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SALT LAKE CITY — San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich walked into his press conference room in the bowels of Vivint Arena and was a bit taken aback by the numerous reporters waiting for him.
It was, after all, a preseason game between two teams, the Spurs and Jazz, who are expected to be racing to the bottom of the standings once the real games begin.
So with a chuckle in his voice, Popovich essentially asked (in a bit more colorful language), "Why are you here? No one cares."
Ironically enough, though, he likely cared more than most. On the opposing bench was Jazz head coach Will Hardy, the man Popovich saw grow from a young upstart working in the Spurs film room to someone who is now the youngest head coach in the NBA today.
It wasn't the first time Popovich has faced a former assistant or player. In fact, many of the top coaches in the NBA — Steve Kerr, Monty Williams, Doc Rivers, Mike Budenholzer, Ime Udoka, even former Jazz coach Quin Snyder, among others — either coached by or coached under Popovich.
Still, the feeling of seeing an old pupil get their own chance hasn't worn off for Popvovich.
"It doesn't get old; it's a thrill," Popovich said before the Spurs beat the Jazz 111-104 on Tuesday in a preseason contest. "It's probably the biggest thrill I have, to tell you the truth, to see these guys and their families move on and progress and do what they've done. So a big part of the satisfaction in the job, for sure."
So what made Hardy stand out then and continue to do so for over a decade in San Antonio?
"It may sound trite but his best qualities is that he's smart as a whip," Popovich said. "He's really one sharp young man, and I knew that very quickly."
He started in the film room, and it wasn't long until he was a development coach. Soon after, he was on the bench alongside Popovich. It was a steady, natural growth, and Hardy kept proving himself ready for more at each step.
"He can teach. He has a knack for creating respect quickly with players," Popovich said. "I really value his judgments — not just O's and X's or 'Pop, this will be a good out of bounds play,' but his understanding how the whole thing was put together. Practice schedules and how long you practice and how much to include in practice. He has a knack for all of that sort of stuff and showed us quickly that he had what it took to be successful."
It didn't hurt, Popovich said with a smile, that Hardy was willing to drink wine with him.
Amid all the X's and O's, the training and the games, Popovich said the most important part of building a culture or team, or anything else, is caring about the people involved. That was among the biggest lessons Hardy learned from his 11-year run in San Antonio.
"Sometimes as coaches we can get caught up in the technical, tactical side of the game, but at the end of the day, managing the players and the staff all as human beings comes first, and he's been an unbelievable example of that for a long time," Hardy said.
The members of Popovich's "coaching tree" who have found the most success have emulated what Popovich has done with the Spurs — but haven't tried to outright copy it. Popovich, himself, took inspiration from what Jerry Sloan had done with the Jazz, but that didn't mean Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were running pick and roll every time down the court
"There's definitely things that I've tried to take from Pop, but I'm not Pop, and I know that and I'm not trying to be anybody but me," Hardy said. "There's some things from a leadership standpoint, relationship standpoint that he's always done, unbelievably. But I have to do those with my personality. And then there's some things that we are doing differently. That doesn't mean that either one is right or wrong, but I really feel like for my leadership to work, it has to be authentic to me."
That's something Popovich can relate to, as well. His mind quickly thought of UCLA coaching legend John Wooden and his famously clean vocabulary. Wooden cussed players out in a different way, with the worst being, "goodness, gracious sakes alive!" Popovich, as hard as he's tried, hasn't been able to get to that point.
"None of us should try to be somebody else," Popovich said. "I curse; I wish I didn't because it's ignorant. I tell my players that all the time. They look at me with this quizzical look, 'Pop you cursed.' I say, 'I know, I know, I know, I know.' I tried to be Johnny Wooden, but I just can't be him. I'm not that good — intellectually, emotionally, whatever. I can't do it. So Will will be Will. He won't try to me or anybody else."
So far, Will being Will has worked out for him quite well.
