Prior to facing the Los Angeles Lakers for the second straight game, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich answered questions and shut down any ideas of the Spurs being involved in the trade market for bona fide veterans.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 I'm assuming you're using that same lineup you've been using the last two games?
00:07 Right, yeah.
00:08 I guess three games is probably premature to make a bunch of...
00:13 But you're going to ask anyway.
00:14 Yes, exactly.
00:15 Have you seen any common threads of what you like or don't like from that group so far?
00:20 Yeah, I already like it.
00:21 I mean, it's just a more open space for everybody to operate in.
00:26 And I think it's easier for perimeter players to get involved.
00:31 And I think Victor's more comfortable in having that space
00:37 so that he and Zach don't have to run into each other
00:41 to figure out what the other one is doing all the time.
00:43 So I have them to four perimeter players.
00:45 And as you see, Victor's on the perimeter half the time anyway.
00:49 It's not like he's stuck down on the block.
00:50 He's a little bit of everything.
00:52 And what do you like about Trey and his fit on the second?
00:55 He and Zach give us stability on that second group.
00:59 It gives us a rhyme or reason with those young guys coming off the bench.
01:04 What do you like about Malachi with the first group?
01:08 Malachi's a second-year guy who's got talent and needs to have time on the court.
01:18 So we're basically throwing him out there, throwing him in the frying pan,
01:23 and just let him develop and see what we get.
01:26 He's reacted to it very well at both ends of the floor.
01:33 It's just a huge education for him.
01:35 So it's exciting to watch him.
01:38 Can you talk about your team just as you're kind of experimenting
01:40 with different lineups and just their willingness to just do what they're told,
01:44 whether it's in the first unit, second unit,
01:46 just how they've adapted to that this season?
01:51 Yeah, they have adapted.
01:53 That's their job.
01:54 I don't know what else to tell you.
01:56 Keldon said at the beginning of the season that his focus was going to be on defense.
02:01 How do you think it's going for him?
02:03 Did you say Keldon?
02:04 Yeah.
02:05 He told you the truth.
02:07 He's definitely trying to concentrate on that end of the floor
02:11 and become somebody we can count on night after night
02:15 to guard one of the better players on the other team.
02:18 He's taking it seriously, and that's a good thing.
02:21 Paplin, Darvin moved Austin Reeves to the bench.
02:24 He kind of likened it to a Manu Ginobili-Tutte style role.
02:28 Who?
02:29 When Darvin moved Austin Reeves to the bench earlier this season.
02:31 Oh, okay, okay.
02:32 He defined it as sort of a template.
02:33 Oh, is that right?
02:34 Okay.
02:35 Yeah, when you did that with Manu,
02:38 what was it about him that allowed him to kind of handle the
02:41 maybe you're going to start 30 games this year,
02:43 maybe you're going to come off the bench for 60 and some of those?
02:46 Was a lot of it about just what he was able to take on,
02:48 or did it give you better balance?
02:50 Well, you know, all you can say is guys like Austin and Manu,
02:55 it's about their character.
02:59 Everybody won't go for that.
03:01 So it's to their credit to understand what's best for the whole group
03:06 and to have that kind of selflessness.
03:08 And it became obvious to Manu that we'd be a much better team
03:13 if he was coming off the bench.
03:16 He didn't love it in the beginning,
03:18 and probably to this day he'll tell you he didn't love it totally,
03:21 because he's a competitor and he wants to start.
03:23 You know, it's just a typical human reaction.
03:25 But he did the right thing because of his character.
03:29 So I assume it's the same with Austin.
03:31 I don't know him, but he seems like he's the same kind of person.
03:36 What do you think sparked things for your group on Wednesday
03:39 in the fourth quarter?
03:41 The Panthers had a double-digit lead most of the night,
03:44 and obviously you guys haven't been on the right side
03:47 of the winning column recently.
03:50 Well, sure.
03:52 I said it as delicately as possible.
03:54 You're so kind.
03:56 And then you put up 45 points and make it a one possession game.
04:00 Where do you think that came from?
04:02 You know, it's happened before.
04:05 I mean, we've been down, you know, 15 to 20 several times
04:08 over the course of the season.
04:10 And I think they really understand that we're trying to get better
04:17 every day, every game, based on what the basketball gods demand.
04:22 And that's the fundamentals of the game.
04:25 And that the worst mistake you can make is to get down on yourself
04:28 or feel sorry for yourself or waste time because you think a game might be over.
04:38 It's just not in them.
04:43 I try to make sure that it's not in them, of course.
04:46 That's my job.
04:48 But my job is easier because of the character that they have.
04:50 So they're never going to give in.
04:52 And, you know, at that certain point in the game, you know,
04:54 maybe your opponent lets up a little bit because that's a human reaction too.
04:59 And maybe turns it over a couple times.
05:01 You make a couple of threes and all of a sudden a 20-point game is 12 or 14.
05:05 And as we all know, in an NBA game anything can happen.
05:07 You get energized and you get a few more stops and that can happen.
05:12 So it's really as simple as that.
05:16 But you'd like to not have to do that very often.
05:22 But it's a good test of their character and I was really proud of them.
05:26 Coach, we are --
05:28 You've got to be quicker.
05:30 You've been trying like four or five times.
05:33 Do you like?
05:35 It's December 15th, which means like a lot of NBA players are going to be
05:39 available to be traded.
05:42 Is that something the Spurs are going to look into until the trend ends?
05:46 No, I doubt it.
05:47 No?
05:48 No.
05:52 Why would we do that?
05:55 Why?
05:56 Yeah.
05:57 Get some bets, for example?
05:59 Get a veteran to go win a championship this year?
06:02 I'm going to go think about that.
06:03 I'm going to think about that.
06:06 Is it -- would it be unfair to say that -- or fair to say that Victor,
06:11 in the fourth quarter, decided that we need a closer
06:15 and I'm going to be the closer in this game?
06:17 I think it would be fair to say that.
06:19 And he's done it before.
06:20 He did it down in Phoenix.
06:22 And he's done it in other games where it didn't come out the same way.
06:25 But he enjoys that challenge.
06:30 He wants to be the guy that's dependent on to get things done.
06:35 It's become pretty obvious over these first part of the season.
06:40 So we're moving in that direction.
06:44 To Maxine's question about getting a bet,
06:47 I know you're not going to go out and get a bet in a trade market,
06:49 but does the fact that you only have one point --
06:54 quote/unquote point on the roster,
06:56 does that play into just kind of how you have to treat the rest of the season,
06:59 knowing that Trey's the only guy that fits that mold?
07:03 You know, we are what we are, we have what we have,
07:06 and that's what we're going to work with.
07:08 Every team is going to go out and take a look everywhere.
07:11 If something makes sense that we think will make us a better team in the long run,
07:16 our focus is not immediate other than individual development and team concepts.
07:25 But if there's a trade that would make sense both now and for long term,
07:33 of course we'd look at it.
07:35 Brian Wright and his guys are probably doing that already, just like any team.
07:41 Okay? Have a good night.
07:44 (dog barking)