Gregg Popovich isn’t coaching in the second round of the playoffs for only the fourth time since 1997, but he doesn’t yearn for the unlimited downtime of retirement, since “you can only plant so many tomatoes,” he quipped, as Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News relays. Popovich, who holds the dual title of coach and president of Spurs basketball, is already looking forward to next season, as he made clear in his season-ending chat with reporters today. Popovich called 39-year-old Tim Duncan the most consistent player in the Clippers series and lamented the lack of help around him, perhaps a signal that he envisions a push to upgrade the roster in the months ahead. The three-time Coach of the Year had more to say on the future of Duncan, who’s entering free agency, and the Spurs, as McCarney passes along. His entire transcription is worth a read, especially for San Antonio faithful, but we’ll pass along three particularly noteworthy remarks here:
On whether Duncan will retire:
“We haven’t talked yet about that. We’ve got a pretty good number of free agents so with [GM] R.C. [Buford] and the coaches and the group we’ve talked about what we want to do going forward with the makeup of the team, but the team will probably look considerably different than it looks this year because we have so many free agents and we want to re-tool a little bit. We want to try to start — not exactly over again — but these last four seasons have been a grind and we put the team together with that in mind, that this year we’d have all the free agents so we can decide what we want to do moving forward, as far as the makeup of the team. So we’ll spend a lot of time on that, but as far as if guys are retiring or not we haven’t touched that.”
On his reflections about Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili:
“As time goes on, one certainly does [reflect upon them]. Over the past couple of years, I’ve thought about it a lot how much I’ll miss it when they’re all gone. It’s like your family. Sure. I reflect on it quite often, and think about when they’re not there. I just have this strange feeling when they’re not here, I probably won’t be either.”
On the allocation of payroll:
“R.C. and his group have always done a great job of doing things, both frugally and with class. If money needs to be spent, it’s spent. But it’s never done unwisely. We’ve never put the organization in a situation where they’re paying a ridiculous amount of money for no value. My complete faith and trust in R.C. is never going to change, because of the track record he has, thinking not just for the next year and the next two years, but the next three years, the next seven years, that type of thing.”
i think duncan will play next season so will parker and manu will retire