Pop’s way: From a sabbatical to the NBA coaching summit
Red Auerbach. Lenny Wilkens. Don Nelson. Going back to the end of the NBA’s inaugural season 75 years ago, before it was even called the NBA, they’re the only coaches to hold the distinction of having more wins than anyone else.
Until now.
Pop has finally joined the club.
Soon, perhaps as soon as Wednesday, Gregg Popovich will stand alone in NBA history. The longtime San Antonio coach – a winner of five NBA titles, the coach of the reigning Olympic gold medalists, a lock for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame as soon as he tells them that he’d like to be considered – got career win No. 1,335 on Monday night when the Spurs beat the Los Angeles Lakers 117-110, tying him with Nelson atop the league’s all- time regular season victory list.
“He deserves it,” Spurs guard Dejounte Murray said.
Predictably, Popovich never was on board with that sentiment. He’s been waiting somewhat impatiently for the last couple weeks for the pursuit – more specifically, all the questions about it – to end. Making matters worse, the Spurs had lost each of their first four attempts to get him the record-tying victory.
Now, one more win – the first chance comes
Wednesday against Toronto – and he’ll be alone atop the regular-season victory list. More importantly to him, he won’t have to hear as much about it anymore.
“That’ll be a good thing,” Popovich conceded.
His place in basketball history, his legacy, his stamp as one of the game’s all-time greats – if not the greatest of the greats – was secure long ago. He’s one of only eight coaches in the four major U.S. sports leagues to be with one team for at least 25 years. And by adding in his 170 playoff victories, his total is at 1,505 in the NBA, which is 93 more than anyone else.
It was a circuitous path to this point. He played at the U.S. Air Force Academy, famously wasn’t picked in a bid to make the 1972 U.S. Olympic team, wound up becoming a coach and probably would have been perfectly content to run a Division III program in California for the entirety of his professional life.
Eventually, the NBA called. In time, Popovich would be paired with David Robinson, then the patriarch of a dynasty fueled by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The rest is history. Historic, actually.
“Everyone knows the amazing job he’s done and all the accomplishments,” longtime coach Larry Brown said last year. “I wish more people really could know the type of person that he is.