I think Pop liked the idea of FIBA Patty, but struggled to give him the freedom to actually make it possible. A lot of teams will play Brooklyn with the mentality that if they can limit Durant/Harden and Irving (when he returns), they are prepared for the outcome to rest on the performance of the supporting cast. So Patty being aggressive, being able to swing the result, is perfect for Brooklyn and gives him a chance to do what he's doing.
As a fan of both Patty and the Spurs, though, I think they deserve a ton of credit for bringing him along and providing him with the development he needed. He was a turnover-prone, undersized, middling shooter when he arrived in SA. And yes he had to put the work in, but he was also lucky to have an environment that rewarded that work instead of moving onto the next shiny toy. A win-win.