for certain things like ‑‑ statistically rebounding has always been a pretty good indicator who ends up in this round. Have you two teams kind of showed that maybe you can do other things so well or be so efficient offensively or be so good defensively with small ball or whatever it is that you can mitigate one factor like that by playing so well in other facets? COACH GREGG POPOVICH: That's a really long question (laughing). Q. Sorry. COACH GREGG POPOVICH: I think that stats are stats. And I think today we've had a proliferation of geniuses who have come up with new formulae to prove what wins and what loses. Some of it I think is interesting and some of it is useful and should be looked at; it can give you trends. But it's never absolute. I'll give you an example: One year in the last five, six, eight years, I don't know, we were last in the league in three‑point field‑goal percentage defense. I mean, like 28th or 29th. We went into the next year‑‑ no lie‑‑ we were second. I did nothing differently. I didn't put in one more drill. Nothing. I didn't talk to them and say, guys, let's get better at this. Nothing. And we were second. I have no idea why. We're still trying to figure out why. So sometimes things just happen. And you can't explain it. It really comes down to being able to make stops when you need them, making buckets when you need them, and not being gross. By "gross" I mean, in one game you get 23 turnovers and they get 27 points off those turnovers. You might have a hard time that night, or you shot 32% from the field. But you can be 2‑for‑26 from three and win. Because maybe something else. So everything being copacetic, maybe shots and making stops on demand wins a lot of games. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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