"You never finish a work of art. You abandon it." - Ken Burns
Names conjure associations. Adam West? Batman. Doris Kearns Goodwin? Lincoln. Gordon Ramsay? Beef Wellington.
When we think of Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich, what's our take?
Today. Victor Wembanyama the much-hyped man-child goes to the Spurs wayback machine. Popovich gets a science experiment.
Pomona of the Claremont Colleges. Popovich's multilingual intelligence and unapologetic style rankles some. Hit 'em with those trophies.
Air Force and Russian studies. Pop is a geek. He's a reader comfortable with history and suffers no fools.
He's got the receipts. Five NBA championships. Long ago ping pong balls went the Spurs' way, Pop got Duncan and the Celtics got a long championship drought.
"Get over yourself." Pop preaches team not ego. Players learn quickly that it's team over individual, always a good lesson especially for a young player.
"Pound the rock." He lives, "It takes what it takes." If it takes a hundred hits to break the rock, then you have to keep hitting it.
Three star orbit. Popovich knows that the triumvirate of Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili drove the bus. And that's okay.
Pop doesn't waste words. You get what you get with a Pop interview.
Let Ginobili be Ginobili.
Eddie Mabo Day. Popovich has a rich appreciation of 'cultural literacy' which some might call woke. The literal definition of woke is being attuned to issues of social justice. Popovich discussed Eddie Mabo Day because he knew Patty Mills had close ties to indigenous people's justice.
Hammer action. Although this probably dates back to Chuck Daly, Hammer action is often associated with the Spurs.
Popovich...one of a kind... a beautiful and complex mind.
Lagniappe. "The Beautiful Game."