Greg Popovich is nearly universally respected in the sports world and for good reason. The five-time NBA championship coach is a straight shooter. It doesn't matter who you are. He coaches future Hall of Famers such as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili as hard as he does the Spurs' latest draft picks. Anybody can get it.
So, when free agency rolled around and it was the time for Spurs to go after players who could help them march toward another title, don't think Popovich would stoop so low as to kiss up to anybody. "I'm not calling anyone at midnight," Popovich told the San Antonio News-Express. "And if that's the difference in someone coming or not coming then I don't want them."
Even when power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, the biggest free agent on the market this offseason, met with the team, Popovich kept it about business and nothing more, and San Antonio eventually landed the only player in the league to average at least 23 points and 10 rebounds the past two seasons.
Aldridge told Dan McCarney the meetings were only slightly more cordial than Pop's painful (and, might I add, pointless) sideline interviews during nationally televised games.
Aldridge on his meetings with Pop: "You know those interviews on TNT? It was kind of like that with more words."
— Dan McCarney (@danmccarneySAEN) July 10, 2015If you're unfamiliar with Pop's sideline encounters (you can't really call them interviews) with reporters, we've included a few below.