The Bulls were dismantling, so they signed-and-traded Kerr to the San Antonio Spurs, where Popovich was entering his second full season as head coach.

With the Spurs, Kerr’s role was to camp out beyond the arc and cast off the occasional 3, while mostly dumping the ball into the post to David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

It would be unfair to distill a great coach’s philosophy to one phrase, but for Popovich it might be: Buy your players a nice dinner, pour ’em some exquisite wine, collect rings.

Kerr is more of a beer guy, but understands that for Popovich, wine is glue made from grapes, a strong bonding agent.

Neither man has bought into that silliness, although Kerr did once propose a name for the group they would represent: “The Coalition of Citizens Who Are Calling Bulls—.” For the past several years, Kerr and Popovich — along with former coach Stan Van Gundy — have been by far the most outspoken on political and social issues among coaches and managers in all the major sports.

Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich are long-time BFFs, wine-sipping buddies, Olympic coaching cohorts, and even running mates on the imaginary Popovich/Kerr presidential ticket.