Rivers, Popovich Share Mutual Admiration

Rowan Kavner

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – Head coach Doc Rivers has made it a point since the preseason to put the Spurs in a separate category from the rest of a talented Western Conference.

The respect is mutual between Rivers and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who only sees an upward arrow for the direction of the Clippers’ franchise.

“Execution-wise, they’re going to get better and better as they get more and more used to Doc’s system and what he wants,” Popovich said. “They’ve got nothing but a great future ahead, and they’re going to be in the mix, without any doubt, come the end of the year – given health. Everybody worries about the health part.”

Clearly, you would love to build what they have, because it means that you’re going to do it for a long time if you can.- Doc Rivers
He may worry about his players’ health, but that’s something Popovich has had good fortunes with for the most part, much to his credit. He’s managed the minutes for his nucleus of veterans, allowing the Spurs’ Big Three in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to each enjoy productive double-digit years in San Antonio. Duncan’s working on his 18th season in the league, all with the Spurs.

After talking in the preseason about how the Spurs are the one team everyone’s trying to catch in the West, Rivers continued to voice his admiration for the Spurs and for Popovich before the two teams met Monday night in Los Angeles.

“Clearly, you would love to build what they have, because it means that you’re going to do it for a long time if you can,” Rivers said. “We have a long way to go. That would be really nice.”

The Spurs have won five championships since 1999. The Clippers are still searching for their first, but they have a coach in Rivers who’s coached a title team before. Popovich believes with Rivers at the helm, anything’s possible for the Clippers.

“Doc could take over anything and there’s going to be a certain perception that takes place, because he’s a hell of a leader,” Popovich said. “I don’t say that just because he’s a friend. He’s got a heck of a presence, he’s highly intelligent, he’s incisive, he’s got a personality, and that pervades whatever situation he might be involved in. Whether he was running a bank or running an NBA team, that’s the truth.”

Popovich has built an unrivaled system in San Antonio and may know what it takes to sustain success in the league better than any NBA head coach. In a league full of stars, high contracts and free-agent acquisitions, he’s managed to keep his celebrated trio in place and put pieces around Duncan to thrive.

He gave Duncan much of the credit for what the Spurs have been able to do, but in his view, there’s also another key component to long-term success.

“It all starts with ownership,” Popovich said. “It’s all about ownership. Do they let you do your job or not? Do they have patience and understand continuity or not? If you have that synergy between ownership and management and coaches, you can put together a program. We’ve been fortunate in that way.”

So how big was the change in ownership for the Clippers, in Popovich’s mind?

“I think that question answers itself,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious.”

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