Gregg Popovich changed the way NBA trainers were operated in the media

If you stay as long as Gregg Popovich, the place looks much different from when you came in.

The legendary coach of San Antonio Spurs, who took aside this week for the team's health challenges this week to join the team's team, is a pioneer in many ways. Popovich built up a dynasty by developing new archetypes of the player, thwarting a team first mentality into his roster and building bridges with basketball players born abroad. His reward was a championship ring for every hand.

Popovich was also a pioneer of the role of a trainer as a spokesman for a team and a league. Despite its short affect and defensive cover, the Spurs Lifer found new ways to use its voice.

When Popovich entered the league, coaches were gurus or gross. Often both. But while Popovich, a veteran of the Air Force, would still take this person happily when someone asked a question with Bonhead in a press conference before the game, he slowly learned how to use the megaphone that was offered to a legendary sports figure. In the back half of his career, Popovich became a headliner as well as any other in the NBA.

The Spurs never took care of national television games. Their stubborn commitment to charging management led to severe fines and punishments that exist today, since the league has difficulty manage to manage its overcrowded regular season. But that's just indifference. Popovich showed direct contempt for a specific component national television games: the in-game interview.

When a secondary reporter from ESPN or TNT asked a question that Popovich felt irrelevant or annoying, the stubborn devil suddenly appeared on his shoulder. Over time, Popovich developed from one-word answers to combative comebacks. In 2014 he was so dull and rude to Doris Burke of ESPN that Burke later said that she “had the tears back” and tried to bring her head back into the game.

Popovich was certainly not the first coach to insult the reporter. But if the best -known coach in the Sport National Broadcast partner can mock, it is a fair game for everyone in the NBA to do the same.

Compare that with Popovich's longstanding friendship with TNT Craig Sager. While Sager's fight against leukemia, Popovich did everything to feel special and appreciate when he was healthy enough to work. Although in comparison to how he would treat local Beat reporters in this prelude presser or Burke in other games, she began with the media and fans by hugging Sager.

It is worth looking after the experience of watching Popovich to work before the game. There is nothing comparable in sports. An hour and a half or something before a spor has a hint of a spores, a blanket of nervousness with popovich floats into the room. The look cannot kill, but popovichs in these rooms could at least trigger a panic attack. Outdoor a stray word or quote a fact wrong and you are toast. Popovich will let her know.

Once in Phoenix, a Sun's reporter Popovich, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker asked the 2021 Olympic team. The reporter referred to LeBron James as part of the question. Popovich jumped in to correct within a millisecond after the reporter's last word. He didn't train James with the team USA.

The reporter washed up, cleared the timeline and repeated his question.

As if anything had never happened, Popovich gave an equally eloquent answer about Durant and Booker as anyone could exist. If this sounds confusing and exhausting, it was. The final was never clear. This was only the experience of reporting coach pop.

Of course, everyone who has ever worked with Popovich or has played with them is worshiped. For many he is a mentor and a father figure. A life-size recovery of his coaching tree could never be. But in front of a microphone he was a relentless antagonist.

At the time of Sager's unfortunate death, Popovich spread his wings. When the protests of social justice broke out in the United States and the ghost of Donald Trump revolutionized Popovich's politics. Instead of separating him, he started to separate the writers who cover him, down, Trump and the Republican Party.

The Popovich-Kerr '20 shirts were creeping, but at least they have the hierarchy of this hypothetical ticket correctly. Without Popovich, there is no monologue of Kerr about gun violence. Without appreciating the courage and comment of others, it is at least fair to say that Popovich has used his influence within the NBA to open the door for others to speak their opinion.

Perhaps Popovich took a side of Mahmoud Abdul-Ruf or Bj Armstrong to feel comfortable to take over the president from the relatively small pulpit of a basketball coach. Today it is common. Athletes such as LeBron James and yes, even more conservative stars like Bryson Dechameau benefit from space that Popovich considered political speeches in sport.

Nevertheless, a special mix of success and furnishings is needed to speak out like Popovich and to be praised for it. NBA trainers also change. The liga tactics are younger and more playful. Popovich's replacement, Mitch Johnson, fits the shape. They are not as often the faces of the league or their teams as before.

So maybe there is no “next popovich”. It will be difficult for every trainer to meet its achievements. For good and bad, it will be almost as difficult for everyone to achieve Popovich's role as a voice and representative of the NBA.