Before the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, anticipation had been set for the debut of the Spurs’ newest addition, 
Boris Diaw.
For Diaw, coming from a losing situation with the Charlotte Bobcats to a contender in the Spurs in less than a week has been a big change, then throw in the fact that one of his best friends from France is also on the team and the dream of playing with Tony Parker in the NBA could be surreal.
And then insert Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, when he was told by a French reporter that it had been Parker and Diaw’s dream to play together since age 15, Popovich gave a “Pop” response.
“That’s sweet,” said Popovich. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to coach now. I just hope they have fun, I hope they go to dinner afterwards. I hope it’s lovey dovey the whole night.”
After we all laughed with Popovich, he did admitted that signing Diaw is a good move for his team.
“He’s an all around player. There aren’t too many people that are all-around players.”
As for Parker and Diaw’s play with the Spurs, Popovich just wants Diaw to stay in continuation with what the Spurs are already doing.
“I just want them to play within the system and to do what we do. It’s about the group.”
Diaw looked like he had been playing with the Spurs for several seasons as he meshed with the team so easily on both ends of the floor Friday, Manu Ginobili gave one key reason why it was so easy for him to fit in well.
“Tony did a good job on running the same Spurs plays in the French National team,” Ginobili said, “and that kind of helps.”
Diaw himself admitted that both squads use the same plays, “They have a lot of the offensive sets we use in the French National team. That’s the unselfishness of playing on this team.”
When asked if it’s more fun playing in a packed and loud AT&T Center, as opposed to a silent Bobcats arena, Diaw said he enjoyed the experience.
“It was nice playing in an arena like this,” Diaw said. “I can get used to it.”
