While the precedent of former franchise greats serving as advisers to their younger mentees and current team members is not new, asking your Hall of Fame Power Forward to fulfill a critical coaching spot on your staff surely sounds like a new mountain to climb.
For the San Antonio Spurs, an organization and team enriched in the advice of its successful predecessors, asking a talent like The Big Fundamental to coach alongside his greatest adversary in Gregg Popovich seems like such a Spurs way of doing things.
The standard of treating excellence as a habit is a Spurs tradition, and on Monday afternoon, the Spurs organization seemed to uphold this tradition, as they announced to the NBA universe that Tim Duncan will rejoin sides with Gregg Popovich as an Assistant Coach for the 2019-2020 season. Duncan, a 1997 Wake Forest graduate, played 19 seasons with the Spurs and won five championships, two league MVP awards, three Finals MVPs, made 10 All-NBA First Teams and became the franchise leader in points before retiring in the summer of 2016.
The legendary Power Forward will join a voluminous coaching staff, along with a former assistant coach of his in Becky Hammon. Also joining the staff with Duncan will be Will Hardy, a former Spurs basketball operations intern that graduated from Williams College in 2010.
When asked about the familiarity of his new coaching acquisition, Popovich spoke highly of Duncan’s loyalty to the franchise he called home for nearly 20 years.
“It is only fitting, that after I served loyally for 19 years as Tim Duncan’s assistant, that he returns the favor,” Popovich said.
Spurs fans and fans of the big three will be more than excited to see their towering (literally and figuratively) example of class, leadership, and professionalism on the Spurs coaching staff for every minute of every game this upcoming season.
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