Popovich was asked if it was still hard for him to wrap his head around the fact that Duncan has retired, even though he knew this day would come.
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Now that those demands are over, Duncan said, he doesn’t know just how his life will unfold, although he expects it to include more time with his family.
Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich are forever linked. What a HUGE honour to have played with him for 14 seasons! He placed sixth in rebounding with 15, 091, and fifth in blocks with 3, 064 and seventh in games played with 1, 392.
Kidd was a free agent that year and came dangerously close to signing with San Antonio, even going so far as to tell the team that he would, in fact, be joining them.
That it was followed up by a press release Monday morning confirming the San Antonio Spurs forward’s 19-year-career had come to an end – one that was eight paragraphs long and contained no quotes – was even more fitting.
But they’ve yet to contemplate the one measure seriously that specialists say would do the most to maintain the well-being of the league’s high-volume players: reduce the 82-game program.
Duncan is leaving. Other than that, nothings changing. He was never going to have the victory lap around the league, being feted from city to city, being forced to be at the center of attention day after day. Duncan then played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter without coming out for a rest, finishing with 19 points and soaking up every second he could in the last game he would ever play. They extended their NBA-record streak of 50-win seasons to 17 in 2015-16, and won at least 50 games in every season Duncan was on the team except the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign.
Choking up at times and making wisecracks at others, Popovich bade a public farewell to Duncan’s playing career on Tuesday.
Gregg Popovich said goodbye to Tim Duncan with a truthful response as he considered what it’s been like to coach the greatest power forward in the National Basketball Association.
Since drafting Duncan, the Spurs have gone 1,072-438 in the regular season. Duncan says that’s the beauty of it, that for the first time in 20 years, he doesn’t have a plan.
“I’m trying to wrap my head around why I’m here and he’s not”, Popovich said. “But his teammates have and that’s why his teammates love him”. Popovich became in head coach in 1996, Duncan joined the team in 1997. Duncan was a player fans could relate to and look up to.
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You were the reason for my love in basketball and the Spurs, and the determination in me to be great.
