Beijing time this morning (12th), the NBA regular season, the Spurs beat the Jazz. The 73-year-old Popovich won the 1,336th victory of his coaching career, and he surpassed the elder Nelson, becoming the head coach with the most regular season wins in NBA history.
Kelden Johnson rebounded in the frontcourt, and the Spurs' home fans almost tore the roof of the stadium upside down. Popovich is still flat, but the Spurs players have long since ceased to be calm. Everyone knows that the NBA is about to usher in another historic moment. The 73-year-old Popovich won the 1,336th victory of his coaching career, and he surpassed the elder Nelson, becoming the head coach with the most regular season wins in NBA history.
For anyone who is in the AT&T Center right now, it's something to remember and be proud to witness such a historic moment. In 1996, Popovich, who was only 48 at the time, took over as Spurs coach. At that time, no one could have imagined that one day, the coach who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and once regarded becoming a special job as a personal ideal, would be able to spend 26 years with the Spurs and become one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
Throughout popovich's coaching career, he seems to have scoffed at so-called stats and records. However, this night must have been a little different. Although Bobo stressed again after the game, "Such an honor does not belong to one person, basketball is a team sport." You have to preach to your players that they have to work together, and that's certainly what I've done in my life. I've had the privilege of working with all these amazing players, coaches and staff. "But everyone understands what this night really means for Popovich, for the NBA.
Being able to coach a professional sports team for 26 years is already a record worthy of everyone's admiration. Not to mention, Popovich also led the Spurs to 1336 regular-season wins, maintaining a 65% win rate for 26 years. And, from 1997 to 2014, spanning more than 15 years to win 5 NBA championships.
The story of "Cardinal" Auerbach is more legendary, and "Zen Master" Phil Jackson has more championships. But Popovich's experience seems more difficult to replicate. Now, he has arrived at places where his predecessors never arrived. For Popovich's descendants, the unfinished greatness of the present seems to be a more insurmountable mountain.
Obviously, Popovich is also a figure of cross-era significance. When he entered the league, the coach still had great authority, and it was common to coach a team for more than 5 years. But in the past 20 years, the real changes in the NBA are not limited to the style of play, the salaries of players and the influence of international communication, but that the league has completely become a league driven by stars. Because of this, coaches have become a relatively "vulnerable" group. At present, in addition to Popovich, the longest coach in charge of a team, Spoelstra, has only been the head coach of the Heat for 14 years, and the frequent change of managers in various teams has now become a common thing.
In popovich's early days under coaching, he was lucky to meet Duncan and David Robinson. The character of the Spurs Twin Towers and Popovich is the foundation of the later Spurs team culture. They pay attention to sacrifice, pay attention to the team, and now this Spurs team is still branded like this. However, the changes of the times have also given Popovich a huge shock. Leonard's departure, in particular, directly reflects the Spurs' old-school management style and Popovich's coaching philosophy, which seems to be incompatible with the ideas of young superstars. Although in the past 20 years or so, spurs and Popovich have already proved their philosophy to help the team win the championship. However, at this stage, superstars are not only eager for honors, but also for financial gains and privileged positions in the team.
Leonard is not an exception, and Popovich may be the retrograde of this era. The way superstars perceive the world has been changing with the advent of the social media era and the acceleration of the flow of information. Although Popovich has always been able to adapt to the times at the tactical level, the way he recognizes basketball and the way he leads a team to progress has long been deeply rooted and cannot change completely with the development of the times.
Next, the voice of superstars may be further enhanced, "player coaches will become more and more sought after by superstars." Even at some point in the future, the manager will be less important to a team. Their job is nothing more than to lead the team through daily training and to build relationships between the players. Everything on the pitch will be handled by superstars whose personal abilities are more prominent. As Owen said before: "We don't need a manager. ”
Predictably, it will be difficult to have a manager like Popovich who has coached a team for more than 20 years in the future. Even the average number of years coaches in the NBA will be drastically reduced compared to today. Popovich's unfinished greatness will become the limit that everyone in the future generations will find difficult to look up to, and even more difficult to be broken by future generations than the 40,000+10,000+10,000 miracle that LeBron may achieve.
After Michael Jordan retired that year, the Bulls not only retired his jersey, but also erected a bronze statue of him outside the home field. On the world-famous bronze statue, Jordan leapt high to look down on all sentient beings. One day, Popovich may also have his own bronze statue. Popovich's coaching career seems to be more difficult to replicate than Jordan's playing career.
As engraved on Jordan's bronze statue: The best there ever was. The best there ever will be。
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Wen | Ji Mengnian
Edit | Fat Cat