Tim Duncan joined his old team as a new assistant coach. Duncan will serve under head coach Gregg Popovich after they worked together for 19 years with the Spurs. Now, however, their roles will be changed or at least, Duncan’s will.
“It is only fitting, that after I served loyally for 19 years as Tim Duncan’s assistant, that he returns the favor,” Popovich said in the release.
The Spurs have hired Tim Duncan as an assistant coach, the team announced.
“It is only fitting, that after I served loyally for 19 years as Tim Duncan’s assistant, that he returns the favor,” said Gregg Popovich. pic.twitter.com/DEVhxZyVn6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 22, 2019
Duncan is the Spurs’ all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks, and he won five NBA championships during his stay in San Antonio. Still, Duncan’s name wasn’t even in the headline of the news release.
That “honor” went to Will Hardy, who will be getting an expanded role as one of San Antonio’s assistant coaches. Hardy has been working with the Spurs since 2010, and this is a big step forward in his career after starting in the video room.
“Will Hardy is a talented, young basketball mind who has earned a great deal of respect from everyone in the organization thanks to his knowledge, spirit and personality,” Popovich said.
What this afternoon’s thunderbolt press release from the Spurs is telling us: On the bench next season at Pop’s side will be Becky Hammon, Will Hardy … and Timothy Theodore Duncan
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 22, 2019
Duncan’s hiring and Hardy’s new role will help the Spurs replace former assistants Ime Udoka and Ettore Messina, who left the team this offseason to search for new jobs. On the other hand, Chip Engelland and Becky Hammon returned as Spurs assistants.
Duncan retired from playing basketball in 2016 but spent some time with the Spurs big guys, working on post-ups. Tim is known as one of Popovich’s favorites since San Antonio selected him with the top pick overall in the 1997 NBA Draft.
The two of them developed an extraordinary coach-player relationship and led the Spurs to many successes in the past two decades. They racked up the most games played by a player-head coach duo in NBA history with 1,392 games. Popovich reminisced how he went to the Virgin Islands to get to know Duncan before the 1997 Draft.
“We lived on the beach for a few days and we swam and we talked,” Popovich said at Duncan’s retirement ceremony. From that moment, I knew he was a special individual because he basically talked about everything but basketball. And we’ve been the recipients of that intelligence and that outlook on life since he’s walked in here.”
It’s been three years since Tim Duncan retired.
During the jersey retirement ceremony, Coach Popovich remembered Timmy for being the superstar the team needed. pic.twitter.com/r5UJyNeBzX
— ESPN (@espn) July 22, 2019
