Like after every regular season, the experts vote for their preferred coaches and players once the playoffs start. Shortly after the announcement or Joakim Noah as the Defensive Player Of The Year, this time is turn for Gregg Popovich to be heralded. The San Antonio Spurs’ head coach has been voted as the Coach Of The Year after leading the Spurs to the best record during the regular season.
The Spurs organization has reportedly announced a press conference for tomorrow. It can only be for Popovich’ award-winning announcement and the award is a deserved one for one of the best coaches to ever be at the NBA level.
Popovich received 59 first place votes (out of 125 from media members) and had 380 total points, which kept him just ahead of Jeff Hornacek of Phoenix - who came in second – and far above Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau who finished third in the voting.
Popovich was no short of spectacular this year. The 65-year-old led San Antonio to a 62-20 record but his impact clearly goes beyond the numbers. He has built a system around the Big Three of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker but he has also given space to role players and emerging stars to come through as pivotal pieces. In that sense, the great year had by the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills can easily be attributed to Popovich’s coaching style.
This is the third time Popovich wins the award. This kind of recognition doesn’t really drive him to succeed but there’s no question that he deserves the spotlight from time to time. The entire Spurs organization has constantly been labeled as old, past their prime or set to start regressing, but they always find a way to compete with the best teams around The Associaction.
All of that is in part to Popovich’s great coaching. He has shown once again he’s the best coach in the NBA and has been deservedly recognized as such.