Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone: "I owe a ton to Coach Popovich"

The Gregg Popovich coaching tree runs deep.

Mike Budenholzer, the reigning NBA coach of the year served under Popovich as an assistant coach from 1996-2013. So did current Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown, who coached under Pop from 2002-2013. Quin Snyder, Alvin Gentry, Don Newman, Monty Williams, Joe Prunty and Jim Boylan all spent time on Popovich’s staffs at one time or another over the course of the 19-years he’s run the Spurs from the sideline.

However, Popovich’s influences throughout basketball run far beyond the Spurs organization and the assistants that have branched off from him over the years. Yes, even Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone admits Pop has influenced him over the course of his coaching career.

Malone first got acquainted with Popovich on mid-2000’s trip to Argentina for an NBA camp.

“I spent a week with Pop down in Argentina at an NBA camp, and after many bottles of wine, he took a liking to me and he was willing to go to bat for me,” Malone said before the Nuggets took on the Spurs in San Antonio last night. “He helped me get the job in Cleveland, and he helped me get the job in New Orleans. So, I owe a ton to Coach Popovich and everything he’s done for me and my family.”

Since that initial meeting, Popovich has offered advice to Malone along his road towards becoming an NBA coach. It’s choice words of wisdom that the Nuggets head coach will always keep with him and coach by.

“He told me this when I got the job in Sacramento: ‘Be true to yourself,'” Malone said. “People always think in the NBA you can’t coach guys and you can’t get on guys. And obviously there’s plenty of examples of Pop getting on his guys. But as he told me, be yourself, get on guys, coach them, but also let them know that you love them and you care about them. And they’ll be willing to accept that tough coaching.”

In reality all organizations should try and model themselves after the Spurs. A rock-solid ownership group, followed by a general manager in R.C. Buford who is trusted to make the right basketball decisions, and a head coach in Popovich who garners the respect of his players and knows how to get them to check their egos at the door.

“To have the kind of sustained success they’ve had, that’s not been replicated at many levels in many sports, that speaks to his consistency, him being true to himself, and him being the standard-bearer within their culture,” Malone said. “The Spurs’ organization is the model for all NBA teams that everybody is trying to aspire to be.”