On September 17, 1989, 40-year-old Gregg Popovich discussed the future with Robert Buford, who was eleven years younger, in the late summer sunshine of San Antonio.
They are the assistant coach of the NBA Western team San Antonio Spurs, followed by the world-famous Larry Brown head coach. Popovich was born in Chicago to a father from Serbia and a mother from Croatia. He served in the Air Force and liked Dostoevsky. By the age of 40, he had an old man's face, gray hair, and a potholed face that was often as heavy as water.
His buddy, Buford, came from the University of Kansas with Coach Larry Brown at the age of 28.
This summer, the Spurs welcomed David Robinson.
In the 1996-97 season, David Robinson missed six weeks of the season due to a back injury, with the Spurs winning 3 and losing 15. The back injury healed, Robinson returned, and then his left foot was injured again. In fact, that season, Spurs injuries were almost epidemicatic: Robinson, Chuck Payson, Charles Smith and Elliott missed a total of 264 games. Therefore, Popovich, who was already the general manager of the team at the time, took up his own post as a coach. The Spurs ended the 1996-97 regular season with a 20-62 loss.
The last time they were so bad was in the 1988-89 season. After that, they welcomed David Robinson, the savior. What about this time in 1997?
They waited for Tim Duncan.
In 1999, David Robinson, who was considered too devout to God, less keen to win, and too gentle, accepted Popovich's arrangement. Popovich said:
"David, I think it would be better for the team to have Thiem at the heart of the team's attack."
This was the beginning of spurs philosophy: Popovich was always looking for a bunch of guys who didn't care about glory and were willing to sacrifice everything to win. They don't think about the regular season, they want more. Most of them are running out of time in their careers, hoping to get one more championship ring before they get old. This urgency will prompt them to give up everything.
Popovich has followed many coaches: Bob Hill, Chuck Daly, Fitzsimmons, Larry Brown. From these few, he drew a lot of essence. In his conception, basketball must travel at a fast pace, but fast pace leads to mistakes, and mistakes lead to unpredictability. The coach's duty is to reduce the unpredictability of the game and play steadily. As a result, he asked the Spurs to slow down and focus on a stable and accurate half-court offense and defense — and conversely, if you have the two giants of Duncan and Robinson, plus the second oldest team in the league, there is no need to fight with young people.
Popovich's views are similar to those of most academic coaches, especially Larry Brown, who benefits from Mr. Dean Smith of the University of North Carolina. In Popovich's concept, the defensive area is divided into the opponent's bottom line, the opponent's free throw line, the midfielder's defense, and the defense in the penalty area. Choose according to the different ways the opponent launches the attack. The Spurs have always asked the big man in the frontcourt to interfere with the camera after the opponent catches the rebound in the backcourt and control the opponent's long pass to attack.
In half-court defense, the Spurs do not respect Pat Riley's half-court defense, pressing, heavy physical contact of the ballless defense and rotation. Popovich divided the middle and flanks of the pitch more finely. He hated his opponent for dangling in front of the free throw line and liked to force his opponent towards the sideline. The reason is not difficult to explain: when opponents are forced to the wing, the field of vision is narrow, the pass is limited, and the sideline can be used to help limit their activities. Therefore, Popovich will ask the Spurs to press the opponent towards the side and prohibit cutting in the middle.
At the same time, the Spurs don't like Pat Riley's massive rotations. Popovich explains this way: The more players assist in defense, the greater the demand for teammate rotations. Therefore, too much defense will increase the rotation pressure of teammates and need to be controlled. This is also one of the intentions of the Spurs to force their opponents toward the sideline: the opponent is on the sideline, the passing field is narrow, and when the players on their side make up for it, it is not easy for the opponent to find an empty teammate to transfer the ball.
The Spurs' make-up rotation is another matter. Defenders of the ball should try their best to lure the opponent to the flank, and the opposing player closest to the opposing ball holder should be blocked around the front. Players on the far end of the opponent's weak side are allowed to be emptied. When the opponent breaks through, the teammates on the far end of the weak side should make up for it.
And the Spurs' most terrible routine is the bottom line trap. After pressing the opponent to the bottom line, the Spurs will deliberately force the opponent to force the bottom line. The recent outside players are still not empty, and the inside players are weak on the side of defense. Opponents will be in a one-two dilemma on the edge of the bottom line penalty area.
This is the basic philosophy of the Spurs' defense: blocking the middle and putting the side, luring the opponent into the sideline trap, relying on the weak side of the inside line to make up for the local two-on-one, forcing the opponent to transfer the ball in a narrow field of vision, trying to make the opponent mistake or slow down the passing speed.
Therefore, the Spurs' defense does not advocate fierce cruelty, but only tries to use accurate standing and cooperation to force the opponent to make long-distance passes, so that the opponent can only choose a difficult jump shot.
Duncan in the 2001-02 season had one more habit. Before, he just played in silence, happy to hug his teammates at most. But this season, when a teammate makes a mistake, he occasionally asks Popovich: "Are you coming or am I coming?" If Popovich told him ,'" Duncan walked over... For example, after Jackson was once scolded for being stupid, Duncan said to the coach, "I'll fix it." Then he sat down next to Jackson, wrapped his arms around him, chatted with him, joked, made the tactics clear, and settled them.
In every sense, Tim Duncan finally became the Spurs' leader in the 2001-02 season, in fifth grade.
In the 2002–03 season, Popovich had the following conversation with Duncan.
"I feel like I'd rather be a follower and an enforcer than a leader."
"But Tim, you have to accept. If you don't take on this role, we can't win the championship. ”
When he heard "Can't win the championship", Duncan's pupils contracted.
Popovich knew that only discussing victory would irritate Duncan. He was well aware that Duncan liked to compete and win—he had even been swimming for so many years that he didn't like to. You can't seduce him with stats, honors, and all sorts of things, except victory.
In 2002, Duncan's father, William Duncan, died. Before dying, he stared at Popovich and asked him to promise, "I want you to be responsible for making sure he retires as he is today." ”
That is, he hopes that when Duncan retires, he will remain as humble and diligent as Duncan in 2002.
That is, he entrusted Duncan to Popovich.
Tony Messenberg, who came to the Spurs in 2004, said that when he first arrived at the Spurs and saw Popovich yelling at Duncan in the locker room, and Duncan bowed his head and said nothing, he thought he was in a team that was about to collapse; then, when Popovich was interviewed in the aisle, and Duncan imitated him behind his back and shook his head, and finally walked by and touched the coach's head, Mason Borg thought he was in a mental hospital. Finally, seeing the two men walking out side by side, he vaguely felt that he had arrived at a not-so-normal team. "For the first time in 12 years, I've seen teams with the same treatment as the main players and substitutes." New Zealand bench captain Sean Max did this: He hid Ginobili's underwear in the fridge and let the Argentine walk around the dressing room bare-butt to find a replacement. Max was proud of this:
"Inside this team, it's not boring at all!"
Less than halfway through the first quarter of the first match of the 2005 Finals, Coach Popovich called a timeout. Rashid Wallace made two shots in the opening, and with Hamilton's mid-range shooting, the Spurs were already behind 4-13 — and it was their home field. In the words of some of the players after the game:
"We were a little overexcited."
Popovich, on a timeout, uttered a typical Spurs-style sneer:
"It would be nice if you could play a little bit of tactics on the offensive end, and maybe, if I didn't ask for too much, could you defend a little bit?"
Popovich was a disciple of Larry Brown, and they both loved detail and discipline and hated laissez-faire. And Ginobili is the most unruly demon. Spurs assistant coach Carriesimo said:
"Want to follow Ginobili? Good luck. Half the time, he didn't know what he wanted to do. ”
If it were two years ago, the stubborn Popovich would not have let Ginobili go, but Popovich in 2005 was willing to give him some freedom. Because Ginobili taught Popovich something:
"He made me believe that you can do weird things, unpredictable things, get off the line occasionally, but still let the positive things happen." Whatever he does, he just wants to win, and he has the innate desire to compete like Jordan. ”
The day before the January 2007 game against the Lakers, Popovich approached Ginobili and told him that in order to keep the bench alive, the Argentine would be on the bench. Popovich afterwards described Ginobili's reaction this way:
Before I could start speaking, he laughed. He said, 'How can I wait so long, I can't wait to play the bench.' ’”
In the summer of 2012, Duncan signed a three-year, $30 million contract.
"Why only signed for three years 30 million? My negotiation skills are terrible. I found a place for Bob to sit down. He asked me if you wanted to get this done? I said yes. And he said, "Okay, let's talk." And then it's done, and it's easy. —Duncan said.
"He toyed with me, lied to me, threatened me, tortured me in the process!!" — Popovich said.
Of course, people who knew him well said that he was smart, funny, understanding, and even warm,and he would give people he knew a heartfelt hug, but for a long time, like Duncan, he had a cold face to the outside world. David Robinson knows it all: "Bobo doesn't care at all." By 2013, Popovich had finally raised his indifference to the point of black humor. For example, in the face of questions asked in each game, he would answer the non-questions and freeze the questioner and the national audience with one or two sentences. Craig Saggy, the head of TNT, asked this question:
"I often try to ask questions that he can't answer with yes or no, but to no avail. For example, if I ask him what his impression of the first verse is, he will answer that he is nothing. I asked him why the team couldn't rebound, and he would say, 'What do you want me to do?' Send players in the middle of the game to develop the league? ’”
The most tragic story is that one day, Saji saw that Popovich was twice as depressed as usual, so he tried to joke: "Your spirit is like the death of the family dog." Popovich looked at him: "Yes, my dog is really dead." Then he said to Saji, "Don't mention this on the radio, or there will be a thousand dogs in my foyer tomorrow morning." ”
But everyone believes that Popovich has a kind of myth. Ginobili said one thing:
"Every time I talk to people and say we have one kind of problem or another, people look like, 'Okay, but you always think of a way.'" Well, because we're Spurs. ”
After losing the 2013 Finals, Popovich wanted to change a little, and in the fall of 2013, the team drove the bus to the training hall and went to other places on the way. In the middle, Popovich called for a stop, took the assistant coach out of the car, and said to the players: "Sit for a while!" ”
The players were in a daze, then saw a policeman coming and started yelling. The players were terrified. They don't know whether to laugh or Coach, what the are you doing? So there was silence in the car. The coach and Popovich hid behind a roadside tree, about to die laughing.
It's a test for Popovich: he wants to see what players do in extreme situations. The conclusion is that the players just wait quietly, whispering or making eye contact with each other. It wasn't until the police said, "Okay, relax," and they started laughing wildly, that the players understood.
afterwards? Well, they played the leggings obstacle course. Parker fell into a puddle. When Duncan crossed the obstacle, Popovich was a little worried, because if he was injured, the reporter would ask "Coach, duncan fell and injured his back when you played this, what is wrong with your brain?" ”
But Duncan played anyway, and he was in a lot of fun. The whole team was like this, and on the way back, a group of people laughed madly, saying that it was the most fun thing they had ever done in their careers. Popovich himself said that for him, in that extreme environment, seeing players like a family chattering with each other, encouraging each other, playing, "it feels better than a million dollars."
And just like that, they're on the road again.
In his early years, Popovich was cold and blunt, fighting for defense, boiling players, attaching importance to tactics, having personal charm, being strict with young people, valuing the dressing room above all else, and fighting with the outside world for the sake of players. In 2014, Popovich was an old man who could talk to balkan foreign players, study wine (he collected 3,000 bottles of wine), study Swedish history, read Turgenev and Dostoevsky, be the best man for Larry Brown, live a colorful life, and tell cold jokes.
Although he would only say "yes", "no", "what do you expect from me" in the interview? Leave them all behind? ”
Increasingly, he would let Duncan set everything up during the timeout and go for a walk with the assistant coach himself.
"Because I believe they can solve the problem themselves." Popovich said.
Duncan will recall what Popovich said to them on the day after Game 6 of the 2013 Finals:
"I know you're not going to believe it right now, but if you think ray Allen's shot is the worst thing you've ever had, you're kind of looking at life for the simple. You have jobs, you have wives, you have children. Unfortunate destruction is what happens, and that's life. Swallow this bitter fruit, and if this is the worst thing that has happened to you, then you are really lucky. Go ahead, let's go on fighting. ”
In the long period of 1997-2010, the Spurs have actually been implementing the routine of "double inside line one high and one low, low singles, high block demolition". So the Spurs' offense has been dependent on Duncan's singles, Ginobili + Parker's blocking, other Bowen's bottom corner three-pointers, the fire threat of another shooter (Finley, Barry, Captain Jack), and another interior (Admiral, Nestorovic, Oboto, Elson, Bonner) high attacks. In 2010, the generals grew old and Popovich transformed.
In the 2010-11 season, the Spurs played blitzkrieg + three-pointers to maximize Ginobili's organizational skills, the team was lightweight, and the regular season record was excellent, at the cost of being crushed by the Grizzlies' double inside line, resulting in black eight. Since then, Popovich has been bitterly determined, and in the 2011-12 season, he selected Leonard, signed Dior and Mills, and reused Green. In the spring of 2012, the Spurs' offense initially took shape: space open + Parker walking without the ball + blocking and dismantling + strong and weak side transfer + multi-point shooters on the line; in 2013, Split started.
In the 2013-14 season, the Spurs significantly increased the offensive weight of Leonard and Green, and the Spurs became the championship team.
Unlike other teams that "open up space with multiple shooters," the Spurs place more emphasis on multiplayer linkage. For example, the Spurs rarely empty one side and attack with two people now, but a large number of strong side three-man block passes. The Spurs' large number of passes and catches, and a large number of ball holding positions that are not for the basket but only for the sudden points, make the Spurs' offensive line difficult to catch.
Of course, the premise is that the whole team has excellent passing + walking + medium and long-range shooting offensive threats.
On December 19, 2016, Duncan wore a suit at the jersey ceremony — and he joked about it: "I don't wear jeans!" When he spoke, as usual: if he did not look up and speak to the audience, he tried to half-bow his head; the rhythm was steady and the speed of speech was symmetrical. Peaceful, steady, upright.
The subsequent jersey retirement ceremony was logical: the retired jersey hanging high above the home court, followed by Silas, George Gervin, Moore, The Young General, Robinson, Bowen, Elliott, was Duncan.
The last four men have all fought hand in hand with Duncan. In the future, if Parker and Ginobili's Nos. 9 and No. 20 retire, the list will be even longer.
Duncan looked at Popovich and said a long paragraph. Finally, he put it this way:
"Thank you, Coach Bobo, for doing more than just a coach. You're like a father to me. Thank you. ”
Earlier, Popovich said:
"I was finally able to honestly tell Duncan's parents that Duncan is the same person he was when he first joined the Spurs."
On March 12, 2022, Popovich became the no.1 winning head coach in NBA history.