On the same day that Coway Leonard scored 45 points in Toronto, the Spurs' journey of this season ended abruptly. Popovich, 70, ended his 23rd season in charge of the Spurs. It suddenly dawned on people that the contract of this ancient and rare old man was about to expire in the summer.
Popovich last renewed his contract when he won the championship with GDP in 2014. He continued for five years, and the summer of 2019 came in the blink of an eye. After 23 years of service with the Spurs, Popovich witnessed the comings and goings of David Robinson, GDP and Leonard, the disciples of these superstars, and his last shift of duty ended.
Popovich has been in charge for a long time. Many Spurs fans of the post-80s and post-90s generation have only seen him as the coach of the Spurs. Few people noticed that he was also a Spurs assistant for six years, until he was 48 years old. In the past 22 years, he has become the greatest player in the NBA coaching world. His professional ability is recognized by the league, and many champion coaches regard him as a spiritual mentor. As an old man over seventy, Bobo still keeps his passion for teaching. The team lost power at the last minute of the Nuggets' tiebreak, leaving him screaming excitedly on the sidelines.
This round is quite like the epitome of Popovich's coaching situation in the past two years. Even if the Spurs players committed a foul in this round, it is only theoretically possible for them to catch up with the three-point target of 6 out of 23 in this game, but the players gave up in advance. Popovich's last time to win the championship in recent years was the first match of the 2017 West Duel. Since then, the Spurs have become a team in the middle of the league. Bobo has won 5 championships. He knows what cards he has. At this age, Popovich is responsible for a team that has no hope of winning the championship.
In the five years after winning the championship, Popovich has done his best to maintain the competitiveness of the team. He raised his coaching record to 1245 wins. There are dynastic teams like Warriors. Popovich is still trying to create problems for them. In the 2016-17 season, under the shadow of the Big Four Warriors, he brought the Spurs to 61 wins and 21 losses, and Leonard became the top three MVP. That's also the end of the Spurs' 20 consecutive 50 win seasons. In the last two years, Bobo's team has been hovering on the brink of 50 wins.
Popovich was once a beneficiary of superstars, and GDP will enter the Hall of Fame in the future. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili spent 19, 17 and 16 years respectively, helping the Spurs win the only five championships in team history. In recent years, when the Warriors ate the huge bonuses in hand, Popovich had only two Germans available, he did not complain about envy, but racked his brains to fight with the universe bravely. Such a generation of masters can win the greatest respect from the younger generation even if they leave the championship.
According to a recent long report by Atheltic, Popovich has long been a man of the temperament who likes drinking and neglects money. He has the highest coach salary in the league and spends most of it on team building. He has always advocated enjoying life outside the basketball court, which is what his disciples did. One of the most famous examples is Boris Dior.
Popovich has accepted the responsibility of the US men's basketball team for the 2019 China World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. At the national team level, we can still see him coach for two years. At the club level, it will be very interesting whether he will renew a short contract with the team. It's vulgar to say that, but when Popovich handed over his whip, the youth of a generation of Spurs fans really ended.
