Paris – Legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is “attacking his rehab with the same resilience” after suffering a stroke in November that he’d shown on the bench, chief executive RC Buford said, but his return to the team this season remains in question.
“His improvement continues to get better, (but) I don’t know that we have any way to judge the clock,” Buford said in Paris Wednesday, where San Antonio will play the Indiana Pacers twice this week. “Predicting what’s to come is just a function of where Pop’s rehab goes.”
Popovich, who turns 76 next week, suffered what the team said was a mild stroke on Nov. 2 and has been on leave from the team since.
The NBA’s all-time winningest coach with five championships to his name, Popovich seemed to express a desire to return to his job in a statement released through the Spurs in December when he said “no one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process.”
Mitch Johnson took over for Pop and has the Spurs sitting at 19-22 overall, and 17-19 since he assumed head coaching duties. Johnson, 38, had no prior head coaching experience, but Buford marveled at the job Johnson has done to this point.
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The Spurs remain one of the youngest teams in the league, but French sensation Victor Wembanyama has quickly developed into one of the top players in the NBA and San Antonio is much more competitive than it was last year. A current three-game losing streak has knocked the Spurs out of the top 10 in the West. If they can get back there, they would be a Play-In team with a chance to make the playoffs.
-“If you’d have told me what had happened with Pop and all the things that had gone into this season to be where we are today, I think we’d have all been surprised and shocked that we are,” Buford said.
Johnson said Wednesday his communication with Popovich has been “consistent,” and point guard Chris Paul said Pop “calls” players after games.
“I’ve seen him quite a bit,” Johnson said. “So those conversations are typical in terms of the things we talked about regarding our team trying to get better, coaching backwards, what happened in the last game or what are we coming out of? And then, you know, obviously looking ahead and what we’re walking into.
“So with these unique circumstances that’s out there, especially for people that are not around day to day, to understand, but our interactions and conversations in that regard have not changed really that much. (The conversations are to) just try and help our team and talk about what we see, arguing about anything in terms of moving forward.
“Pop’s health has been the priority since the start of this and to that, no doubt, and so that’s kind of how we and I take the approach,” Johnson added.
Paul said “I’m grateful for how he’s doing.
“He calls me after games and I talk to him and he tells me what he sees,” Paul said. “And I appreciate that more than anything because he doesn’t have to do that.”
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(Tyler Kaufman / Getty Images)
