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May 15, 2025 13 mins

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Greg Popovich has retired as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs at age 76, though he continues as President of Basketball Operations after a legendary NBA coaching career.

• Pop attended the US Air Force Academy as a guard and team captain
• He tried out for the 1972 Olympic team and played for the Armed Forces All-Star Team
• Joined the Spurs in 1988 as an assistant coach under Larry Brown
• Became head coach in 1996 while also serving as GM and VP of Basketball Operations
• Coached legendary players including Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Kawhi Leonard
• Developed a significant coaching tree including Steve Kerr, Becky Hammon, and Ime Udoka
• Won multiple NBA Championships and developed both star players and role players
• Recently worked with developing Victor Wembanyama and other young Spurs talent

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up everybody?
It's your favorite show'sfavorite show.
Get a Bucket.
I'm your host, trey, and asusual, I hope you're all having
a wonderful, wonderful day.
Today we're going to talk aboutGreg Popovich, a legendary coach
.
He retired.
But before we do that, pleasemake sure to hit that like and
subscribe button, comment, tellanyone who's anyone about the
show, try and get the ratings upa little bit.
You know, just a little bit.
But I said, ladies andgentlemen, we're going to talk

(00:22):
about greg popovich and himretiring legendary head coach.
Ladies and gentlemen, one of akind I don't know if we're gonna
get another one like him and,and keep in mind, I'm a laker
fan like y'all.
See the jerk.
Well, the shirt with the jersey, right, kobe, my guy.
But I had to throw on a littlewhite and black just because

(00:44):
that is the spurs colors.
Show a little love andappreciation to the Spurs
because they did give us somewonderful back right.
But, ladies and gentlemen, realquick.
Greg Popovich actually justwanted to give him some praise.
Right, he was with the Spursfor quite a while, but before
the Spurs he actually did have acollege career.

(01:05):
I don't know if you knew thator not.
Yep, that's right, gregPopovich was out there getting
the bucket, ladies and gentlemen.
Now, he attended the US AirForce Academy.
He was a guard and he was theteam captain.
So I'm going to say this rightnow that does sound like it
bodes well for a head coach.
And he did play post-college.
After graduation he did playfor the Armed Forces All-Star

(01:29):
Team competing internationally.
He did actually try out forTeam USA during the 1972
Olympics.
Didn't make it.
So you know, it was close Toobad.
It's St Horseshoes, but Ithought that was kind of
interesting to know because Idon't know how many coaches out
there can say they tried out foran Olympic USA team.
Like basketball, I don't knowabout that one.
But again, that's Greg Popovichout there getting the bucket.

(01:52):
I don't know if y'all knew that, but the man, the myth, the
legend.
It starts 1988.
He was an assistant coach underLarry Brown as head coach,
right.
And then he becomes generalmanager and vice president of
basketball operations 1994 to2002.

(02:15):
At that time, like, wait, asecond, hold on, because won't
he head coach?
Oh no, he became head coach aswell in 1996.
Now he just retired from headcoach.
But, ladies and gentlemen,let's not get this twisted too.

(02:36):
Okay, he is still president ofbasketball operations.
So it's not like we got rid ofCoach Pop.
Well, we got rid of Coach Pop.
We didn't got rid of coach pop,we didn't get rid of pop.
You know I'm saying so at age76.
He's saying he wants to onlyhave one job, not two, and I
can't be but so mad at thatbecause, again, the man has

(02:58):
worked with a lot of playersthat we've seen.
We got david robinson, we gotTim Duncan, we got Tony Parker,
we got Montage Noble, we gotKawhi Leonard.
That's a lot of players rightthere, ladies and gentlemen,
that he has worked with.
And when I say worked with too,ladies and gentlemen, it's not
like they ever had no success.
We got some MVPs, finals MVPs,championships, obviously because

(03:21):
I say finals, mvps, it's a lotof things that greg popovich has
done and just a couple notableplayers you've seen, like we I
mentioned tim duncan, monitornobly, tony parker, kawaii
leonard, david robinson.
We got other players like abruce bowen, who people don't
really talk about as much.
Good player, dejonte murray,good player, undercoach pop,

(03:43):
patty mills.
A patty mills is as an olympicplayer, patty mills is one of
them.
Ones, bro, coach pop, lamarcusaldridge yeah, he was on the
blazers for a little second, buta lot of his career was spent
with the spurs a decent amount.
So we got to throw him up there.
And then we got to mentionplayers like danny green as well

(04:03):
too.
You remember danny green in thefinals when he was snapping
looked like he went finals MVP.
Before that he was in the GLeague.
Shout out Coach Pop.
So again we have some verynotable players that Coach Pop
has actually worked with in histenure.
I mean, we got some otherplayers that he's worked with
too right, like VictorWimbenyama come on now, man,

(04:27):
like we know him already.
But how about players likeStephon Cassell, jeremy Sokane,
like these young players he'shelped raise?
So I'm really looking forwardto see how these guys pan out,
because again they've had thetutelage of Greg Popovich and
again that's just as a coachthese players can say they've

(04:48):
been coached by Greg Popovich.
It is a little bit different.
Case in point Brad Stevensright, he was the head coach for
the Celtics and he GM orpresident of basketball
operations.
He's something like that.
I think he is head ofoperations over there.
Celtics have been doing quitewell, but it is a difference
being coached by Brad Stevensversus he just running the shop.

(05:13):
So it is going to be a littledifferent.
Coach Pop can still talk to you, but it's going to be your
coach that's really cultivatingyour development.
Speaking of coaches too, by theway, ladies and gentlemen, coach
Pop, he has had a wonderfulpedigree of coaches.
Right, we got Steve Kerr,three-time champion, as a head

(05:33):
coach.
We got Becky Hammond.
That's the first womanassistant NBA head coach or NBA
coach, first woman assistant NBAhead coach or NBA coach.
That's a record I etched in thehistory books, right there.
How about Emei Udoka as aplayer and a coach?
Pops Toodle is right there, andkeep in mind Emei out there

(05:58):
snapping with the Rockets.
With the right players and theright amount of time, the
Rockets could pan out, and wedidn't already see what Becky
Hammond did with the Aces.
So, again, coach Pop is going tobe talked about for a while,
just because of who he's coached, who he's mentored and, of
course, if you watched him as acoach, you've got to talk about

(06:21):
him Because, again, ladies andgentlemen, he gave my Lakers
fits so many times, bro.
It was ridiculous to the pointthat it actually made me think
what's a wish list of playersthat I would have wanted to see
Coach Pop be with.
Like, have him, coach.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's aninteresting list, right?

(06:42):
I'm gonna talk about, well,kawaii leonard, and I understand
you know he was already on thelist, right, like he was already
up there.
Keep in mind, he did leave.
So, if he stayed, that legacywith pop and kawaii, what
happens if?
If the spurs win two moretitles, or one more title, we
gotta talk about them a littlebit differently too.
If kawaii has four rings, oh,you know for a fact people are

(07:05):
going to talk about, oh, kawhi'sbetter than Braun.
So again, that legacy continued.
I would have loved to see it.
It would have been a nice wishlist.
Speaking of Braun, let's talkabout Braun real quick.
What about Braun and Coach Pop?
That would be a decent combo,because, again, braun is ready

(07:25):
for having a strong iq, right,and coach pop?
Hey, we know pop and what he do.
So if you had both of those twopaired with one another, I do
wonder what that would look like.
Ladies and gentlemen, thatwould be an interesting pairing.
Maybe he gets past the Warriors, whether we talk about Kevin

(07:47):
Durant or not, because again,you got Greg Popovich and people
had Kawhi there too, so hewould have had Kawhi.
Just saying, and people talkabout how Kawhi would have
gotten past the Warriors andda-da-da-da-da, right, right.
Speaking of Kevin Durant, howabout Kevin Durant?
He's on my wish list as well.
Now, kevin Durant said hewanted to play the right way,

(08:10):
and doesn't Coach Pop play theright way?
Coach the right way Like that.
I would have loved to see thatpairing.
Kevin Durant is a scorer, buthe's a basketball player first,
and you mean to tell me CoachPop wouldn't have been able to
work with that?
He could have played withanybody, any team that Coach Pop
had, and he could have playedwith anybody, any team that
Coach Pop had, and I think theywould have been viewed as
contenders.
But again, that is a wish list,because imagine that.

(08:31):
Imagine the beautiful poetry ofbasketball that we missed.
But it's all right.
We didn't see him go to theWarriors.
It was cool.
I guess we got two rings.
It's cool.
It's not standing.
Kobe DeMamba I would have lovedto see Kobe coached by Greg

(08:53):
Popovich, weirdly enough, in aSpurs uniform.
Now, keep in mind I'm notsaying I wanted Kobe to leave my
Lakers.
I'm saying it would have beennice to see Kobe and Pop in an
NBA game, coached right, not inthe All-Star game, nothing like
that.
Because I think Kobe's driveand Coach Pop's drive, their

(09:14):
mindset, like this, like theywas going to be, like this,
ladies and gentlemen, they wasgoing to be here aligned, start
to finish.
I don't know if they would havehad the same issues that Phil
Jackson and Kobe would have had,same issues that Phil Jackson
and Kobe would have had Maybe.
So who knows?
But I think there might havebeen a little bit of difference
between Poppin and Phil in thatregard.

(09:34):
Phil actually was able to coachstars too.
So I'm not saying that Philcouldn't control players.
I'm saying I think, with thesystem in place, kobe would have
been all right.
It might not have shuffledaround as much too, because,
again, his gripe was work ethics.
I don't think we had workethics issues for the Spurs, but
you know, again, would havebeen an interesting pair.

(09:57):
Glad he stayed with my boys,though.
But my final one, this one I gotto point out it had to be noted
, james Harden.
Because, again to be noted,james Harden, because, again,
ladies and gentlemen, jamesHarden did have an offensive
tenure where I'm like, hey, yobuddy snapping, imagine if he
played defense.
I don't think we would have hadto imagine if he was on the

(10:18):
Spurs.
So imagine now the Spurs havinga player like Kawhi and
LaMarcus Aldridge.
We've already seen Kawhi andJames Harden playing and doing
well versus a team like theNuggets and Nicola Yoke
Surprising people, in fact.
What if we got that earlier?
Buddy in his prime, two MVPcandidates, coach Pop as the

(10:40):
coach?
That would have been crazy.
They might have actually beatthe Warriors in with kevin
durant and steph curry.
That could have been awonderful duo battle to witness
again.
Ladies and gentlemen, we talkingabout my wish list here got a
little upset because it didn'thappen, but it is what it is,

(11:02):
though.
Speaking of another thing thatgot me a little upset, we got to
go back right to the playingdays, not this one, this one,
his high school days or hiscollege days.
Ladies and gentlemen, did youknow that Greg Popovich and
Coach K I'm wearing Duke shortsright now?
I ain't going to Do.
I need to get up and show y'all.
Let me see I can probably do ita little bit Flat out right

(11:23):
there.
I mean, coach K, I ain'tworking, I ain't playing it, it
just happened, but they playedaround the same time they were
in college at the same time,they both played basketball.
They never played against oneanother, but imagine if that
happened.
My wish list would have been forthem two to match up both

(11:44):
guards.
Oh man, that would have beenlovely to see, because then they
both became hall of fame headcoaches.
Both were part of the olympicsquad for coaching.
Come on now storyline writeitself.
And then, for the moment whencoach k was possibly going to
lead duke and go to my lakers,he will leave my boys and go to
my Lakers, he's going to lead myboys and go to my boys that

(12:08):
narrative of Lakers versus Spursit would have continued.
So again, ladies and gentlemen,that's my wish list.
Again, I would have loved to seeCoach K battle off against Greg
Popovich in college, but theman did do well.
And again, ladies and gentlemen, can't fret, because it's not
like he ain't going to win achampionship anytime soon.

(12:28):
This man, victor Wimiyama, outhere, is about to be doing
disgusting numbers Like this 98,47 and 19.
Maybe it's possible, like maybeit's possible.
But, Coach Pop, though, you'regoing to be credited for a
little bit of Victor Wimiyamasuccess and you got to respect

(12:51):
Coach Popp End of day, so itwill be sad to see him as a head
coach.
It is the end of a tenure.
I wore this jacket just becausehe got so much France
connections, and I did get thisfrom France, and I made sure to
have the Kobe shirt on just toshow a little love, because I'm
a Kobe fan.
And we battled y'all so daggonemuch.
So again, ladies and gentlemen,coach Pop, legendary coach,

(13:16):
retires.
We salute you, sir, thank youfor your time and I hope you
enjoy only having one job now.
But, ladies and gentlemen, thatdoes conclude the end of the
episode, though, so we greatlyappreciate your time.
Thank you all for listening.
Please make sure to likesubscribe, comment, tell anyone
who's anyone about the show.

(13:38):
My name is Trey.
I'm the host of Get a Bucket.
Hope you all are having a goodone.
Oh, and before I go, I guess,make sure to tell me anything
that you liked about GregPopovich as well too.
Got to make sure to hear yourfun facts.
I know I got stories for days,but I'm going to leave it off on
that note.
Hope you all have a good one,take care.
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