never before in his career Gregg Popovich he had lived with defeat for so long. Even in his remote stage at Pomona College, the legendary coach had had to bring out the white flag in so many games. With nearly 1,500 matches under his belt between Regular Phase and Playoffs, Pop has accumulated experiences for several lives, but at 74 years old, the veteran leader of san antonio spurs He is experiencing an unusual reality in his extensive career.
You can get used to winning relatively easily until it becomes a habit, something that just happens. However, with defeat, the same does not happen in the world of sports. To fall means to be doing things wrong, or not well enough. But what if the only way to win is through learning how to lose? The Spurs were at that crossroads at the end of last season. Too far to fight for the Playoffs, too far from the last places in the West that give more chances for the Draft lottery. It was at the moment when they decided to part with Dejounte Murray that they changed the philosophy that had defined the franchise in the last two decades.. The Texans definitely embraced a traditional reconstruction, which necessarily went through losing, but in the style of Popovich, that is, teaching.
MORE | Jeremy Sochan’s Diary (Part I): Spurs rookie opens up about his ups and downs, All-Star and his hair
With his particular mix of the Socratic method and the classic stick-carrot, Popovich has begun what may be his last great work. The Spurs look like a young, inexperienced team, but also atypical, since they have not concentrated all their efforts on a single player to lead the project. And it is that the project is the team and the team is the project. Pop’s philosophy is still in force, which prevails over the entire collective, finding meaning from the construction of a group idea.
Indeed, San Antonio is in the worst streak in its entire history, with 16 consecutive defeatsincidentally being their worst season in terms of periods without wins, with two occasions in which they have accumulated more than 10 games without winning.
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Nevertheless, there is some consistency to the lofty goal that Popovich is trying to achieve in this difficult season. The elderly coach is laying the foundations of a team whose positive results may only come when he is no longer in charge. With the second worst record in the entire NBA (14-47), the Spurs are giving more than 25 minutes to 4 players aged 23 or younger. All this while building an offensive system based on circulation and cooperation. A bet that makes them the fourth team with the most average assists (26.9) of this campaign with sequences like these:
“We’re always honest with them, we’re not going to shock the world. Our job is to develop people individually, decide who we want to move forward with and introduce them to team concepts so they can play in this league.” Pop recently declared in reference to what the objectives were with this establishment.
Finding meaning in things in the midst of a rain of defeats is always complex. Many franchises get caught in the storm without finding their way back to success, but Popovich’s Spurs seem to be doing the right thing to get out of the hole soon. In the NBA there is nothing worse than mediocrity, that is, being halfway between winning consistently or clearly focusing on the Draft. It took San Antonio a while to realize that they needed to reformulate their plan and, in this 2023, they have finally embraced the reconstruction, but maintaining a very marked philosophy.
The clearest example of this is represented by Jeremy Sochan, he rookie most interesting of this campaign, someone who is not necessarily going to shine by the numbers, but who leaves his mark every time he steps on the field.
It is enough to see him play for a few minutes to see how different he is from the rest and the potential he has:
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In what should be the twilight of his career, Gregg Popovich is making one last effort to build something meaningful on the San Antonio Spurs, proving once again that an organization’s culture has to outlive the figures who built it. That is the true legacy of him and not the titles.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the NBA or its organizations.
