NBA Update: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is most likely to win Coach of the Year award
Every year the Coach of the Year award tops the surprises list, as many coaches have succeeded in changing the fortunes of several dwindling teams over the years.
The pick of the year is San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich or, as he is usually referred to, “Coach Pop” or simply “Pop”. Pop is the longest serving coach after Utah Jazz’s Jerry Sloan.
After San Antonio lost 4-0 to Phoenix Suns last year in the semi-finals of the Western Conference, practically nobody could have even imagined that the Spurs will be the best team in the next season.
Except Popovich ofcourse who had complete faith in his team. He corrected a lot of problems with the team, from the players' fitness to playing style to drafting fresh talent. First he threw away the offense of his team that had brought them four championships
in twelve seasons and then took the core of his team to a totally different dimension.
With the departure of the old offensive style, the Spurs said good bye to their ever dependable, conventional Swiss watch behaviour. As an alternative they adopted an up-tempo style that required a faster speed in conversion and flourished on taking and
making the first open three-point shot.
In the beginning, Pop had spent a great deal of his time with Richard Jefferson in the gym during the off-season. He pinched Jefferson's game and boosted his confidence again since he had a poor first season in San Antonio. Then in the training camp he let
his key players Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker know that he was changing the style of their game.
This new script had worked "fine" for them said Ginobili, who became a regular starter from this season and also the main option in the Spurs' offense for the first time, besides Duncan.
According to Tony Parker "If you're asking any player if he wants to play more minutes, maybe get more shots, have the chance to do more things, I think they'll be ok with that. He's Pop you know. You don't ask questions. You just do it."
To make the long-range shooting more effective Popovich got an un-drafted rookie Gary Neal and forward Matt Bonner giving them the roles of long-range shooters. The transition worked for the Spurs, as they became the leading team of the league in 3-point
shooting with over 39 percent. He sanctioned the impulsive, out of control, Ginobili to do whatever he could and cannily reduced 35-year old Duncan’s role. Nonetheless the former two-time MVP still had been able to win crunch moments for the Spurs.
All of this enabled the Spurs to race out to a 13-1 start and at the New Year's Eve they were 29-4. If they hadn’t lost Duncan, Parker and Ginobili due to niggling injuries, the Spurs would have avoided defeats in their late six-games. They failed to make
most wins franchise record but still if they end up winning their remaining three games, they will at least be able to tie the club record of 63 wins that was set back in 2005-06 season.
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