NBA
The 199 players who have passed through the hands of Greg Popovic at Spurs aged 26
Sportish presents the 199 players who have passed through the hands of Greg Popovic. From Tim Duncan with 1,392 games to – once Mars player – Alex Skyles of… 9 seconds and from French Tony Parker to Chinese Menge Batir.
Greg Popovic is the ultimate record holder in NBA history. In the Spurs’ 104-102 win over the Jazz, he had 1,366 wins and climbed to the 1st place for all-wins coaches in history, beating (his mentor) Don Nelson. And it all started on a December night in Phoenix.
It was December 10, 1996 when Greg Popovich (then Spurs GM) sat on the team bench for the first time, days after he decided to abruptly fire Bob Hill. That night he suffered a 93-76 loss to the Suns in Phoenix. Spurs didn’t know it then, but they had just found the man who would change their story.
Twenty-five years have passed since that night in Phoenix when San Antonio lost easily, with ιν Dominic Wilkins as the top scorer (just months after winning the EuroLeague with Panathinaikos) with 17 points. The first five Popovic ever used were: Avery Johnson, Vinny Del Negro, Sean Eliot, David Robinson, and Gulil Perdy. Those 5 players were followed by others over the next 25 years…194, bringing the total number of players that have passed through his hands to 199, according to San Antonio.
In 25 years, Popovic has fielded 199 players. He has won 5 championships. And he got involved in the debate about the best coach of all time. Maybe not. Some mistake him for Phil Jackson, others for Red Auerbach, others for Pat Riley. But everyone realizes that “pop” has to be in this conversation.
It was December 14, 1996 when the Spurs defeated the Mavericks 106-105 in San Antonio thanks to a David Robinson shot with 8 seconds remaining in the final. In the Mavericks’ final attack, George McLown missed a three-pointer. Spurs’ top scorer in that game was Robinson with 27 points. This was Popovic’s first win of his career in the NBA, to be followed by another 1,335 and… counting is said in the US too.
On the occasion of Popovic’s win #1336, but also the tribute to the Spurs VIDEO with the 199 players who were under his guidance, Sportish searched and found them all! In fact, he didn’t stay there, but then selected a total of 35 foreigners who have played under his tutelage in San Antonio, while presenting the 5 who played under his tutelage more often and the player who stayed on the ground less than anyone else different.
Starting with the basics, here are the five players who have played most of the games under Greg Popovic’s tutelage:
1. Tim Duncan – 1,392 games (47,368 minutes)
2. Tony Parker – 1,198 games (37,276 minutes)
3. Manou Ginobili – 1,057 games (34,271 minutes)
4. Patti Mills – 665 games (13,846 minutes)
5. Matt Boehner – 632 games (10,093 minutes)
The player who played the least under his guidance: Alex Skyles. In Spurs’ 97-91 win over Spurs on November 19, 2005, he was down for 9 seconds and was absent. Those were the only seconds he played in the NBA.
Here are the 199 players who have taken time out from Popovic:
-
Tim Duncan
-
David Robinson
-
Manou Ginobili
-
Tony Parker
-
Kwai Leonard
-
Danny Green
-
Boris Dio
-
Dejude Murray
-
Derrick White
-
Keldon Johnson
-
Jacob Peltl
-
Devin Wassel
-
Doug McDermott
-
Lonnie Walker
-
Tyler Johnson
-
Josh Richardson
-
Brin Forbes
-
Joshua Primo
-
Keita Bates-Diop
-
Romeo Langford
-
Jacques Collins
-
Tre Jones
-
Squidward Young
-
Drew Yubanks
-
Jock Landal
-
Juanzo Hernangometh
-
Thomas Satoranski
-
Devode Kakok
-
Joe Weiskamp
-
Jalen Morris
-
Anton Lamp
-
DeMar DeRozan
-
LaMarcus Aldridge
-
Patti Mills
-
Rudy Gay
-
Trey Lilies
-
Gorgui Zheng
-
Luke Samanic
-
Quintary Witherspoon
-
Cameron Reynolds
-
Tyler Zeller
-
Donatas Motiegounas
-
Marco Bellinelli
-
De Mare Carroll
-
Davis Bertans
-
Tsimezi Metou
-
Pow gasoline
-
Quincy Pontexter
-
Dante Cunningham
-
Joffrey Lowern
-
Kyle Anderson
-
Branon Pol
-
Darwin Hilliard
-
Matt Costello
-
David Lee
-
Jonathan Simmons
-
Dwayne Dentmon
-
Nicholas Laprovitola
-
JoelAnthony
-
David West
-
Kevin Martin
-
Boban Marianovic
-
Andre Mueller
-
Rasal Butler
-
Matthew Bonner
-
Ray McCallum
-
Thiago Splitter
-
Corey Joseph
-
Aaron Baines
-
Austin day
-
Jeff Ayers
-
Yes, Michael Green
-
Reggie Williams
-
Nanto de Colo
-
Shannon Brown
-
Malcolm Thomas
-
What Jeffers
-
Damion James
-
Gary Neil
-
Stephen Jackson
-
Dehuan Blair
-
James Anderson
-
Richard Jefferson
-
Derrick Byers
-
Eric Dawson
-
What Jay Ford
-
Justin Dentmon
-
Ike Diogu
-
Antonio McDays
-
Steve Novak
-
Chris Quinn
-
Larry Owens
-
Garrett Temple
-
Ίμε Udoka
-
Alonzo Guy
-
Bobby Simmons
-
RogerMason
-
Keith Bogans
-
Ϊ́αν Μαΐνμι
-
Mike Finley
-
Markus Heisslip
-
Cedric Jackson
-
Malik Hearston
-
Tio Ratliff
-
Drew Gooden
-
Mensa bonus
-
Desmond Farmer
-
Kurt Thomas
-
Bruce Bowen
-
Anton Toliver
-
Blake Ahern
-
Fabrizio Oberto
-
Jacques Vaughn
-
Mark Williams
-
Austin Crossir
-
Brent Barry
-
Francisco Elson
-
Damon Stoudemire
-
De Mar Johnson
-
Darius Washington
-
Robert Horri
-
Jeremy Richardson
-
Keith Langford
-
Bobby Jones
-
Jacob Weiss
-
Beno Udrich
-
Fireplace butler
-
Melvin Elay
-
Eric Williams
-
Nazr Mohammed
-
Nick Van Exel
-
Raso Nesterovic
-
Sean Marx
-
Melvin Saunders
-
Alex skills
-
Glenn Robinson
-
Devin Brown
-
Malik Rose
-
Dion Glover
-
Tony Massenberg
-
Mike Wilke
-
LyndonJohnson
-
Hedo Turkoglou
-
Ron Mercer
-
Anthony Carter
-
Be Hill
-
Kevin Willis
-
Jason Hart
-
Charlie Ward
-
Matt Caroll
-
Alex Garcia
-
SteveSmith
-
Claxton house
-
Steve Kerr
-
Danny Ferry
-
Anthony Goldwire
-
lot of batir
-
Antonio Daniels
-
CharlesSmith
-
Terry Porter
-
Mark Bryant
-
Amal McCaskill
-
Cherokee Parks
-
Derek Anderson
-
Sean Eliot
-
AveryJohnson
-
Wanderer Samaki
-
Derrick dial
-
Jaren Jackson
-
New time
-
Chanel Scott
-
Mario Eli
-
Tsaki brown
-
Jerome Kersey
-
Felton Spencer
-
Brandon Williams
-
George King
-
Andrew Gays
-
Will Perdy
-
Vinnie Del Negro
-
Chuck person
-
Monty Williams
-
Kory Alexander
-
Karl Herrera
-
Reggie Gary
-
Brad Lohaus
-
Will Burton
-
Dominic Wilkins
-
Vernon Maxwell
-
CharlesSmith
-
Gailon Nickerson
-
Darin Hancock
-
Gregory Anderson
-
jamie fake
-
Stephen Howard
-
DevinCray
-
Jason Saser
-
Joe Courtney
-
Tim Campton
The 35 foreign players who played against Popovic in San Antonio:
virgin islands: Tim Duncan
France: Tony Parker, Boris Dio, Joffre Lovern, Nando De Colo, Ian Maimni
Argentina: Manou Ginobili, Fabrizio Oberto, Nicolas Laprovitola
Canada: Joshua Primo, Trey Liles, Joel Anthony, Corey Joseph
Australia: Patti Mills, Aaron Baines, Andrew Gays, Jock Landal, Shane Hill
Austria: Jacob Peltl
Croatian: Lukas Samanic
Senegal: Gorgui Zheng
Italy: Marco Bellinelli
Latvia: Davis Bertans
Lithuania: Donatas Motiegounas
Spain: Pau Gasol
Serbia: Boban Marianovic
Brazil: Thiago Splitter, Alex García
Great Britain: Pop’s Mensa Bonus
Netherlands: Francisco Elson
Slovenia: Bento Undrich, Raso Nesterovic
New Zealand: Sean Marx
Turkey: Hedo Turkoglou
China: Lot of Batir
Trinidad and Tobago: Carl Herrera
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.