Gregg Popovich was the center of the media when his Spurs were a dynasty, but 2023 had a rude awakening for Pop in Memphis.
Gregg Popovich the face of NBA coaches in the modern era. There is no coach in the league anymore whose name evokes as much respect as Pop from fans across generations. Old fans recognize Pop's incredible longevity and proven winning history, while newer fans appreciate those same factors despite not having been alive to see his entire career play out.
Respect is universal for Pop but sometimes, it can be hard to put your money where your mouth is. This is something that was proven when the San Antonio Spurs took on the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday. The Spurs are among the worst teams in the league and are clearly rebuilding, so there isn't much to talk about when it comes to the Spurs this season.
As a result, media members decided to not show up for Coach Gregg Popovich's post-game media scrum after the Spurs lost to the Grizzlies in Memphis. Well, at least one loyal media member was there and inadvertently got a one-on-one with the legendary coach.
Many media members from San Antonio could've skipped this trip to avoid traveling in the winter, as not all publications cover all 41 road games a team plays in a season. Giannis Antetokounmpo ran into a similar problem recently, having only 3 media members come for a post-practice media session to speak to him.
Are The San Antonio Spurs Going To Be The Biggest Sellers?
This was considered to be a year where we see a lot of players move from one team to the other in the trade market. However, we haven't seen a single impactful trade since the season started in October. Activity is expected to pick up when we're closer to February, and the Spurs are expected to trade some players.
Their young core has shown promise but players like Jakob Poeltl and Josh Richardson don't fit the timeline that the Spurs are on. Trading those players for picks or another young player will be ideal.
San Antonio also needs to acquire salary to match the salary floor for this season and the next, so they may also be on the lookout to take a bad contract from a team in the NBA for draft compensation.
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