Open Thread: The longevity of Pop

Pop starts his twenty-ninth season with the Silver & Black

Was Gregg Popovich always gray-haired?

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Pop is about to start his twenty-ninth season as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. His longevity is paramount in an industry with immense turnover. But then, Gregg Popovich is no normal head coach and the San Antonio Spurs are not your run of the mill NBA team.

For perspective, try this on for size:

On December 10, 1996, Pop named himself head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in a controversial move that did not foreshadow the years to come. That is twenty-seven years, two-hundred and seventy-nine days ago.

“Gregg Popovich has been the Head Coach longer than 18 of the 20 Spurs currently on the roster have been alive.”

The two players alive when Pop took over — Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes. Both have yet to set foot on the hardwood with the Spurs and are the outliers to an otherwise full blown youth movement.

Eight of the players on the current lineup were drafted by the Spurs.

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