It was the thoughtful act of a father. Gregg Popovich would go to a Zagat-approved restaurant on the road with his staff, and sometimes, toward the end of the meal, he would ask the waiter for a small carrot cake to go.

He would then leave the package outside Tim Duncan’s hotel door, and Popovich’s original thinking was simple. He knew Duncan loved carrot cake.

But they say this became a road ritual that went on for years, and that the gesture was about more than a late-night snack. It was a nod to partnership and appreciation.

Room service is over now. Popovich has moved on.

“He’s gone,” Popovich said this week. “I’ve put it out of my mind.”

As if that is possible.

At least Popovich is doing something familiar as he takes the first step toward another season. He and his staff leave for the West Coast on Friday for their annual retreat, where, as Popovich said, “the arguing will begin.”

Included on this retreat is Monty Williams, the onetime Spur and former head coach of New Orleans. Williams has officially joined the Spurs, though Popovich is still unsure whether Williams will work from the bench or from R.C. Buford’s box.

More Information Spurs key dates Sept. 26: Media day Sept. 27-Oct. 2: Training camp Oct. 3: Preseason opener — at Phoenix, 9 p.m. Oct. 8: Preseason home opener — vs. Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25: Regular-season opener — at Golden State, 9:30 p.m., TNT Oct. 29: Regular-season home opener — vs. New Orleans, 7 p.m., FSSW, NBA TV

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Otherwise, Popovich says this is business as usual. “Same culture, same philosophy,” he said. “I only know what I know. We’ll hang our hat on defense. We just don’t have the greatest power forward of all-time playing for us anymore.”

They still have him around, though. Duncan hasn’t been in the Spurs’ practice facility every day this summer, but he was there this week. He hits the weight machines, does some shooting, hangs around the guys.

You could still use a backup center, couldn’t you?

Popovich laughed. “I can’t look inside those knees.”

Popovich has told Duncan to come around, to be here, to do what he wants. “If he wants to go on a scouting trip, fine. If he wants his own station in training camp, he has it. He’s in charge. He can tell me exactly what he wants to do. But I’m not paying him a penny.”

Reminded that Duncan will still be receiving Spurs checks this season on what is the final year of his contract, Popovich laughed again.

“Oh, I forgot.”

Most in the organization think Duncan will eventually join the franchise in a full-time capacity. They guess he won’t coach but will instead focus on personnel. Duncan has long been intrigued by the methods that Popovich and Buford use to identify talent.

Duncan has at times disagreed with their decisions only to be proven wrong. He’s curious why.

For now Duncan is standing in the background as an observer, and his own adjustment is jarring. For nearly two decades he has spent his summers building his body to withstand an NBA season. Now he can eat as much carrot cake as he wants without the need to burn off the calories.

Popovich’s adjustment is more complicated, but he thinks the first part can be done. This is just about basketball.

Popovich won’t have Duncan around to use as a symbol of accountability anymore, for example, but there are ways to get around that. For one, Popovich can yell more at Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to make a similar impression on the locker room.

Popovich will want Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge to be more demonstrative, filling the leadership void left by Duncan, and then there’s Pau Gasol. He not only brings Duncan-like skills to the team, he creates a familiar pastime for Popovich. Whereas Popovich was once consumed with rationing Duncan’s minutes, now he can be as obsessed with preserving Gasol.

“As a coach you deal with what is there,” Popovich said, “and I’m excited about what we have.”

Brett Brown, the longtime Spurs assistant who is now the coach of the 76ers, saw this coming years ago. He always thought Popovich could coach without Duncan the player, but that moving on without Duncan the friend would be tricky. Brown, after all, was around for the carrot cake deliveries.

“Pop will miss Timmy more from a relationship standpoint than a basketball standpoint,” Brown said this week. “And considering how great Timmy was, that is saying something.”

Brown compared Popovich losing Duncan to how he felt dropping off his daughter at college this month. You know the transition is natural, you know this is what has to happen. But there’s a gnawing loneliness.

Accurate?

“Absolutely,” Popovich said. “I have a hole in my gut.”

Popovich and Duncan put together the longest coach-player combination in NBA history, but they also lived a buddy-cop movie. From buses to planes to arenas, they kidded each other and competed against the world. They were a tag-team, figuring out what the team needed while also knowing the other was always behind him. The relationship was playful and respectful, and sometimes they celebrated and sometimes they were miserable, and Popovich finds himself still amazed by all of it.

“Most people aren’t married for 19 years,” he said, and that’s why Friday represents more than the beginning of another season.

It also marks the end of something else.

bharvey@express-news.net

Twitter: @Buck_SA