San Antonio– San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich has a new record under his belt. He has become the first coach in NBA history to reach 1,200 career wins with one team.
Popovich began his career with the Spurs during the 1988-89 season as an assistant and became head coach in 1996. He has led the Spurs to the playoffs for 21 out of 22 seasons as head coach and won five NBA Championships during his reign with the team.
He has coached some of the greatest players during his time including David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, and Dominique Wilkins. He has also coached Spurs’ fan favorites Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Pop is arguably one of the greatest – if not the greatest- NBA coach of all time. He has successfully been able to instruct a multitude of players who display diverse physicality, attitudes and athleticism. He also showed his true passion and depth as a coach during the 2014 NBA Finals.
Following the tough loss to the Miami Heat in 2013, he considered retiring as head coach. He was also faced with a mentally crushed Spurs team. During this time, he showed his true adversity and strength as a leader. He dove into a more military-style training during the offseason and adapted a passing-and-movement style that changed the NBA for years to come. His revised coaching style had never been seen before, and he was able to successfully defeat the Miami Heat and their unstoppable force, Lebron James.
The NBA has seen a lot of coaches, techniques, and styles throughout the years. Coach Popovich has been through a lot as a head coach with career highs and lows, but one thing that stands out is his consistency. Since 1996, he has not had a season that was less than .500. Although the Spurs team has a brand-new roster with new young players on the court, Popovich has a brand-new challenge on his hands and something tells me that he will do just fine.
