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Duncan and Popovich have always shared the responsibility of mentoring and guiding the Spurs in the locker room.
When Gregg Popovich recruited Tim Duncan in 1997, he already knew that the San Antonio Spurs found a generational talent. It didn’t take long before Popovich realized that Timmy naturally embodied what he wanted the Spurs’ culture to be. In the process, “The Big Fundamental” eventually became his extension in the team’s locker room.
According to Spurs CEO R.C. Buford, Popovich trusted Duncan so much that they always addressed every locker room issue together. Inevitably, Timmy and Pop sometimes clashed, but the problem would start and end between the two of them only.
“I don’t know that Pop would ever abdicate that responsibility wholly to any one player or individual. They handle these issues together. They handle their own…Bud [Spurs assistant coach Mike Budenholzer] used to say Pop and Tim get divorced once a year, a week, when the two of them would be cranky,” Buford said on The Vertical Podcast with Woj in 2016.
“They always figured it out… It’s in both of their nature to not want other people to handle their business,” he added.
Tim was a compassionate leader
The Spurs have been the most disciplined and successful NBA team in the last 20 years. It’s probably the reason why Buford said he couldn’t remember an instance in which Duncan had to deal with a highly complex situation with other San Antonio players.
Instead, what Buford remembers the most about Duncan’s leadership was his unbelievable and genuine compassion for his teammates.
“I would say that more often than not, it wasn’t the house-on-fire relationship that Tim dealt with but the times when guys were at their personal lows, when Tim [put his] arm around their shoulders, lifted them up at times when they weren’t feeling well,” Buford described.
Everybody improved with Ducan
Duncan played in three eras for the Spurs and alongside a wide array of role players and All-Stars. From veterans such as David Robinson, Avery Johnson, and Bruce Bowen to the younger generation such as Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Kawhi Leonard, even role players like Danny Green and Boris Diaw, Buford said all of them got better in one way or another with Timmy.
Based on Buford’s assessment, only a few players didn’t click with Duncan, not because of him but because they couldn’t fulfill the “responsibility” of coexisting with a player like Tim.
“Tim could play with anybody,” Buford confidently declared. “There was not a player that played in the league, when Tim was here, they wouldn’t have been better because they were playing next to Tim. But there weren’t as many people who could have handled the responsibility of playing with Tim. I think it empowers us to have a better definition of what works here.”
Pop misses Timmy
What Duncan and Popovich built in San Antonio is something not all players and coaches could achieve. Their tandem resulted in five NBA championships and, more importantly, a historic dynasty.
But like any other coach-player duo, Popovich and Duncan’s time also had to end. Tim retired in 2016 at age 39, after spending almost half of it with Popovich and the Spurs. As per Pop, he and Timmy have developed such a great relationship through the years that they already have “the same mind.” Admittedly, Coach Pop has missed everything about The Big Fundamental.
“It’s been a great relationship. Something that I really miss,” Popovich once said of Duncan. “I miss most, his presence. That’s got nothing to do with points, or rebounds or blocked shots. His presence.”
“When you walk into the gym and you see him there before practice or after practice. Where you see him with his arm around a rookie, talking to him, just the empathy he has for teammates,” he opened up. “His ability to welcome everybody into their culture and make them feel comfortable. His humor, which not too many people know about. All those things are huge. He was the base from which we all knew where to operate and how things should be done.”
Three years after calling it a career, Timmy decided to reunite with Popovich as an assistant coach for the Spurs. At the time, many anticipated that San Antonio would climb back to the top of the chain with the legendary pair at the helm. Unfortunately, Pop said as great a player as he was, Duncan “didn’t know a lick about coaching.”
After 43 games of being Popovich’s second-in-command, Tim opted to step down as the San Antonio’s assistant coach. Despite Duncan’s underwhelming stint in coaching, not one bit changed in his personal relationship with Gregg. And even though they are no longer together in mentoring the current Spurs, Timmy, and Pop are still, and it’s safe to say, will forever be revered by every franchise member they helped establish.
May 1999; San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan on offense against Los Angeles Lakers forward J.R. Reid at the Alamodome
When Ex-Spurs teammate called out Tim Duncan for being soft: “Opponents were moving my man around too much”
San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (left) talks with head coach Gregg Popovich (right) during the second half of a preseason Game
