Like Popovich, Belichick will go down swinging as dynasty crumbles

The cantankerous old coach was accustomed to neither losing nor mincing words, and he wasn’t ready to give in on the latter, at least.

So when it became increasingly clear that his franchise’s historic era of success was nearing its end, he spoke bluntly about the reasons why.

“This year we have less to work with,” the coach said. “It’s not an excuse. It’s just the facts.”

That was Bill Belichick on WEEI radio in Boston last week, but it could have passed for an echo of Gregg Popovich from a few months earlier. For the better part of two decades they oversaw the same consistency, if not always the same excellence, and both had time to see 2020 coming.

Modern super teams tend to break up and burn out, but dynasties that span eras, like the ones Popovich and Belichick built, don’t tend to end that abruptly. They are more liable to fizzle and fade, the way the Spurs and Patriots have, and the only surprising thing about either slide is it didn’t happen sooner.

Sure, Kawhi Leonard might have delayed it even longer had he stuck around. So, too, might have Tom Brady. But Popovich and Belichick had beaten the odds for longer than many of their colleagues’ entire careers, and both know better than to complain about a bad break now.

But at this stage of their tenures, neither coach has

much interest in tearing everything down and starting over, even though a contingent of their fans might like them to.

And even if neither man honestly expects to hoist another championship trophy? The pursuit of winning remains the same.

The Spurs didn’t tank last winter or during the NBA’s summer restart, and the Patriots aren’t going to tank this fall. They’ve lost four games in a row and are 2-5 heading into Monday’s game against the lowly Jets, and their chances of making the playoffs are lower than they’ve been at any point since they last missed the postseason in 2008.

But if their 11-year streak ends, it will conclude the same way the Spurs’ 22-year run did — by giving it an honest shot, overmatched or not.

They almost certainly think they owe themselves that much, and such an attitude makes sense the way both teams have been constructed. If the Spurs weren’t going to get franchise altering offers for DeMar DeRozan or LaMarcus Aldridge at the trade deadline last February, they might as well have tried to sneak into the eighth seed.

Their consolation for coming up short? A draft pick that will be their highest this millennium, and one that isn’t assured of being any less valuable than the pick they’d received if they’d tried to win the lottery.

The way this amorphous draft class is shaping up, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they end up with a better player at No. 11 than Minnesota, Golden State or Charlotte get in the top three.

Likewise, Belichick’s Patriots have to cling to some playoff hope, and not only because they still get to play the Jets twice. After Brady left this summer, they plucked Cam Newton from the bargain bin, and even though it’s sure looked like his best days are behind him, it’s not unthinkable that there’s some small semblance of former Most Valuable Player magic in him somewhere.

And if they rally to nab the extra AFC wild card berth this year? Whoever draws them in the first round will be no more excited to see Belichick across the field than a top seed in the NBA bubble would have been to see Popovich.

To be sure, some of the mystique has faded from both lately, but only because their teams are proving what both coaches said for years. Popovich and Belichick always insisted winning was about the players, so it wasn’t really an about-face when Belichick talked about the salary cap and roster construction on WEEI.

Some tried to turn this into Belichick passing the buck, but he was just explaining the same realities understood in San Antonio these days. For years, the Patriots signed players trying to maximize their chances of winning during their perceived championship window, and there always were going to be consequences on the back end.

That’s why they didn’t have the space to sign anyone more expensive than Newton. And it’s a reason why the Spurs won’t be in the bidding war for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The teams with cap room to make such moves had to endure some pain to get there.

Maybe some of that pain awaits the Spurs and Patriots, whether it happens before or after Popovich and Belichick are gone. But in the meantime?

Both will be realistic enough to realize why they might not win again like they used to.

And hopeful enough to try anyway.