Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams learned a lot from the short period of time he spent with the legendary Gregg Popovich.
Some may not know but Suns coach Monty Williams played for Gregg Popovich for two seasons (1996-98) in the past. At the time, Williams was still “young, pretty selfish and insecure.” Unsurprisingly, Coach Pop had to call him out every now and then.
While Popovich's toughness didn't strike Williams as something strange, it was the renowned NBA coach's gesture afterwards that did.
“It was weird to get yelled at in practice and then get a call later on and get invited to dinner,” he confessed when talking about Popovich via AZCentral. “It was like, he just yelled at me about three hours ago. I wasn't used to that and then I figured it out how much he cared about me as a person.”
Over time, Williams got used to it and saw the other side of Popovich that left a mark on him.
“Selfless, egoless basketball,” Williams added. “Serving your teammate. Working your tail off. Having a broader view that's bigger than basketball and this understanding that we have to work and we have to do the stuff we do from a basketball perspective, but we also have to have a care for one another. A care for those who don't have what we have and be able to share that with people who are less fortunate.”
“That culture meant more to me than probably any culture in my life outside of high school,” he concluded.
Williams and Popovich reunited during the Suns' 108-104 Monday night win over the Spurs. The pair showed love to each other and Popovich even confirmed that Williams' story was “true.”
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