Gregg Popovich took coaching Team USA even more seriously than he took coaching the San Antonio Spurs, as one NBA legend found out the hard way.
Gregg Popovich won five NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs and more games as an NBA head coach than anyone else, but his crowning achievement was his gold medal, won at the Tokyo Olympics alongside Keldon Johnson.
Popovich was an assistant coach on the 2004 American team that ultimately won bronze after losing to Manu Ginobili's Argentina team, and was an assistant coach at other international events.
The 2004 defeat was the single most humiliating event in USA Basketball's history, and it haunted Pop until he won gold of his own more than 20 years later.
Before the bronze finish, Popovich tried to instill an identity in his American team.
Tracy McGrady Reveals Popovich Story
Before they finished third in 2004, the Americans marched through the 2003 Tournament of the Americas. Ginobili's Argentina finished second, but was no match for the USA squad, which featured six Hall of Famers.
Tracy McGrady was coming off his first scoring title, having averaged 32.1 points for the Orlando Magic in 2002-03. He expected to be fed the ball in international play, as well.
"I'm the leading scorer in the NBA, and I'm on this team with all superstars, and we have practice one day," McGrady reflected on his podcast. "I didn't really understand what Pop wanted, I don't know what he wants on offense, right? So we swing in the ball, it comes me, I'm wide open. I shoot it."
Big mistake. In an effort to destroy any egos and put the "we" before the "me," Popovich lit into McGrady.
"Pop looked at me and said, 'Tracy! You think I'm speaking [redacted] Russian?'" added the veteran. "I see what's going on. I see what he's trying to do, right? He's trying to build a culture and understand, but now this ain't about you."
The ball movement and cohesive culture the 2004 Olympic team lacked would eventually inspire Popovich to build the "Beautiful Game" Spurs, who would win another title in 2014.
As an aside, Popovich majored in Soviet Studies during his time at the Air Force Service Academy, and would have been the only person in the practice facility who could have been speaking Russian.
McGrady and Team USA would win the 2003 tournament, although T-Mac was not on the third-place American squad at the Athens Games.