Spurs coach Gregg Popovich reacted with disgust to the National Basketball Referees Association expressing disappointment that the NBA did not suspend Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer for making “incidental contact” with a referee during Saturday’s loss to Cleveland.

“In a sharp departure from past practice, the NBA fined Budenholzer instead of imposing a suspension,” the refs union said in a statement.

Added NBRA general counsel Lee Seham in a statement, “Recent league precedent dictated a coach who aggressively charged onto the floor … and physically interfered with a referee would be suspended. We are now operating at a lower level with less transparency, degraded safety and diminished respect for the game. Coaches should compete by creating better teams, not by physically intimidating officials.”

Popovich responded to those statements by saying, “I think it’s just a case of an anonymous suit trying to gain 15 minutes of stardom more than anything. It’s comical … A lot of people trying to get famous on Twitter. And I guess this particular suit is one of them.”

Asked if he would be tweeting anytime soon, Popovich joked, “If I tweet, (it would be) blankety, blank, blank, blank.”

Budenholzer, a former Spurs assistant, drew a $25,000 fine from the NBA for what the league called incidental contact with referee Ben Taylor while arguing a no-call on the Hawks’ offensive end with 6:27 left in the first half.

Needed luxury: Before this season, David West had made 714 starts since the last time he came off the bench in an NBA game.

Then he joined the Spurs, where the 35-year-old expected to be a key component coming off the bench.

West’s past life as a starter has come in handy the past two games, with starting forward LaMarcus Aldridge out with a sprained left ankle.

“I think it’s very fortunate to have somebody who is so experienced, who is a consummate professional to put on the court,” said Gregg Popovich, who gave West his second Spurs start Monday night against Phoenix. “It’s really a luxury, for sure.”

The Spurs have offered no firm timetable on a return for Aldridge, who turned his ankle early in Friday’s loss at New Orleans.

Despite coming to San Antonio expecting to play a reserve role, he is pleased to be able to pinch hit as a starter.

“There’s really no difference (in roles),” West said. “I’m just getting more familiar with the play calls, trying to step in and fill the roles.”

Twin Towers, take 2: Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek played his final three NBA seasons at a time when the Spurs’ Twin Towers lineup of David Robinson and Tim Duncan were all the rage. He sees a little bit of that phenomenon in play with Aldridge and Duncan now.

“David wasn’t the outside shooter LaMarcus is,” Hornacek said. “He was still an inside guy, and they’d do a lot of high-low stuff. LaMarcus can do that, but they also put him in pick and pops, which is what he’s good at.”

Though the Spurs’ first unit hasn’t quite clicked on offense with Aldridge, Hornacek remained optimistic that would happen soon.