Last Halloween, I settled on the couch after the kids finished cheating or treatment and went to bed, looking at my favorite basketball team, the San Antonio Spurs. I was full of optimism in five games in a new season. The team is a healthy combination of savvy veterans, young stars and Victor Wembanyama, the most popular NBA prospect since LeBron James. If the player finds the right chemistry, maybe it could be the year when the Spurs steal the playoff drought. Led by Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, he directed his players like a master to perform a band, and it was indeed possible.
That night, the Spurs won the game, and Wembanyama's statistics were crazy and everything was looking up. But a few weeks later, I was frustrated that this was probably the last cheer from Popovich. In mid-November, the Spurs announced that Popovich suffered a minor stroke that would keep him off the court for the foreseeable future. He continues to stay away from the team as the season progresses. On Friday, Popovich (or "pop") is often called - announced that he will quit his head coach after taking the helm for nearly 29 seasons and transition to a full-time position as president of the team's basketball business. Since Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and other 21st century definers have been mentally prepared for this moment, and it's all the people Popovich guided to hang their sneakers one by one. Popovich himself is 76 years old and his father is undefeated. But it's heartbreaking to realize that he is indeed fatal.
In the tribute symphony after the announcement, I think of a man: David Robinson, the first superstar to play with pop music. San Antonio is a major sports team, while U.S. Naval Academy graduate Robinson, nicknamed "Admiral", is an informal figure. In October 2014, I attended a meeting in a hotel banquet hall outside Austin, where Robinson gave a keynote speech on leadership. Naturally, his speech turned into pop music. "He is not afraid of counterculture," Robinson said. Mainstream basketball culture is self-welcome, but Robinson believes that the style of pop music is: "No, don't look at me."
Counterculture Totally correct, because Pop does something different. Pop music creates a victory in an alliance built around individual personality team environment. He brings internationality to the game in terms of the players he pursues and the basketball style they play. Perhaps most importantly, he realized that while basketball is a game of winners and losers, the National Basketball Association is a business. Coaching is his job, not his life, and it's the point he tries to instill in the views of everyone, players, fans and sports journalists.
Pop's global perspective comes from his own background. He was born in Serbian father and Croatian mother in Indiana. At university, he attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and received a bachelor's degree in Soviet Studies. After five years in the military, he began coaching at Pomona College in Southern California, where he became head coach in 1979. He worked as his head coach at home, talked to the students, popularized something called "Serbian tacos" and played with murals with professors. Finally, the Spurs arrived.
By 1996, Popovich had risen to become the head coach through the organization. The following year, a series of unfortunate injuries (mainly Robinson) were one of the worst teams in the league, which gave them odds in the NBA Draft lottery, where they won first place: Tim Duncan. Duncan was a native of the Virgin Islands and became an ideal key figure in Popovich's tenure. Pop later explained that Duncan was a soul mate - someone he wanted to have a conversation with anyone else at dinner. Popovich once said: "He is the most real, consistent, real person I have ever met."
To complement Duncan, Popovich ignored the prospects of American high school prodigy and blue chip academy and instead drafted a series of unpopular international players who fit his favorite game style: cohesion, defense-first basketball, and emphasis on passing. No player is bigger than the team. The pop music team draws meaning from overseas experiences, just like the European football style of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff’s revolution. Players are essentially interchangeable, whipping the ball quickly and dazzling save the defense. The result is the purest form of basketball. If that means their teammates can participate Great Shooting in the basket. Watching the Spurs offense, to me, it feels like watching an artist at work - every stroke is intentional and the finished product is a masterpiece. (The Spurs ended up winning five titles during their time as coach in the pop era.)
Under Popovich, the Spurs drafted French speed racers Tony Parker and Argentina Dynamo Ginóbili, whose respective "teardrop" and "European Step" techniques were quickly imitated throughout the U.S. race. The team's roster is often similar to the United Nations conference, with other players from Slovenia, Brazil, Australia and Italy. However, pop music is not just an international game, it also brings perspective. The players were shocked by their infamous supper, where he stamped the label to allow the wine to flow freely. He cares about his players and works hard to build relationships to keep anyone in the NBA.
He once said, “It’s great to win the championship, but winning the championship quickly disappeared.” “The satisfaction I got from Tony Parker brought his kids to the office, or some other player through the program, and now I hired him as a coach and he’s back – it’s satisfying.” This style is rare but infectious. In the sports business, it’s natural to want to be the best thing – get the most money, get the most playing time, and get the biggest praise. But Popovich always acts like he is more than just a basketball.
Pop didn't leave the organization; it felt like an ending, dragging on every emotion I had. As long as I can watch the sport, Pop is the only head coach of my favorite basketball team. When I saw the news on Friday, I gave my best friend Allen, of nearly 20 years, and I came back with him at the Halloween game, and it was the last time for the Master.
I offer the only word I can summon: "Damn. Pop is really retired."