Gregg Popovich has been a gentler, more forgiving coach for the San Antonio Spurs over the last couple of seasons. As the Spurs went younger and leaned into rebuilding, Popovich gave his players room to grow and to learn from their mistakes. That time is coming to an end.
"I think if anything it’s a little less tolerance," Popovich said. "We have been since the beginning (of training camp) … a little bit more disciplined in the sense of accountability, knowing that mistakes happen too often – (telling players) 'You need to understand that by now.'"
Point guard Tre Jones, who is entering Year 5 under Popovich, said this is all part of raising expectations for the Spurs. Part of that was bringing in veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes to help a young San Antonio team mature.
"A lot of us didn’t have a lot of those experiences we went through the last couple of years," Jones said, "But now that we’ve had them and now that we’ve brought in guys that are helping us learn those things as well, you can’t make those same mistakes over and over again. There’s no room for that, if we want to win."
