Goodbye Popovich! Goodbye NBA! The greatest head coach in history confirmed his departure, the Spurs are very sorry

On May 3, the NBA ushered in big news. The Spurs officially announced that Popovich had stepped down as the team's head coach, completely ending this legendary 29-year coaching career. The team's new head coach will be taken over by assistant coach Johnson. But for Popovich, the Spurs obviously did not want to let him go, but instead hired him as the team's operations president and continued to assist the Spurs in the training plan for new stars such as Wenban Yama.

As the greatest head coach in the history of the Spurs and even the entire NBA history, Popovich coached for 29 years, winning the first record of 1,422 regular season victories, and a dynasty monument created by 5 championship trophys. From the mess that the Spurs had only 26 wins and 56 losses when they took over in 1996, to the beginning of the shrinking season in 1999, Popovich used the iron law of "defense first" to reshape the team's genes, making players believe that selflessness is more important than data.

When Duncan was selected in 1997, he forced the "Stone Buddha" to practice 100 more board-wiping shots every day. In 2001, he signed Parker. He bombed French teenagers at 6 a.m. for three consecutive weeks to test his stress resistance. In 2005, Ginobili's "demon sword was unsheathed" was acquiesced as a tactical loophole. He found a delicate balance between discipline and creativity. This kind of management art of "teaching according to aptitude" reached its peak after being scored by Ray Allen in the 2013 Finals. After the game, Popovich did not accuse Leonard of missed the free throw, but instead played the opera "Turandot" in the locker room to relieve stress, which eventually led to the championship the following year.

When the Spurs management uses "reshaping urban DNA" to define Popovich's contribution, it is definitely not just a PR rhetoric. In 2001, he persuaded the team to move home to the economically sluggish East District, driving the appreciation of surrounding catering and real estate by more than US$3 billion. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he opened the arena to take in 3,000 victims. During the 2020 BLM campaign, he organized players to provide legal aid to the black community, which made him the only sports person in Texas to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Ph.D. in Humanities Honors from State University.

Looking back at Popovich's legendary career, some people may question that Duncan's appearance made him, but fans who know the Spurs know that in the post-Duncan era, Popovich trained the top offense and defense super giant Leonard, trained All-Star guard Murray, and Wenban Yama, who quickly grew into a top defensive superstar when he first entered the league.

It is worth mentioning that in fact, Popovich had the idea of ​​leaving as early as after Duncan retired, but the Spurs unexpectedly chose Vampanyama in the trough. Popovich saw Duncan's shadow in him, so he delayed his retirement time and hoped to use his last energy to help the Spurs. Unfortunately, last year's stroke completely disrupted the Spurs' management plan. The elderly body can no longer support Popovich to follow the team around, so after comprehensive weighing, the Spurs chose the best of both worlds and agreed to the latter step down, but they only changed the way to continue serving the Spurs.