Parker, Pop forged ‘special’ bond after rocky start

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and his longtime point guard, Tony Parker, are headlining a star-studded class of entrants into the Naismith Hall of Fame this weekend.

But, as Popovich detailed Friday, that partnership almost never got off the ground after Parker’s initial workout didn’t go well.

“I hated him,” Popovich said here at Mohegan Sun, where the Hall of Fame held its press conferences Friday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s enshrinement in Springfield, Mass. “I said I don’t want him. He’s a weenie. He’s unaggressive. He doesn’t like contact, he’s 19, and I don’t want to see him.”

After a plea from Parker’s agent, who agreed the workout wasn’t great but asked Popovich to give him a second chance, Popovich did so. That time, he admitted, Parker “kicked ass.”

“The rest,” Popovich said, “is history.”

The two men went on to spend 17 years together — with Parker only spending one final season of his career with the Charlotte Hornets. Along the way, they won five championships, and — along with Tim Duncan, who went into the Hall two years ago, and Manu Ginobili, who did last year — formed one of the winningest teams in the history of the NBA.

Now, all four will be officially in the Hall, with Duncan and Ginobili serving as presenters for Parker and all three players — plus David Robinson — doing so for Popovich Saturday.

Jerry Colangelo, the Hall of Fame’s chairman, saying that the Hall specifically ordered the induction order so that Parker could be nominated first, and then present Popovich alongside his former teammates — all part of Popovich’s longstanding belief that he shouldn’t go into the Hall before any of his four Hall of Fame players had already done so.

“It’s pretty special,” Parker said. “It started two years ago. I went to Timmy’s, and Timmy gave me the honor to put the jacket on him the night before. So that was pretty cool. And then Manu last year was a lot of fun to see Manu getting in the Hall. Well deserved. And to finish it off, uh, this year for a third year in a row, coming here and doing it with Pop … it just shows that we had a special group, and that we would just build different.”

The ties between Parker and Popovich as part of this year’s class are obvious. But all five NBA greats inducted this year — Parker, Popovich, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade — have unique ties binding them together beyond simply going into the Hall of Fame together.

Gasol spent years playing against Nowitzki, Parker and Popovich in the Western Conference, facing all of them multiple times in the playoffs, before joining Parker and Popovich in San Antonio for two-plus seasons. Nowitzki and Wade not only faced San Antonio repeatedly in the playoffs, but arguably had the signature moments of their respective careers against each other, with Wade winning a title and Finals MVP over Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in 2006, before Nowitzki returned the favor against Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat in 2006.

“We actually bonded here the last few weeks and months,” Nowitzki said. “Obviously we competed at the highest level, on the highest stage, and there was some things said on both sides and it was emotional at times. So there were pretty frosty times between us … But now that’s all said done, and the competition is over, I think there is an appreciation and a respect there for each other’s career.”

“It’s crazy going to Hall of Fame with Dirk,” Wade said. “Obviously being competitors and the parallels of our careers, and with Tony as well.

“It’s fitting though, and it feels right.”

The ties even go beyond that, as Becky Hammon, the all-time great WNBA player and current head coach of the WNBA-leading Las Vegas Aces, also spent several years on the bench with Popovich — and coached both Parker and Gasol — as an assistant with the Spurs, a vision for her he had beginning when he saw her play for the San Antonio Silver Stars during his WNBA career.

“I’m in love with her,” Popovich said. “She is a fiery, competitive, take no prisoners gal. The first time I knew that was when I went to see the WNBA team for San Antonio. She was the point guard for that team and she reminded me of my youth. She was a wise ass out there on the court, chewing her gum, directing traffic, making everybody do what she wanted to do. And she just ruled the whole gym. It was amazing.”

And then there’s the fact that Parker, Gasol and Nowitzki are not just the greatest players in French, Spanish and German history, but are three of the greatest European players of all-time — a unique tie that has bound them together, particularly as the sport has seen an explosion of international talent in recent years, including five straight international MVP winners (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid).

“I think this class is an incredible accomplishment for international basketball,” Gasol said. “I think the game has grown so much since we first started playing … I think we can be very proud of having taken the international game to a higher level and very proud of seeing how the present and current players are taking it to the next level.”

Parker singled out Nowitzki for praise, in particular, calling him the “GOAT” of European basketball.

“He told me that yesterday,” Nowitzki said. “I was very humbled by that. I always give credit to everybody else. I think there were guys that paved the way for me … If I came in and, and helped inspire and motivate some guys along the way that makes me incredibly proud.”

Following Friday’s press conference, the inductees to this year’s Hall of Fame Class will be officially enshrined Saturday evening in Springfield, Mass., the home of the Naismith Hall of Fame.

In addition to the NBA names in this year’s class, other honorees include: the 1976 United States Women’s Olympic Basketball team; longtime Division III coach David Hixon, who spent decades coaching at Amherst College; longtime junior college coach Gene Bess; longtime Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Gary Blair; longtime Division I coaches Gene Keady, who spent decades at Purdue, and Jim Valvano, who coached at both Iona and North Carolina State.

In addition, Andscape’s Marc J. Spears and ESPN’s Holly Rowe are being honored as the Curt Gowdy Award winners for print and electronic media, respectively.