Gregg Popovich can be a cantankerous old sonuvabitch when he's so inclined—which is generally whenever there is a microphone in his face, so whenever we see him—but he broke character for a bit while talking about Tim Duncan. Popovich and Duncan will forever be linked together because Duncan played all 19 years of his career under Popovich and together, they amassed the most wins of any player-coach combination in NBA history with 1,001, but there's also a real human bond there, too.Speaking to reporters earlier today about his better half, Popovich got pretty emotional retelling an anecdote about Duncan's late father. Pop said that before he passed away in 2002, Duncan's father told him that he'd be holding him responsible for making sure his son left the league the same as he entered it. Popovich got glassy-eyed and paused to gather himself—which is probably a normal person's equivalent of ugly crying—before going on to say that Duncan "was over himself when he came in, and after all these accolades and all the success, he's still gotten over himself. Hasn't changed a lick."Popovich spoke to reporters because Duncan was not going to do so himself—"It's not Tim Duncan."—and got emotional throughout. You can read Popovich's full statement about Duncan here, but we want to make sure you see this:"I tried to think of how to compare him and what to say about him and I got a few thoughts that might be boring for all of you. You know everybody talks about who they would like to eat dinner with. You know, if you had one night to go to dinner, go to lunch with so and so, and people say, you know, Mother Teresa and Jesus and the Dhali Lama and, OK, I get it, but if you think about it a little bit more earthly, worldly type people, you know, people who are interesting, I think of people like William F. Buckley on the right and Gore Vidal on the left, when they had their debates, some of you are old enough to remember that stuff, really clever, insightful people, ideas that blow your mind and that kind of stuff and I can honestly tell you (chokes up), my dinner would be with Tim Duncan, because he is the most real, consistent, true person I have ever met in my life. He was so genuine, it blows your mind, like Buckley or Vidal would in an avant garde sort of way."Great moment: Popovich recalling the responsibility he had to make sure Duncan stayed the same. Got emotional #Spurs pic.twitter.com/WzEUYdtmlX
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) July 12, 2016