Gregg Popovich Comments on Tim Duncan's Decision to Retire
Seldom does San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich dish out gaudy praise or open up to the media, but in the aftermath of Tim Duncan's retirement, he spoke Tuesday about the man who played 19 seasons under him.
ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright passed along what Popovich said during a press conference Duncan didn't attend following his Monday retirement announcement:
"He's irreplaceable. It can't happen. We're all unique. I guess each one of us is unique. But he's been so important to so many people, it's just mind boggling. To think that he's going to be gone makes it really difficult to imagine walking into practice, going to a game, getting on the bus, taking him a piece of carrot cake—whatever it might be.
You don't see Timmy beating his chest as if he was the first human being to dunk the basketball, as a lot of people do these days. He's not pointing to the sky. He's not glamming to the cameras. He just plays, and we've seen it for so long it's become almost mundane. But it's so special that it has to be remembered.
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Nicknamed "The Big Fundamental" for his humble persona and consistent production, Duncan embodied the Spurs. They weren't the flashiest team with the biggest personalities, yet year after year, they contended for championships.
Popovich has guided San Antonio to five NBA titles—all with Duncan on the roster. Casting aside the praise he's received for tactical brilliance, not the least of which was how he handled Duncan toward the end of his career, Popovich put Duncan's legend in context:
"It's not a show of humility in any sense or form. People who grew up with me know me. I would not be standing here if it wasn't for Tim Duncan. I'd be in the Budweiser League someplace in America, fat and still trying to play basketball or coach basketball. But he's why I'm standing. He's made livings for hundreds of us, staff and coaches, over the years and never said a word, just came to work every day. Came early, stayed late, was there for every single person, from the top of the roster to the bottom of the roster, because that's who he was, in all those respects.
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Duncan is perhaps the NBA paragon of Theodore Roosevelt's foreign-policy paradigm, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
Rather than talk trash or be overly demonstrative in the public eye, Duncan went about his business quietly—and always had his game to silence even the biggest loudmouth.
He was a 15-time All-Star, two-time MVP, three-time NBA Finals MVP and arguably the best power forward to ever play the game. Even as he averaged fewer than 30 minutes per contest in five of the final six seasons of his career, Duncan still finished with career marks of 19 points, 10.8 rebounds, three assists and 2.2 blocks per game.
When asked whether Duncan would coach in the future, Popovich said, per Wright, "I have a notion he will at least listen to being involved, somehow or other, maybe even on a part-time basis. I'm certainly going to hit with everything I have to keep him around here as long as I possibly can because he means that much to everyone in the organization."
In San Antonio and beyond, Duncan left an indelible mark on the basketball landscape, and he will indubitably be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he's eligible in five years.
Even if he isn't around the Spurs in a coaching or other capacity, he had plenty of time to make an impression on the young players who will carry forward one of major sports' most consistent winning franchises.
The Spurs' latest silent superstar, Kawhi Leonard, shot .506/.443/.874, averaged 21.2 points per game and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the second season in a row in 2015-16. He is similar to Duncan in his soft-spoken ways and seems like the prime candidate to take over as San Antonio's next leader.
But no matter who pilots the team on the hardwood in 2016-17, Popovich will remain the constant on the sideline.
The job he's made look so effortless may prove to be more difficult in the post-Duncan era.
