Interesting passage here in Yahoo!'s in-depth piece on LaMarcus Aldridge's free agent decision.

So, Popovich climbed on a flight and headed back to Los Angeles. But before Popovich and Aldridge would meet on July 3, the greatest recruiter of them all, Miami president Pat Riley, had persuaded Aldridge to take a dinner with him on the evening of July 2. How could Aldridge resist? Who didn’t want to be wooed by Riley? If nothing else, he had to hear him out.

The Heat didn’t have the salary cap space to sign Aldridge, and Riley’s wish for Aldridge to sign a one-year deal with Portland and wait for the Heat’s space in 2016 was a most unappealing proposition. Nevertheless, Riley made a case to Aldridge that turned out to be an immense blessing for the franchise that had obliterated the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals. As the idea of joining the Suns gained real momentum, Riley’s message would go a long, long way toward validating the Spurs’ cause. Truth be told, Riley’s words resonated as deeply with Aldridge as anyone’s in the process.

“He told me, ‘You’re a good player, but you can be great,’” Aldridge told Yahoo. “I’ve had good seasons on my own, but to win, you’ve got to have other big-time guys with you. When you have other guys who are willing to take that sacrifice with you – maybe you all go from averaging 23-24 points to 18-19 points – and you can all do it together.

“He was saying, ‘Hey, you might have to take a lesser role, but at the end of the day, you want to be known as a champion. Champions have to do different things.’ He brought up Chris Bosh, how he was averaging 21 in Toronto, and came to Miami, and people tried to say he wasn’t important. He told me, ‘We don’t win any of those championships rings without him,’ [and] that [Bosh] wouldn’t trade those rings for anything.

“Eventually, it becomes a road in your career, whether you have to decide whether you want to keep having these crazy stats, or do you want to win a championship?”

On the night of July 2, with Popovich returning for a lunch meeting the next day, Riley had delivered an unintended assist to the Spurs. He had turned Aldridge’s mind back toward San Antonio, setting the stage for Popovich to close the deal. “Yeah, the things [Riley] said were definitely more positive for me coming to San Antonio,” Aldridge told Yahoo.

Soon, Aldridge called Olshey and told him that he had narrowed his decision to San Antonio and Phoenix. Aldridge and Popovich then walked down North Canyon in Beverley Hills to a lunch of hard questions and firm answers.

Aldridge planned to take the holiday weekend to make a decision, but awoke on July 4th and texted Arn Tellem these words: “I want to be a Spur.”

Tellem called Aldridge, and made sure that he was resolute in his decision. Yes, Aldridge told him, I am sure. “You call Pop, and I’ll call RC,” Tellem said. Within hours, Aldridge agreed to a four-year, $80 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs.