San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has won five NBA championships. He's the winningest coach in NBA history and led the Silver and Black to a league record 22 consecutive winning seasons.
Yet, the Hall of Famer says this 22-60 season was among his “most satisfying.”
“It would be less than genuine if I said it was not a challenging year. Losing is challenging. But it was one of the most satisfying years I’ve spent here, just because the caliber of the character of the guys I was allowed to coach. That got all of us through.”
A different perspective for Gregg Popovich
Throughout the season, Popovich often talked about the team's inexperience.
“The youth is really something that is a topic that probably needs a lot of attention.”
In looking back at the end of the year, the longest tenured coach in the NBA looked at his club through that lens.
“I have to give them unbelievable credit for their character. There's no letdowns of backbiting or blame or poor me or anything like that. There were dealt tough circumstances, a couple of they didn't have any control over: being young and never having played together.”
After a trade deadline deal that sent Doug McDermott to the Indiana Pacers, the Spurs didn't have a single player on their roster who was even 30 years old.
“It was difficult for them, spotty injuries and that kind of thing. It's like it never happened. Every practice, every shoot-around, every game, not matter what happened they were ready for the next day. That really is a testament to their character,” Popovich continued.
“I really am impressed by that and grateful for it because it could have been a really ugly time, you know, losing, being on busses and planes and all that but we ate together, we spent time together and they were special.”
A franchise record 18-game losing streak that spanned from early November to mid December set the course for the Spurs season.
“In the beginning of the year, probably the first 15, 20, 25 games, you're starting different combinations, different people are coming off the bench, you're playing, then you decide on something else. Just trying to figure out who plays best with each other, groups,” Popovich shared. “It takes time for that and if there's an injury that happens in the middle of that, it just sets you back even more because you can't get a good feel, have enough possessions, either offensively or defensively to make a good general statement about what you should be.”
Spurs ended the season on a positive note
After winning just 17 of 71 games, San Antonio closed the season by winning seven of their last eleven.
“When you'd see us down ten, fifteen, twenty points and the guys keep playing in those games. They may come back and win them, they may come back and get close. We never doubted their effort,” Popovich pointed out.
“I thought that they put on a great show for the fans for the whole year, who were also very, very supportive. I know they always have been but this year when you're losing games and you're used to winning games, it says something about that fan base also, that they enjoyed what they were watching. And we enjoyed their support.”
The legendary coach and the Spurs look forward to the day those fans will be rooting on long playoff runs again.
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