"POP WANTS TO talk to you."
The server is speaking to a man named Jeremy Threat -- and from the tone in his voice, something is clearly amiss. Threat hustles back to the main dining room of Spataro Restaurant & Bar, an Italian restaurant in Sacramento, California, that has been overrun by the San Antonio Spurs. Players, coaches, management, ownership. All are seated along a handful of long, rectangular tables. The room is pin-drop silent. Some 40 pairs of eyes are trained on Threat, the venue's 29-year-old general manager and wine director.
Seated at the head of one of those tables, beside a window that offers a sweeping view of the California state capitol building across the street, is Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.