Gregg Popovich talks Spurs’ offseason additions & Hank Egan being honored | NBA Summer League

Gregg Popovich talks Spurs’ offseason additions & Hank Egan being honored | NBA Summer League

welcome back everyone to the NBA 2K 25 summer league 8th the 2024 Tex winner Award presented to Hank Eagan at halftime the legend the award goes to an assistant coach who made a substantial impact in the NBA Egan started his coaching career in 1966 as an assistant at Air Force he eventually took over his head coach with Coach papovich on his staff as an assistant Ean was an assistant coach for three teams in the NBA including coach papovich San Antonio Spurs coach thanks for joining us what does it mean to see coach Egan here and to have him uh honored like this it’s uh thrilling to say the least because we always try to remember where we came from and what we did and uh he was my JV coach when I was a Cadet at the academy uh he taught me what a rocker step was you know how to Pivot and all those sorts of things and then as one of his assistant coaches later on you know taught me how to make a practice plan and so uh that’s pretty special you know like babysat his kids and he’s been great in college and in the NBA for so many years everybody respects him so much uh so to have somebody like that to be your Mentor for that many years uh makes you a pretty fortunate individual no doubt po it’s so interesting to me whenever I watch Rick carile who’s the head of your coaching Association right it’s such a fraternity there seem once you become a coach you are part of that that unique culture why is that is that because your jobs are difficult or sometimes you know your livelihoods at St why what what is it about coaching that does that you know it’s a great question and I think the the first and most basic uh element as far as an answer goes is everybody in that organization really loves teaching and coaching and we have no problem learning from each other uh we people think that we protect everything that we think we know uh but everybody knows what’s going on you guys know what’s going on there are no real secrets so sharing uh the ways that you might describe things on the court uh so that you can teach your team better we learn from each other secondly as you said uh it’s a difficult job no doubt uh and you know people get fired and nine times out of 10 they don’t get fired because they don’t know anything or they’re poor coaches circumstances catch up for a variety of reasons and a coach has gone and so we realize the Frailty of that and so we come together it’s like people in the military almost you know you’re with the guys that dove into the the Foxhole together and and you appreciate and respect what they do cuz you know and Rick uh as the president he’s been the president forever uh as long as I’ve been around and it’s one of those jobs you couldn’t pay me to do that job L of yeah and he loves it yes he does and he’s working on people’s insurance and on people’s health care and you know everything besides basketball and O and x’s and dealing with the league and all that kind of stuff and there couldn’t be anybody better we’re so happy he loves it cuz none of us has to do he’s still smiling too that’s for on the court coach it’s been an interesting summer and I can remember last year uh doing one of your games you were talking and a little bit lamenting the fact that you didn’t have a lot of guys able to throw lob passes to Victor with CP3 there that that might be solved now right I think he’s going to he’s going to teach everybody a whole lot better than I do how how to get the ball not just how to do it but when and where you know that kind of thing so uh having he and Harrison come into the fold uh at this stage in their careers is really wonderful for the Youth that we have cuz you know I can say things 54 times over and over again over and over when a player uh that you respect uh says the same stuff that we’re saying to a player sometimes that’s a lot more valuable and so having them around is going to be super what what about that young man like intrigues you cuz I love how hard he plays pop you know he’s uh he’s the the dream in the back of my head uh when I look at his body I look at his strength his length his quickness his explosiveness he has a natural inclination to be a great Pastor things that we can’t really teach yeah um uh he is really a great passer he’s got to work on his shot obviously but the explosiveness uh the foot speed he has to play D with that body at the three position uh I think he’s going to be a special player Stefon Castle comes with a championship ring from Yukon and knocked down a couple threes in that first half your thoughts on what you’ve seen from him so far I love his his seriousness for such a young kid I love his Pace you see his expression never changes and he doesn’t go too fast fast he doesn’t go too slow he reads the situations uh and the more minutes he gets uh the better he’s going to be he seeks contact he’s an excellent Defender and he makes wonderful decisions so uh he’s going to be a quick study I think and get to play on the court pretty quickly we got to get away from basketball CU every summer you seem to either take a trip or have a unique plan what’s on the docket for Coach Pop I do well I’m I’m leaving tomorrow to spend some time with my kids and grandkids love it so that’ll be fun Y and I’ll end up in Paris at some point right oh so good but in between is the most fun I’m going to go to Istanbul for about s days cuz I love IST stumble it’s my favorite city for a whole lot of reasons uh but I’m going to go there and move around a bit I I lived there the year for a year on the east side side of the country in a place called The arer when I was about 21 fell in love with it was that when you were in the military right I was in the military uh I was stationed over on the border by Syria wow and uh have gone back you know probably 10 times U to istan buul uh the arer is a little tougher for a variety of political and uh geopolitical reasons but uh I’m so excited to get back there eat the food and walk the street and just uh be with the people before we let you go I’m taking the family to to brnik I need a restaurant where I can get a nice malte over there well Croatia has wonderful wine okay now people don’t but Slovenia Croatia and Serbia and probably at this point Croatia is uh more well known for its wine okay but business coach pavic Molly that’s the great yeah there you go that’s he going to say it’s it’s it’s not Mal okay okay you’re you’re not in Argentina I’m in the wrong hemisphere coach hey I’ll get there though I’ll get there [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich speaks with Mark Jones and Doris Burke at the NBA Summer League as they discuss Hank Egan winning the 2024 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award. They also discuss the Spurs, including the additions of Chris Paul and Stephon Castle as well as what he likes from Sidy Cissoko. Coach Pop also reveals his travel plans and shares his knowledge of wines from Croatia.

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