It took San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich just four words to perfectly encapsulate the career of the Spurs legend Tim Duncan. The iconic 72-year-old mentor took time this week to honor his former superstar ahead of Duncan's enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on May 15.
For Pop, he wouldn't have had success in the league if it wasn't for The Big Fundamental having his back.
“No Duncan, no championships,” Popovich said (via News 4 San Antonio).
Duncan spent his entire HOF career with the Spurs franchise. San Antonio snagged the Wake Forest standout as their first overall pick in 1997 and never really looked back. Duncan repaid the organization's trust with an illustrious 19-year career filled with a few downs but a ton of ups, including a handful of rings.
Duncan was at the forefront of the Spurs' championship runs in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014 – winning the Finals MVP trophy in three of these years. Pop was of course the head honcho in all of those seasons and has no one else to thank but Duncan for his own success as a coach. Aside from winning those five rings alongside Duncan, Pop was also named the Coach of the Year thrice and, undoubtedly, Duncan was a huge part of that winning formula as well.
To this day, it's hard to think of a better and more solid tandem than what Pop and Duncan had. These two are one of the most successful player-coach tandems in all of NBA history and all these shiny plaques in both their award cabinets attest to that.
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