Popovich ‘Welcomes’ LaMarcus Aldridge by Sitting Him Out on Practice

Even with a strained IT band, LaMarcus Aldridge may have wanted to join his new team on their first day of training camp last Tuesday but San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich wouldn't let him have his way.

"Welcome to the Spurs. Go sit," Popovich was quoted to have said, according to Yahoo Sports.

As early as now, Aldridge is being initiated into the Spurs culture. In a report by Fox Sports, this means resting players and limiting play time for better health in the long run.

Sports fans know that Aldridge is not new to pain. CBS Sports reports that in January, this All-Star player tore a ligament in his left hand and was expected to miss almost two months of games. He opted against surgery and was absent for only two games.

Not in San Antonio. According to Larry Brown Sports, the Spurs were able to clinch the 2014 NBA Championships even with limiting all of their players court times to no more than 30 minutes each.

Compared to Aldridge's average of 37.2 minutes a game in a span of 5 years, San Antonio's own Kawhi Leonard's 31.8 per game may sound overly cautious. These stats were taken from the same report on Larry Brown Sports.

Even Tim Duncan has played with fewer minutes. On the same news release by Yahoo Sports, by the time Duncan was 30, the same age as Aldridge now, he had been playing with decreased minutes for the third season in a row.

Aldridge may not be the concern Popovich has this season. ESPN reports that with 20 players, he has to make some hard decisions on which players will get to play the preseason opening games in Sacramento.

With Popovich, camaraderie is the name of the game.

Talking to ESPN, he states, "I think it's an interesting question because usually we would not give many minutes to people like Timmy [Duncan] or Tony [Parker] or whatever. But in this situation, they probably need to play a little bit with David West and LaMarcus Aldridge so that they know each other a little bit better than they do right now."

Manu Ginobili is a seasoned veteran for the Spurs team but even he is not sure if he will be making the trip at all. In a talk with ESPN, he states, "But I assume if somebody is missing the trip, it's the vets...I'm part of that group."