San Antonio’s Cory Joseph surprised everyone this year—he demoted himself
Cory Joseph had rehearsed the line over and over in his head. “Coach,” he told Gregg Popovich, “I want to go back to the D-League.” It was late January and San Antonio had lost just seven games in the span of two months—business as usual for basketball’s gold-standard franchise. But Joseph, 22, a Pickering, Ont., native and the 29th pick of the 2011 draft, had been back and forth between the big club and its Development League affiliate in nearby Austin. The second-year point guard cherished the experience learning under Pop and the Spurs’ core of future Hall of Famers, but was averaging just over six minutes a game. “I was still travelling with the team, and I’d get a little 3-on-3 or 1-on-1 in during practice, but I felt like my conditioning was going down,” says Joseph. “He was straight with me: ‘You probably won’t get an opportunity to play right now, so you might as well play somewhere. We’re not paying you for nothing.’”
Back then, neither could have comprehendeded the importance of that short conversation. That Joseph’s wilful demotion would set the table for a transformative season during which he went from expendable to integral.
The D-League is a strange bird. Established in 2001 as the NBA’s farm system, it hasn’t taken off as planned. Aside from stashed prospects like Joseph, Josh Selby and Christian Eyenga, the rosters are a weird blend of NBA washouts (Sean Williams, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely), failed college stars (Demetris Nichols, Bill Walker, Luke Harangody) and guys with extremely cool names (Rusty LaRue, Latavious Williams, Von Wafer). There have been success stories (Amir Johnson, Matt Barnes and Joseph’s teammate Danny Green, to name three), but most D-league stories are of the rags-to-riches-to-rags variety. Players called up to the NBA are sent off by their coaches with the warning: “Don’t come back.” Basically, it’s not the kind of place an NBA player goes voluntarily. That’s why, though he was on board with Joseph’s decision, Popovich had some reservations. “You worry,” the coach said, “about the self-image of the kid and about his confidence.”
But that’s not how Joseph read the situation. “It took a lot of confidence to make that decision,” he says. After all, he’d been back and forth three times already this season before he called Pop. “Obviously it was a little different in my situation,” he says, “but any time you’re on an NBA contract and playing in the D-League you should be mad, you should get upset. But it’s a business. You learn to be able to live with it, just put your head down and play hard.”
Despite playing about half the season with the Austin Toros, Joseph was named an all-star and earned second-team All D-League honours. “I know it’s not the NBA,” he says, “but those guys in Austin run a great program. It’s what I needed.”
That was proven true when Tony Parker went down with an ankle injury in March, and Pop thrust Joseph into the starting lineup. He averaged more than 20 minutes in eight games while matched up against top point guards like Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard and Steph Curry, while the Spurs went 6-2. “He’s just solid,” Pop told reporters after Joseph committed zero turnovers handling the rock in a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “He’s scrappy and aggressive and he’s doing what we asked him to do.”
That’s high praise from Popovich, a man as famous for his dry wit as for his equal treatment of players, regardless of experience, stature or salary. “You hear stories before coming here—that the veterans will get yelled at as much as the rookies,” Joseph says. “Shoot, he might even yell at them more! Ever since I got here, he’s held Tim, Tony and Manu just as accountable as us. It really sent a message to the whole team that it’s not about individuals.”
For a franchise so adept at making the most of its draft picks and finding players who fit the San Antonio mould, it should come as no surprise that Joseph is the perfect Spur, the embodiment of everything the club stands for. “Our team is based on team defence and hustle, and that’s what I bring. It’s always been my approach to the game,” says Joseph, who’s worked his way deeper and deeper into Popovich’s circle of trust.
It’s been a wild ride for Joseph—a lifelong lover of the NBA and a Raptors fan since day one—playing alongside the legends he grew up watching. And in a league where situation means everything, Joseph understands the significance of landing on the Spurs, where not only has his game flourished under Popovich, but he’s had the chance to learn from the best. “Tony, being my position, he teaches me a lot, every practice,” Joseph says. “Tim, Manu and the coaching staff are teaching me all the time.”
Joseph was a big part of the Spurs’ first-round demolition of the Los Angeles Lakers and has been steady and reliable in stretches throughout the playoffs. These days, he’s getting more burn running from his spot near the end of the bench to the sidelines to greet his teammates than he is on the court as Popovich has tightened his rotation deeper into the Finals. But Joseph views this season as a turning point, and knows the decisions he’s made this year will pay off soon. “When it does,” he says, “I know I’ll be ready. Sometimes you just have to wait for your time.”