San Antonio Spurs: Gregg Popovich Worried About Younger Players; Says Vets Won’t Take a Victory Lap

Just as we have come to expect, the San Antonio Spurs will again be kicking their season off with a list of doubters and their reasons as to why the defending NBA champions will fall just short. You’ve probably heard some of them before; they’re too old, they don’t have a true superstar, they rely too much on role players.

By playoff time, all of these sorts of assumptions and predictions become absurd to even consider and San Antonio will once again be among the final, if not the last standing team once we crown a champion.

But with Tim Duncan now being 38, Manu Ginobili right behind at 37 and Tony Parker catching up at 32, it would be east to assume the Spurs core guys’ age will become their greatest obstacle throughout the grind of a long enduring season. Well, in a interview with NBA TV, Gregg Popovich explained why he is actually more worried about the newcomers and younger players in regards to the Spurs championship aspirations.

"“I worry more about the younger players on the team. I’m not worried a bit about Tony and Manu and Timmy. They know how hard it is to get there and I think it sounds odd, but it’s ironic that the more times you’re there, the more you appreciate how hard it is. But they’re not going to take a victory lap or anything like that this year. They’ll come ready. It’s the other guys, the young kids that I worry about thinking that it might be too easy or just expect it that it’s going to come.”"

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From the outside looking in, this is a completely understandable comment from Popovich. If you’ve been following the NBA for the pass decade and a half, you would know that the Spurs have always been relevant, if not championship contenders. This will be the same case for this season, but Popovich is well known for resting his veterans throughout the season and these “younger players” will be expected to pick up the slack without losing a step in their pursuit of back-to-back NBA titles.

These younger players and guys who are still fresh to the team include rookies, Kyle Anderson and Bryce Cotton, Aron Baynes, Jeff Ayres and Austin Daye.

Although these are the guys who will fill out the very end of the bench and likely see their fair share of games sitting in a nice, quality suit, there will be several points throughout the season when each of them will have their number called and be expected to fill in just as anybody else would without missing a beat.

This isn’t anything new for Popovich and his Spurs. Just take a look at last season’s NBA title run. Although they weren’t technically new players, it was the performances guys like Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli and Danny Green that ultimately were key to a Spurs’ championship.

Of course, the newbies won’t be expected to fill these guys shoes right out of the gate, but excellence is expected from the future Hall of Fame coach and the new guys will be held to the same standard as everyone else when their opportunities arise.

Luckily for Popovich, he still has an exceptionally experienced, talented and well-put together roster, but the younger players will at some point be thrown into the mix and how they could react by knowing they have guys like Duncan, Ginobili and Parker is definitely something that worries Popovich more than how his aging leaders will perform throughout the season.