Popovich protects his team’s future
Suppose Kawhi Leonard played.
Suppose the Spurs decided even though Leonard had sprained his ankle three times in his previous 30 minutes of game action, and even though an injury like his typically takes at least four weeks to completely heal, the risk was worth it.
Suppose Leonard took the floor in Game 3 to a raucous ovation, and he not only stayed upright all night but also turned in an epic performance for the ages, enabling his team to vanquish the mighty Warriors at last. Then what? The Spurs still would have trailed in the Western Conference finals. They still would have been overwhelming underdogs. And they still would have needed to beat the best team in the league three more times in the next four games.
That was the best-case scenario.
Now suppose Leonard played, and things went differently.
Suppose his ankle still felt a bit tender, and because he’s a fierce competitor determined to fight through it, his body was forced to overcompensate in other areas, leading to excess stress on his knees, his hips, or his lower back.
Suppose the extra stress caused something terrible to happen — a strain or a tear or a pop — and this time, the treatment plan called for more than just a few weeks of rest.
How would the Spurs ever have been able to justify that?
Maybe they will wonder for a long time whether they played this right. As Gregg Popovich said Sunday, “any coach worth his or her salt second-guesses themselves all the time.”
But on the matter of whether or not to play Leonard, everyone who matters in the Spurs’ organization — from management to the medical staff to the coaches — was in agreement about choosing to protect the franchise player’s future.
“Right or wrong,” Popovich said, “we did what we did.”
Leonard, of course, wanted to play. And several times over the past few days, people have mentioned to Popovich that many NBA organizations might have let him.
Without access to Leonard’s medical records, it is impossible to know for sure. But it probably is fair to assume that another front office or another coaching staff, without the security of five championships and without the expectation of more opportunities to follow, might have been more willing to let its main man give it a go.
The Spurs, however, know full well about the benefits of taking the long view. Seventeen years ago, they had a young franchise player with a bum wheel, and Tim Duncan wanted to take the court in that postseason as badly as Leonard does now.
But knowing he was destined for offseason knee surgery, the Spurs held Duncan out of a first-round-series loss to Phoenix. As Warriors acting head coach Mike Brown noted recently, that move paid off.
“I mean, he played forever,” Brown said. “And I think that was part of the reason, because of how well Pop helped him take care of his body.”
That’s a leap Popovich is not necessarily ready to make himself, though. He still can’t be sure how much those two weeks of rest in April 2000 wound up helping Duncan, just as he can’t be sure if holding Leonard out of Games 3 and 4 this time will benefit him next year, not to mention next decade.
He does know on which side he would rather err.
“Sometimes you've got to make a tough decision,” Popovich said. “I think our philosophy helps some players extend their careers. But it doesn't mean that the way we do it is the only way.”
And yes, there probably will be times this summer when he reevaluates this choice, much like he’ll fret over whether he should have gone small sooner or played Dewayne Dedmon more or unleashed a triangleand-two defense to change things.
As he said, second-guessing is what all coaches do eventually. But for now, he has no interest in it.
“Circumstances are such that we could be in a totally different position right now,” Popovich said. “That didn't happen. It's called life. Slap yourself, quit your crying and move on.”