Tim Duncan is retired. He’s done. That’s it. Arguably the greatest power forward in the history of the NBA formally retired after spending 19 years with the San Antonio Spurs. We’ve all come to terms and accepted it. It also appears Duncan’s coach for the majority of his career, Gregg Popovich, has also accepted the departure of Duncan.
As media day’s all around the NBA rapidly approach, many eyes are on the San Antonio Spurs. They lost a legend and despite adding Pau Gasol in the offseason, the void of Tim Duncan is not replaceable. Popovich knows it and he says he’s put it out of his mind but he does have a hole in his gut.
Following from Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News.
Popovich has moved on.
“He’s gone,” Popovich said this week. “I’ve put it out of my mind.”
As if that is possible.
Otherwise, Popovich says this is business as usual. “Same culture, same philosophy,” he said. “I only know what I know. We’ll hang our hat on defense. We just don’t have the greatest power forward of all-time playing for us anymore.”
“As a coach you deal with what is there,” Popovich said, “and I’m excited about what we have.”
Brett Brown, the longtime Spurs assistant who is now the coach of the 76ers, saw this coming years ago. He always thought Popovich could coach without Duncan the player, but that moving on without Duncan the friend would be tricky. Brown, after all, was around for the carrot cake deliveries.
“Pop will miss Timmy more from a relationship standpoint than a basketball standpoint,” Brown said this week. “And considering how great Timmy was, that is saying something.”
Brown compared Popovich losing Duncan to how he felt dropping off his daughter at college this month. You know the transition is natural, you know this is what has to happen. But there’s a gnawing loneliness.
Accurate?
“Absolutely,” Popovich said. “I have a hole in my gut.”
Coach Pop is moving on from Duncan. The Spurs are moving on from Duncan. You can also assume Tim Duncan is moving on from the allure of Tim Duncan. But despite his declining skills in his last couple of years in the NBA, Duncan is still going to be hard to replace, both on and off the court. Thankfully for Pop, he didn’t lose both Duncan and Ginobili in the same offseason.
