Gregg Popovich’s default position when interacting with media is brusque. His pregame press conferences – something NBA head coaches are required to do – sometimes don’t last much longer or contain any more useful story-building quotes than his in-game TV interviews, which have left many a sideline reporter with PTSD.
But Popovich opened a vein and let it all pour out before Wednesday’s Pistons-Spurs game when the subject of Monty Williams was broached.
“He’s always been somebody that when you’re around him for a period of time, you quickly gain a respect because he’s got not just a high intelligence level but a people factor,” said Popovich, who coached Williams as a player and then helped launch his coaching career by bringing him into the San Antonio fold. When Williams’ playing career ended in 2003, he joined the Spurs as a coaching intern and was with them when they beat the Pistons in the riveting seven-game 2005 NBA Finals.
“He really enjoys people. He’s always honest.”
Intelligence, empathy and honesty are the tripod holding up a successful NBA coach, which is why Popovich is a certified Hall of Famer and why he knew even during Williams’ playing days that he was destined to be a head coach – and a very good one – someday.
But the standings don’t reflect that reality for either Popovich or Williams these days, whose teams sit at the bottom of their respective conferences with a combined 8-64 record ahead of Wednesday’s game. If it can happen to Popovich, owner of five NBA championship rings, it can happen to anyone. The NBA is a players-driven league and, beyond that, a star-driven league. Popovich’s NBA titles were all won with multiple future Hall of Famers. Coaching those teams is as different from coaching the current editions of the Pistons and Spurs as conducting the New York Philharmonic is from teaching high school band.
“When I was with those Hall of Fame guys, there was a lot less teaching and a lot more adjustment during games,” Popovich said. “You come up with this play because of this or change these lineups or this matchup or you play a little bit of a different defense. You make those decisions during games when you have your team set and you’re ready to win championships. This is totally different where it’s more about teaching to try to get people to that point where they understand what it takes to win. That’s a whole different dynamic.”
Williams and Popovich text each other often, no more or less during their lengthy losing streaks – the Spurs lost 17 in a row, overshadowed by the Pistons being amid their own 28-game streak – than at other times. But they weren’t commiserating about their teams’ plights.
“The one thing we don’t do a lot of is talk about basketball,” Williams said. “His children, his family, his friends are everything from my perspective. I send him pictures of my kids and now grandson and I know what that does for him. We talk about social issues and we talk about even the ones we differ on. It’s rarely about basketball. We do a lot of basketball and he’s the best.”
“We talk very little about basketball,” Popovich echoed. “We talk about all kinds of other things. Mostly begins with our families. Basketball’s never in it very much.”
Coaches that establish any kind of longevity in the NBA almost always do so because they’re not confined to basketball-centric boxes but exist as fully developed human beings who weather the inevitable ups and downs of a bottom-line and hypercompetitive business.
Popovich doesn’t magically infuse his proteges with those traits, but when he spots them in others he’s proven an able nurturer. Williams stands as a shining example.
“Whenever I’m going through it as a coach or something in my life is going on, he’s quick to call and shoot a text and there have been times he’s ready to jump on a plane and come visit,” Williams said. “It’s one of the reasons I have a home in San Antonio because of the connection I have with him. … It all starts with him, how he kind of raised all of us to be about more than just basketball, even though basketball was the vehicle for all of our relationships. The way you treat people and the way you spend your day, the way you respect people even though they’re different than you – all of that has had a huge impact on who I am as a coach, a father, all of it. He’s had a huge impact on me in that way.”
It’s that perspective that allows Popovich and Williams to judge success by something beyond wins and losses when they find themselves coaching teams as young and as inexperienced in the ways of winning at the NBA level. A sense of humor is part of that.
“He relates to his players,” Popovich said. “He does his work. He’s creative and he’s got a lot of perseverance – which comes in handy right now in his and my situation, if you know what I mean.”