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World Cup Notes: Popovich, Mills, Mitchell, Harris

August 25th, 2019 at 9:02am CST by Arthur Hill

Team USA coach Gregg Popovich believes the loss to Australia in Saturday’s exhibition game may turn out to be a positive experience, relays Steve Drumwright of USA Basketball. The Americans split a pair of games in Australia, pulling away in the second half Friday before dropping a 98-94 decision yesterday. It was the team’s first loss in international play in 13 years.

“The loss means that we need to play better,” Popovich said. “It’s a measure of who you are. Nobody wins forever. This is a group of guys that’s worked very hard, like I said, to get to know each other and get to know a system. And whatever comes, we can handle. Our job is to try to get better every day. We learned some things tonight. We’re actually a better team now than at the start of the game, because of the knowledge from the game. So, now we move on.”

The defeat raised more doubts about whether Team USA should be considered a heavy favorite heading into the World Cup, which starts Saturday. The Americans have been left short-handed after a series of stars withdrew from the team and will face several talented clubs who have a lot more experience playing together. The U.S. will play its final exhibition game tomorrow against Canada.

There’s more World Cup news this morning:

Popovich was happy for Spurs guard Patty Mills, who had 30 points in the game, although he joked with reporters that “we’ve already traded Patty.” (Video link from Bleacher Report).
Donovan Mitchell, one of only two Americans to reach double figures in the loss, tells Eric Nehm of The Athletic that the outcome wasn’t important. “Obviously it hurts to lose, but I look at this and we look at this as more of a learning experience as opposed to we just lost,” Mitchell said. “That’s the mindset. If you think of this as a loss, you start to get carried away with all that. We’re focused on the film. … We’re going to watch it on the plane and we’re going to be ready for Canada. That’s the best thing. You want to win every game, but you learn a lot in losses too.”
Unlike many of his high-profile teammates, the Nets‘ Joe Harris came a long way to earn a spot on Team USA, observes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. He received an invitation to the Select Team and worked his way onto the main roster. It’s a familiar story for Harris, who had to struggle to win an NBA roster spot after being traded, waived and undergoing foot surgery in 2016, all on the same day.

World Cup Notes: Popovich, Nurse, Serbia

August 10th, 2019 at 9:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Anyone who has watched the Spurs frequently will see plenty of similarities in this year’s version of Team USA, writes Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. Head coach Gregg Popovich has incorporated his system into the international squad that will be competing for gold at the FIBA World Cup tournament.

With so many elite players declining invitations to training camp, Popovich has far less star power than his predecessor, Mike Krzyzewski. It’s a situation familiar to San Antonio since the decline of the Tim Duncan–Tony Parker–Manu Ginobili era.

“We’ll up our assist total even more than what you saw tonight as we become more familiar with each other and feel more comfortable with the system,” Popovich said after Friday’s first public scrimmage. “(On defense), there’s been absolutely no problem with the effort and the physicality. It’s just a matter of getting wiser and more habitual.”

There’s more World Cup news to pass along:

The chance to play for Popovich was among the perks for the players who decided to participate, relays Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. Few of them have ever worked with Popovich, who is regarded as one of the best coaches in NBA history. “He’s my favorite coach of all time,” Kyle Kuzma said. “Growing up, I was a hoops junkie, watching a lot of the Spurs teams and he’s won at every level he’s been at. So, to be here and learn, to be around him, it’s really great.” Several others agreed, with Brook Lopez saying, “It’s always been a dream” and Jaylen Brown adding, “Playing for Gregg Popovich, I’ll do that any day of the week.”
Fresh off winning a title in his first year as an NBA head coach, Nick Nurse is now trying to capture a medal for Canada, notes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. The Canadians have a busy exhibition schedule before World Cup play begins. “I don’t know how to explain this. It’s more like what these games do is, they present a lot of teaching moments,” Nurse said. “Like when you see an opponent, now you’re seeing something you haven’t even covered yet, so you’ve got a chance to teach it and grow your schemes and your defensive package.”
Serbian coach Sasha Djordjevic doesn’t consider Team USA the favorites in this year’s tournament, according to a EuroHoops story. Serbia’s roster includes All-Star center Nikola Jokic, along with several other names familiar to NBA fans such as Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica, Miroslav Raduljica, Boban Marjanovic and Milos Teodosic. “Let’s let them (Team USA) play their basketball and we will play ours and if we meet, may God help them,” Djordjevic said.

World Cup Notes: Team USA, White, Young

August 8th, 2019 at 8:10pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Head coach Gregg Popovich is strongly considering taking 15 players to Australia later this month in advance of the World Cup as opposed to cutting the roster down to a dozen players prior to leaving the country, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. FIBA regulations state that teams can only carry 12 players for the World Cup itself, though the remaining players could simply attend alongside the coaching staff and never suit up.

Here’s more surrounding the World Cup:

Spurs guard Derrick White and Kings big man Marvin Bagley III are the strongest contenders to be promoted from the Select Team to Team USA’s primary World Cup roster, tweets Stein. Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher suggests (via Instagram) that White’s promotion has already happened, while Bagley’s is likely.
Mitchell Robinson is dealing with a knee injury, as Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. The Knicks center initially suffered the injury over the weekend and returned to practice on Tuesday and re-injured it the following day. A source close to the situation describes the ailment as “just soreness.”
Hawks guard Trae Young left Team USA’s training camp because of a minor eye infection, sources tell Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Young had been practicing with the Select Team.
Chris Boucher has withdrawn from the World Cup for personal reasons, Josh Lewenberg of the TSN tweets. The Raptors big man had been practicing with Canada’s National Team.

Southwest Notes: Duncan, Morey, Iguodala, Zion, McClure

July 28th, 2019 at 2:31pm CST by clarkcrum

While perhaps not as noteworthy as some of the more marquee free agent news we’ve seen this summer in terms of on-the-court impact, Marc Stein of The New York Times opines that the return of all-time-great Tim Duncan to the Spurs as a full-time assistant coach under legendary head coach Gregg Popovich is a gigantic story all the same.

As Stein notes, Duncan has been a frequent visitor at the Spurs’ practice facility throughout his retirement, mentoring/coaching players along the way, but this had always been done outside of the limelight, a setting in which Duncan prefers. So his abrupt return to the court for an 82-game season filled with continual travel and other headaches is a bit surprising, to say the least.

One narrative as to why Duncan accepted a position on Pop’s staff despite his disposition is simply need. Duncan reportedly knew that his old coach was struggling to fill the last open spot on his bench staff after departures by longtime Spurs’ assistants Ime Udoka and Ettore Messina, and his loyalty dictated he offer his services.

Here are some more stories from around the Southwest Division:

As Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said on Friday that while Houston is not yet done adding to their 2019/20 roster, the team is much more likely to make further additions by trade rather than via free agency.
According to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian, it’s not a certainty that trade offers for Grizzlies veteran swingman Andre Iguodala will improve as time goes on, and Herrington remains skeptical that Iguodala will play a meaningful role for the Grizzlies at any point.
Pelicans president of basketball operations David Griffin tells Jeff Duncan of The Athletic that rookie phenom Zion Williamson is still getting taller and that the team is more worried about making sure the 19-year-old is eating well and in good condition than what his playing weight will be.
The Grizzlies have hired Pacers player development coach David McClure as an assistant for new head coach Taylor Jenkins’ staff in Memphis, reports J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. McClure also spent two seasons in San Antonio before joining the Pacers back in 2015.

Spurs Assistant Ettore Messina Joins Olimpia Milano

June 11th, 2019 at 11:09am CST by Luke Adams

11:09am: Olimpia Milano has made it official, announcing today in a press release that Messina has signed a three-year contract to serve as the club’s president of basketball operations and head coach.

8:01am: Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina has agreed to a deal with Italian club Olimpia Milano, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). According to Charania, Messina will run the team’s basketball operations and will become its new head coach.

Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reported on Monday that Messina had interviewed for that dual role with Olimpia Milano, the only Italian club in the EuroLeague, and was expected to make a decision on his future this week. Prior to Charania’s report, Carchia had indicated that Messina was leaning toward accepting Milano’s offer.

While the details of Messina’s new agreement aren’t known, Carchia classifies it is a multiyear deal and suggests that Olimpia Milano made the veteran coach a “rich” offer to lure him away from San Antonio. Messina will replace Milano head coach Simone Pianigiani on the sidelines, and is expected to name a new general manager soon, per Carchia.

A longtime head coach overseas for CKSA Moscow, Real Madrid, and other clubs, Messina joined the Spurs in 2014 as Gregg Popovich‘s lead assistant. He has received interest from multiple NBA teams as a head coaching candidate since then, interviewing with the Hornets, Bucks, and Raptors in 2018, and the Cavaliers in 2019. He also coached Italy’s national team from 2015-17.

With Messina’s imminent departure, the Spurs will have some holes to fill on Popovich’s coaching staff for the 2019/20 season. After James Borrego left for the Hornets last spring, Messina and Ime Udoka are departing this year — Udoka recently accepted a job as the Sixers’ lead assistant.

Assistants Will Hardy and Becky Hammon are in position to take on more prominent roles in San Antonio.

Kemba Walker Commits To World Cup; Anthony Davis Considered Probable

June 1st, 2019 at 9:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

A pair of players who have other important things going on this summer will likely be part of Team USA’s entry in the FIBA World Cup, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. Hornets guard Kemba Walker has already committed to play in the tournament in China, while Pelicans big man Anthony Davis has offered “strong indications” that he would like to be involved.

Walker will be part of a stellar class when free agency begins at the end of the month, while Davis hasn’t budged on his desire to be traded and will probably be involved a blockbuster deal at some point during the offseason.

Team USA officials would also like to add James Harden to the roster (Twitter link). Zion Williamson, expected to be the first selection in this year’s draft, will be contacted as well (Twitter link).

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will guide the team in the tournament, which will run from August 31 to September 15. That leaves a small gap until NBA training camps, which open September 27 for teams making overseas trips and September 30 for everyone else (Twitter link).

Spurs, Popovich Expected To Complete Three-Year Deal

April 30th, 2019 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Once head coach Gregg Popovich officially commits to returning to the Spurs‘ bench for next season, he and the team are expected to finalize a three-year contract that will ensure he remains the NBA’s highest-paid coach, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Despite some speculation that Popovich may elect to retire after the 2018/19 season, all recent signs have pointed toward him continuing his coaching career. A report over the weekend suggested as much, and Popovich himself dropped plenty of hints that he’d return during his end-of-season session with reporters on Monday.

According to Wojnarowski, Popovich’s new deal won’t change the fact that he’ll continue to evaluate his future on a year-to-year basis. Spurs ownership feels that the sport’s longest-tenured coach is entitled to manage his future however he wants, sources tell Woj.

In addition to remaining on the sidelines for the Spurs, Popovich will be the head coach for Team USA at the 2019 World Cup in China and at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. As Wojnarowski notes, the idea of Popovich retiring after next year’s Olympics has also been a popular theory, but there’s no indication at this point that the 70-year-old is leaning in that direction.

Although Popovich’s Spurs couldn’t get by the Nuggets in the first round of this year’s playoffs, it was another impressive season for the veteran head coach, who led San Antonio to the postseason for the 22nd straight year.

Popovich Strongly Hints He’ll Remain Spurs’ Coach

April 29th, 2019 at 5:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Gregg Popovich plans to remains the Spurs coach for a 24th season and is currently in negotiations with the front office to finalize the deal, he hinted on Monday to the media, including the San Antonio Express News’ Tom Orsborn. “It’s one third Portofino, one third Positano, and one third San Antonio,” wine connoisseur Popovich quipped about contract talks.

Popovich’s contract expired at the end of the season. He is the longest-tenured coach in any of the four major professional sports leagues. The Spurs were eliminated by Denver on Saturday in the only opening-round playoff series that required seven games to determine a victor.

The Spurs finished the regular season with 48 victories despite a major roster overhaul during the offseason, including the blockbuster deal that sent starters Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto. San Antonio’s starting point guard Dejounte Murray suffered a season-ending knee injury prior to the regular-season opener.

With DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge along with promising young pieces, the 70-year-old Popovich indicated he’s eager to work again with the current mix.

“It’s just the beginning of a new culture for a new group,” he said. “So we will have a little bit of corporate knowledge going into next season, and they’ll show that, I think.”

Popovich will also have a busy summer coaching Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in China in August and September.

Popovich Expected To Continue Coaching Spurs

April 28th, 2019 at 9:09am CST by Arthur Hill

Gregg Popovich is expected to return to the Spurs next season, with one member of the team’s staff telling Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express News that he has “no doubt” about the legendary coach’s future. Popovich’s current contract expired when San Antonio’s playoff run ended last night. He will coach Team USA in the FIBA World Cup this summer, but has remained guarded about his plans beyond that.

“I’m a head coach in the NBA,” Popovich said in response to a pre-game question Saturday on whether he was considering retirement. “I don’t think about what that means in the future.”

At age 70, Popovich still embraces the challenges of coaching and had a particularly good time this season, notes Jabari Young of The Athletic. In looking for clues about his future, Young cites a quote from Popovich before a March game in Boston.

“This is actually one of the more enjoyable seasons,” he said. “It’s been fun to watch Bryn Forbes develop, and Davis Bertans, and Derrick White and so forth. It’s satisfying.”

The chance to reach a milestone may also play into Popovich’s thought process. He moved into third place on the career victories list this season with 1,245 and is just 90 away from catching Don Nelson for the top spot.

There’s more on the offseason decisions facing the Spurs:

Rudy Gay will be the team’s only significant free agent this summer, but San Antonio has to decide how much it wants to invest in a player who will be 33 by the start of training camp. The Spurs will have Early Bird rights on Gay, Young notes, meaning they can offer up to a 75% raise on his $10MM contract. Gay will be eligible for a one- to four-year deal starting at about $17MM per season.
Regardless of what happens with Gay, San Antonio will likely be operating above the salary cap but under the tax line, Young adds. That will give the team a $9.2MM mid-level exception to use on the free agent market.
It’s not too early to start thinking about DeMar DeRozan‘s free agency, writes Bobby Marks of ESPN. DeRozan can decide next summer to opt out of his $27.7 million salary for 2020/21, and could join Draymond Green and possibly Anthony Davis as the top names in an otherwise sub-par free agent class. The Spurs can eliminate that possibility by reworking DeRozan’s contract when he becomes eligible for a four-year, $149.1MM extension on July 6.
The Spurs also face a difficult decision on Dejounte Murray, who will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension through October 21, according to Marks. Murray appears to have a bright future, but he is coming off a torn ACL that wiped virtually his entire season. Jakob Poeltl is also eligible for a rookie scale extension, but by waiting on both players and DeRozan, the Spurs could have up to $30MM in cap room to spend next summer.
Patty Mills will be eligible for a veteran extension on August 4, and LaMarcus Aldridge becomes eligible on October 1, Marks adds.

Gregg Popovich Unsure If He’ll Coach Spurs Beyond 2018/19

January 17th, 2019 at 12:15pm CST by Luke Adams

Longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich remains undecided about his future beyond the 2018/19 season, writes Marc Stein of The New York Times. Popovich is in the final season of his current contract, and while the team would be happy to extend him for as long as he wants, he’s unsure whether he’ll continue his coaching career next season.

“I don’t know the answer,” Popovich said when asked about his coaching future.

According to Stein, Popovich – the NBA’s longest-tenured head coach by 12 years – said that he and general manager R.C. Buford have “periodically” discussed the Spurs’ options beyond this season. Buford notes that Popovich will remain on San Antonio’s bench for “as long as he wants to coach.”

NBA observers have speculated that Popovich would coach the Spurs for one more season after 2018/19, then retire after working with Team USA in the 2020 Olympics. However, while Popovich remains on track to coach the U.S. basketball squad in Tokyo in the summer of 2020, there’s no guarantee he’ll still coach the Spurs leading up to that event.

As Stein observes, Popovich will also coach Team USA during this year’s World Cup, which takes place in September, just two weeks before NBA training camps get underway. With international competitions bookending the ’19/20 season, Popovich may prefer to focus on those Team USA responsibilities.

Stein also points out that Popovich will turn 70 years old later this month. Only three other head coaches in NBA history have worked into their 70s, per Stein — Bill Bertka (71), Hubie Brown (71) and Larry Brown (70).

Popovich currently has the third-most wins of any coach in league history, with 1,223, and also ranks fifth in all-time winning percentage (.686) among coaches who have been on the sidelines for at least 100 games.