“They came into the timeouts and walked back onto the court and they played, and whether something went well or wrong for them, they just played, just competed,” Popovich said. “So I was just impressed with the operation.”

On Ntilikina, he said: “It was the first time I watched the point guard, and he was calm and cool the entire game. Didn’t say anything, just did what they asked him to do.”

Noting Ntilikina’s mental approach, size, reach, court vision and defensive tenacity, Popovich nodded when it was suggested that the 19-year-old could be a nightly stat-line filler.

“He might be special,” he said.

Popovich had to deal with a 19-year-old French kid with a different body type and playing approach when Parker was a rookie in 2001. Popovich’s first workout impression of Parker was “a skinny kid” who struck him as “soft” and “too cool for school.” He was inclined not to draft him, but a second look convinced him otherwise, and Parker was so impressive in training camp that he wound up starting 72 games as a rookie — and that was for a team with championship aspirations.

“I don’t know if rolling the dice makes you brave, but the insanity was certainly there,” Popovich said.

Parker, he agreed, paved the road for Ntilikina and others. As did the Spurs, in a larger sense, for latecomers like the Knicks to the mining of international talent.

“It’s just not an oddity, success through other people’s success, just knowing it could happen,” Popovich said. “We’ve all got ’em, and it’s made the N.B.A. better.”