The San Antonio Spurs will retire future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan's No. 21 jersey after their game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. Ahead of the ceremony, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sat down with ESPN's Marc Stein to talk about what made Duncan great.
As well as saying that he and Duncan are "more soulmates in life than we are in basketball," Popovich said he was "pretty sure" the 40-year-old was going to retire after San Antonio lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs last season. He added that Duncan had to be convinced that his jersey retirement was a good idea, and isn't exactly excited about being the center of attention and listening to people say nice things about him.
From ESPN:
"It was a tough one," Popovich said. "He knew that, in the end, he had to do it because he knows he owes it to the fans, more than anything, who've come out and supported him through all those years. But that's really the only reason he's doing it. He doesn't want any of the accolades, he doesn't want to sit there in a chair and listen to us talk about him. He's dreading it. I even had to convince him, you know, 'They're going to have quite a few people in, so I thought, you know afterwards, we'll go get a bite or a Coke or a glass of wine or a beer or something and add a little food.' [Duncan said,] 'Nah, I'm not sure I want to do that.' So I said: 'Timmy, wait a minute. All of these people are going to come from everywhere and they're going to pay for flights and hotel rooms and you're going to shake their hand and say take care, I'm going home?' He said, 'I guess I can't do that, can I?' I said, 'No, you can't do that.' So we'll have a little get-together afterwards."
This might be the quintessential quote about Duncan, who is as attention-averse as any all-time great in the history of sports. Of course he is "dreading" the Spurs acknowledging his 19 seasons of greatness, which included five championships, three NBA Finals MVP trophies, 15 All-Star appearances and being named to 15 All-NBA teams, among his other accolades. That's just who Duncan is.
People in the organization, by the way, are doing a pool on the length of Duncan's speech. According to the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald, Popovich guessed he'd go for two minutes. Others apparently deemed that "preposterously high."
