Spurs' players-only meeting revelation highlights bizarre game vs. Clippers
A day that started with one of the San Antonio Spurs ' best players telling the media that the team held a players-only meeting ended with head coach Gregg Popovich taking the public address announcer's microphone during that night's game vs. the Los Angles Clippers to chastise fans for booing former Spurs star Kawhi Leonard .
The backdrop is a now 10-game losing streak with generational prospect Victor Wembanyama in the fold.
A typical day for the famously ‘boring' San Antonio Spurs it was not.
The players-only meeting
In the midst of a skid that has seen the Spurs either blow big leads or get blown out, the team held a players-only meeting over the weekend. Following the team's shootaround on Wednesday morning ahead of a second straight matchup with the Clippers, Spurs guard Devin Vassell said it occurred “two games ago.”
“We talked about it. There's a meeting that we had and I think that we've addressed a lot of stuff and I think there's going to be changes as the year goes on.”
The Spurs are 3-12 in a season that came with tons of excitement with the addition of Victor Wembanyama. The 19-year-old top overall draft pick this past June joined a roster full of young players, though the 24-year-old Vassell said there's more to their troubles than inexperience.
“I just don't think that sometimes we come together as a team when stuff is going downhill,” the fourth-year guard said.
“At the end of the day, it's only us on the court, so we can't sit here and get mad at each other, get mad at this person or get mad at the situation,” Vassell continued in alluding to the team's inability to hold leads.
Vassell, who has missed five games throughout the month with a groin injury but returned Wednesday night with 18 points in 27 minutes, confirmed players met absent the coaches and mentioned Saturday's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies when asked when the meeting took place. The Spurs blew a 19-point lead against the Grizzles en route to an eighth straight loss. The Silver and Black have squandered several double-digit advantages already this season and have led at the end of every first quarter at home with the exception of these last two games vs. Los Angeles.
On the other end of the spectrum, San Antonio has already endured a good number of lopsided results just 15 games in. Five of their 12 losses have come by at least 20 points, including Monday's 124-99 rout against the Clippers. Three of those shellackings have come by at least 30 points, two by at least 40. In fact, a 123-87 blowout in Oklahoma City on November 14 meant the team matched the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets as the only franchises to lose three games by 30-plus points in their first 11 of a season.
“Nobody doesn't like each other on the team. It's all love here, so we've just got to be able to take constructive criticism and just get better,” Vassell said.
“Players-only meeting sounds a little dramatic. It wasn't like people were yelling at each other,” Spurs center Zach Collins said, citing the team's youth and a generational difference as potential causes for a lack of communication that may prove a reason for their off the court troubles.
“That was more (about) everybody getting vocal; say what you're seeing, and really just make time for that space. It was good. Hopefully we can continue doing that going forward.”
Speaking of going forward...
Little did Collins know that in just hours, his head coach would make much bigger news than even a very rare Spurs players-only meeting.
Pop grabs the mic during the game
With 3:08 remaining in the first half of their game against the Clippers, Gregg Popovich, who was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this summer, stunned everyone by walking over to the public address announcer's microphone at the Frost Bank Center and, with Kawhi Leonard at the free throw line, asked the crowd to stop booing the former Spurs star.
“Excuse me for a second,” Popovich said, “Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? Have a little class. It’s not who we are. Knock off the booing.”
Immediately following, many of the fans started booing louder and continued to do so as the half went on. The Spurs, who were down for most of the game by double digits, made a run to get within three at one point before the break. LA took a 54-48 lead into the locker room.
Leonard was traded from San Antonio in July 2018 after he demanded the move following a season filled with angst. Uncomfortable with team doctors' diagnosis of a leg injury, he began to rehab away from the team and grew distant from the players. Spurs legends Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, both still on the team during that 2017-18 season, wondered publicly about Leonard's absence.
The now-32-year-old star won the 2014 NBA Finals MVP, helping lead the Spurs to the NBA championship in the second of consecutive trips to the Finals. By the time he left San Antonio, The Klaw had earned two All-NBA First-Team selections, won a couple of Defensive Player of the Year awards, and was their expected centerpiece for the foreseeable future. He won a title with the Toronto Raptors in the season following the trade.
Following Wednesday night's 109-102 loss, when asked why he addressed the crowd during the game, Popovich stuck to one answer as he was pressed.
“Well, I think anybody that knows anything about sports, you don’t poke the bear.”
When asked for his reaction by CluchPoints, Zach Collins said he was actually relieved that it was Pop on the microphone.
“At first I thought it was a fan, like trolling or something, running on the court and grabbing the mic, but I saw it was Pop so, I guess, I was a little bit more at peace that it was Pop and not some crazy fan.”
It's a reaction that embodies the day for the San Antonio Spurs; the notion that someone from the stands would grab the PA microphone during the game to make an announcement. Anything seemed possible on this day for the Silver and Black — a day that ranks among the most bizarre in the history of the humdrum Spurs.
