SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is known for being the best coach in league history, a Hall of Famer, and a great humanitarian.
He's also known for his short, direct, and curt answers during media conference sessions and his style turns off some.
TNT's Jared Greenberg was a guest on the "Awful Announcing Podcast" and spoke about his interactions with Popovich.
He spoke about his infamous 2015 interview with the head coach and opined that people need to "call him on the carpet" more for his behavior with the media.
“You know, what people don’t realize about him and I’m not letting him off the hook because I think he needs to be held a little bit more, I don’t know about accountability, but people need to call him on the carpet a little bit more,” he said to the "Awful Announcing Podcast."
Greenberg followed that up by saying Popovich is a "sweet man" but proceeded to call him hypocritical when it comes to dealing with the media.
“I wish at times he wasn’t as condescending," Greenberg said "I think he’s hypocritical in sometimes, he charges the media with taking the game too seriously, and then if you take it too lightly, he wants to know why you aren’t taking it more seriously. I think he sets you up in whatever corner he wants to be in."
The TNT reporter then aimed his comments at the Spurs organization for how it views the media. In his opinion, he feels the Spurs view the media as "enemies" and not "partners" working together to provide the fans with a better NBA experience.
“I wish he would embrace — I wish the whole San Antonio organization would embrace the media, particularly their broadcast partners, who are essentially funding a big part of the league," he said. "That we’re partners, not enemies, and working together creates better content for the viewer and the fan; it becomes a better experience”
Recently, New York City radio host Gregg Giannotti of the "Boomer and Gio" show on WFAN took aim at Popovich's demeanor with the media.
He spoke out on the Spurs coach for how he conducted his postgame media session following the team's recent loss to the Knicks.
“Gregg Popovich was as defiant and jerky as he’s ever been in the postgame news conference,” Gio said. “I can’t stand this guy. Enough. The act is over. Stop. He’s worse than (Bill) Belichick. He’s a bigger jerk than Belichick is," he said.
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“He’s belittling everybody that asks him a question. He’s not even avoiding questions. He’s just being a huge a-hole to every person that asks him a question," he said.
It should be noted that Popovich has been a lot more open to questions in the last few seasons and does answer questions fully. At times, he will delay leaving conferences in case others have questions for him and will laugh and smile with the media.
In addition, he is open to the media for worthy causes such as speaking on his time at the Air Force Academy.
In addition, the Spurs organization is more open to providing one-on-one interviews with local media and will take the initiative to reach out to media for opportunities for stories and player interviews.
Greenberg did tell the Awful Announcing Podcast that off-camera, Popovich does provide key insight and is a nice person.
Twitter: @KENS5, @JeffGSpursKENS5