Richard Jefferson is ‘forever grateful’ for what Gregg Popovich did for his career | NBA Today

Richard Jefferson is ‘forever grateful’ for what Gregg Popovich did for his career | NBA Today

Greg Papovic will forever go down as one of the best to ever do it. So, let’s check out the top of the top brought to you by Nintendo Switch. 2 Pop’s best moments. Starting December 14th, 96, Greg Papovich captured his first win as head coach for the San Antonio Spurs in a thriller versus the Mavs. Perk, I mean, you remember this moment with Avery Johnson? I don’t remember it, but let me say this. When you make top of the top as a head coach, damn it, you did. The ultimate flex. Up next is the 99 NBA Finals. Pop and the Spurs eliminated the Knicks in five games to win their first NBA championship in franchise history. Shake it. Shake it. Fast forward 15 years later. Emotions overwhelming pop in the Spurs as they eliminated LeBron James and the Heels to capture their fifth NBA title. And of course, the legend had to remind them that he had what, like five of them things five. One, two, three, four. That was beautiful. And of course, Papovic’s n national team career culminated as the head coach of the 2020 US Olympic team that went on to win gold in Tokyo. Afterwards, he described the experience as the most responsibility I’ve ever felt. Strong words for a career as successful as he is. And in 2022, Greg Papovich passed Don Nelson as the winningest coach in the history of the NBA with 1,336 career wins, all with the Spurs, cementing his legacy, especially with his career. Simply one of the best to ever hold that title. I mean, what an incredible collection of moments. For more on Coach Pop perk, you get act perk, stop it. Uh, we welcome in our brother Richard Jefferson, who obviously played for Papovic from 09 to 12. Richard, how did Coach Pop really change the course of your own career? Well, I I I want to say this, you know, first of all, as a man, as a leader, that’s who he is. That’s what was so impressive about him. His approach to the game. He would get in there and we would have film sessions and he was like, “Yeah, we’re down 10. That’s not a problem.” You know what’s a problem? A problem is these individuals that are fighting for their food, these individuals that are living in war torn countries. He had an ability to even when you were under tremendous amount of stress and pressure, you still felt blessed to be in the position of what you were doing. That’s from like a personal side. From a player side, Greg Papovich helped transition my career individually and say, “Richard, we need you to become more of a percentage three-point shooter.” I shot 40% for the first time in my career with the San Antonio Spurs. And that’s what extended my career. That’s what allowed me to be a more effective player up until year 17 when I retired if it wasn’t for him and Chip England having that impact saying, “Richard, this is the next portion of your career.” So, I I forever grateful for him for his teaching, for his his ability to just put you in a position to be successful within the system that they were working in. That’s Greg Papovich. Greg Papovich is a military man in San Antonio. the amount of things we went to uh we would go to the different military hospitals. There were so many things that this man was always trying to imprint on his players. It wasn’t a a perspective. It wasn’t a a this is what you think. It goes here’s something to think about. And Greg Papovich outside of Lud Olsen probably was the most impactful coach that I had over my 20 plus years of playing basketball. And you bring up a really important point, Richard. You know, Greg Papovich obviously attended Air Force and served in the Air Force and it allowed him a perspective that made us look at us not as players but as people. And I will miss that, especially when it comes to press conferences. I want to welcome Brian back here because looking ahead, as Sham said earlier, Mitch Johnson will now take over as the head coach. How do you think the Spurs, Brian, are positioning themselves for the future? Brilliantly. Um, one of the things Greg Papovic has done as coach, not only win, but he helped establish a culture and that culture has carried the Spurs through three decades and will carry the Spurs into the future. And they’re in just absolutely spectacular position. This year obviously was derailed because uh he had his his health incident and then Victor Webbyama went down with a blood clot. But going forward, my gosh, are they in good shape. They have all of their draft picks. They have three extra first round picks. They have the last two rookies of the year, Victor Womenyama and Stefan Castle. Um they are in great position with their salary cap sheet. And look, they’ve got two picks in this lottery coming up. They got 30% chance between their pick and the Hawks pick to jump into the top four where they might be able to draft another rookie of the year, whether they Cooper Flag or somebody else. Or they could use those picks in trade potentially to upgrade their team in the very short term. They have movable contracts. They have good developing young players elsewhere on their roster. I mean, I know he won five championships, but he did something even more special. He left it in a better place than where he took it over. This is this is no uh disaster situation here. And not only that, he nurtured Mitch Johnson over the last few years. He gave Mitch Johnson more and more um responsibility, so he was ready to take over, you know, whether he knew it was going to happen this fast or not. So, the Spurs are in a wonderful position and Greg Papovich is going to be there to continue to help remaining on as team president. Yeah, Greg.

After Chiney Ogwumike and Kendrick Perkins reflect on the biggest moments in Gregg Popovich’s career as San Antonio Spurs head coach, Richard Jefferson joins NBA Today to discuss the impact Pop had on his career. Brian Windhorst then speaks about Mitch Johnson taking over as head coach and the team’s bright hopes for the future.

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