According to LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has a light, bouncy, human side.
We will now pause for a moment while Popovich kills Aldridge for letting people know as much.
Only a few months into his tenure with Spurs, LaMarcus Aldridge is battling. His shooting percentages aren’t great, he looks indecisive at times when he catches the ball on the block and the Spurs’ newfangled starting five, headlined by Aldridge, would rank as one of the two worst offensive teams in the league, per NBA.com.
That hasn’t stopped the Spurs from emerging as the second-best team in the Association, behind only the Golden State Warriors. Their defense is among the league’s best, and they’re getting a truckload of valuable contributions from their second unit.
Smart people acknowledge the Spurs still have plenty of room to grow and improve, which is both a reason to remain vigilant in their development and be absolutely terrified at the notion of what their finished production can do.
Part of that development is chemistry. The Spurs are a team built on culture, on relationships, on a mutual understanding between players and coaches and front-office faces that they are all working toward the same goal and understand what it takes to get there.
LaMarcus Aldridge is already forging ties with the city of San Antonio, already making himself known throughout the community, per CBS Sports’ Ananth Pandian. And in addition to that, he seems to be creating a strong rapport with Popovich, as Pandian also relayed:
Although there are some initial growing pains, LaMarcus Aldridge is quite happy with his decision to come to San Antonio and play for Popovich.
“He’s very particular as far as basketball, you know, doing things right,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “But as soon as the game is over, he’s on to a different thing, making sure we are good as human beings. I think that’s a really good balance.
“He doesn’t burn you out. He’s not always basketball, basketball, basketball. He actually gives you the time to be free.”
LaMarcus Aldridge’s relationship with Popovich is perhaps the most important of any bond he will share in San Antonio. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili are going to retire at some point. Same goes for Tony Parker. Kawhi Leonard, I imagine, doesn’t talk behind the scenes. Popovich, for all we know, could outlast the lot of them. He probably won’t, but he will almost certainly be around to coach out the life of Aldridge’s current four-year deal, since I imagine that was a selling point to the four-time All-Star when he first signed in San Antonio.
And it says a lot about the perpetually scowling Popovich that his approach resonates with recently inbound talent. We talk a lot about how demanding he is, how hard he can be at times on his players, even Duncan, but Popovich the man has always been a bit of mystery. You see glimpses of his lighter personality in certain interviews, but he’s mostly painted as a hard-nosed basketball genius.
And, on many levels, that’s exactly what he is.
But he’s also a good freaking dude overall—something we’ve known without really knowing for some time, and something LaMarcus Aldridge has now confirmed.
