By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-05-05 16:09:55
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
在退役球员马努·吉诺比利（左）和蒂姆·邓肯（右）的帮助下，前圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇（中）于2025年5月5日星期一在圣安东尼奥宣布米奇·约翰逊成为圣安东尼奥马刺队NBA篮球队的新任主教练。(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
他们试图劝阻格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)。他一直在努力进行物理治疗，但他还没准备好。太多事情可能出错。
如果他在走进房间时绊倒了怎么办？如果他的双腿在讲台上突然支撑不住了怎么办？如果他在六个月没有公开讲话后，找不到合适的词语表达怎么办？考虑到所有因素，退出这次活动也无可厚非。
胡说八道。这是波波维奇在礼貌场合经常说的一句话，当有人在寻找借口、逃避责任、或者寻找理由不去承担责任时。作为一名主教练，他已经花了29年的时间来称呼这种废话。他现在不会开始相信这种废话。
所以，管他那些忧心忡忡的人和担心的同事呢，波波维奇周一还是出现了。在76岁高龄，还在中风恢复期的他，让挤满电视摄像师、记者、工作人员和前球员的训练馆看着他走向麦克风，一边是马努·吉诺比利(Manu Ginobili)，另一边是蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)。
他明确地、用他那典型的尖刻幽默解释了为什么是他从教练岗位上退休的时候了，以及为什么米奇·约翰逊是取代他的理想人选。他展示了他的新制服，一件印有“El Jefe”字样的黑色T恤。波波维奇说完后呢？
约翰逊想起了他的前任教给他的最重要的东西。
“你明白这个时刻的意义，”约翰逊告诉波波维奇。
当然。
或许比任何人都更甚，波波维奇知道周一出现在胜利资本训练中心对他来说意味着什么。他知道这对约翰逊意味着什么，这位38岁的长期助教在晋升为全职主教练时得到了俱乐部的公开信任票，但他应该得到NBA历史上胜场最多的教练的公开认可。
波波维奇知道他的出现对马刺队的球员意味着什么，他们将被要求延续他所建立的体系。他知道这对所有他能够感谢的同事意味着什么，包括“售票处的人和中场休息时表演的人”。而且他知道这对所有支持马刺队的球迷——所有将这支球队视为他们生活一部分的人——意味着什么，看到他给予祝福，看到他仍然幽默，看到他仍然谈论他帮助球队赢得比赛的计划。
“我现在这样做的一个原因是，”波波维奇说，“我们必须有一个完全有能力付出最好的人来负责。”
几个月来，波波维奇一直试图相信自己仍然有能力做到这一点，即使是在去年11月在霜冻银行中心的一场比赛前导致他倒下的中风之后。为了重返赛场，他积极地进行康复，吉诺比利和邓肯每天都在球队设施陪同他进行训练。
波波维奇开玩笑说，他的两位名人堂队友是在“报复”他多年来对球队进行的艰苦训练。不过，和球队中的许多其他人一样，吉诺比利和邓肯肯定是从不同的角度看待“报复”这个概念。
毕竟，在他们遇到困难时，波波维奇多次帮助他们，难道他们不应该以同样的方式回报他吗？
马刺队的每个人都感受到了这一点，这就是为什么在波波维奇自己确信他无法给出他所认为的最好状态之前，没有人推动对主教练职位做出最终决定。
“情况每天都在好转，”波波维奇说，“但对于我们未来的计划来说还不够好，所以是时候做出改变了。”
他在这里使用“我们”这个词是有意为之的。波波维奇将继续担任篮球运营总裁——作为“El Jefe”，他仍然是老板——他想传递给球迷的信息是，“我们不会让你们失望的。”
波波维奇仍然致力于马刺队正在努力建立的长期争冠球队，约翰逊也希望如此。在上赛季的最后77场比赛中，当他担任代理主教练时，他经常与他的导师和前任交流。
这不会停止。波波维奇对约翰逊希望成为的那种教练的影响也不会停止。
“我不能成为他，或者El Jefe，”约翰逊说。“但是能够投入到人际关系中——这可能包括吼叫和追究某人的责任，也可能包括搂着某人的肩膀并爱他——他做得比以往任何站在场边的人都好。
“我将尝试用我的方式去做，无论未来是什么样子。”
如果有人试图告诉约翰逊，承担责任不值得，或者尝试困难的事情可能会出错，该怎么办？
他会知道那是胡说八道。他会理解这个时刻的意义，就像在他之前的教练一直做的那样，直到最后。
当波波维奇最后一次不负众望。
Former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, center, arrives to a news conference with current and former players where Mitch Johnson was introduced as the new head coach of the Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Mitch Johnson, left, sits with former player Manu Ginobili, center, and former San Antonio Spurs head coach as he waits to be introduce as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
With the help of former players Manu Ginobili, left, and Tim Duncan, right, former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, center, introduces Mitch Johnson as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Mitch Johnson answers question after he was introduced as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, center, claps as Mitch Johnson is introduced as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Former San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball head coach Gregg Popovich, left, leaves following a news conference with former players as new head coach Mitch Johnson, second from right, poses for photos with Spurs General Manager Brian Wright, right, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
With the help of former players Manu Ginobili, left, and Tim Duncan, right, former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, center, introduces Mitch Johnson, seated, as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
点击查看原文：Finger: One last time, Gregg Popovich lives up to the moment
Finger: One last time, Gregg Popovich lives up to the moment
With the help of former players Manu Ginobili, left, and Tim Duncan, right, former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, center, introduces Mitch Johnson as the new head coach of the San Antonio Spurs NBA basketball team, in San Antonio, Monday, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
They tried to talk Gregg Popovich out of it. He’d been busting his tail at physical therapy, but he just wasn’t ready. Too many things could have gone wrong.
What if he’d stumbled walking into the room? What if his legs had given out right there at the podium? What if, after going six months without speaking in public, he couldn’t find his words? All things considered, there would have been no shame in sitting this one out.
Baloney. That’s what Popovich often said, in polite company, when someone was looking for an excuse, for a cop-out, for a reason not to take responsibility. He’d spent 29 years as a head coach calling that nonsense what it was. He wasn’t about to start buying into it now.
So, worrywarts and concerned colleagues be damned, Popovich showed up Monday. At 76 years old, still recovering from a stroke, he let a practice gym full of TV cameramen, reporters, staffers and former players watch him as he strode to the microphone, with Manu Ginobili over one shoulder and Tim Duncan over the other.
He explained, definitively and with his typical biting humor, why it was time for him to retire from coaching, and why Mitch Johnson is the ideal man to replace him. He showed off his new uniform, a black T-shirt with the title “El Jefe” printed on the front. And when Popovich was finished?
Johnson was reminded of what he called the most important thing his predecessor taught him.
“You understand the moment,” Johnson told Popovich.
Darn right.
More than maybe anyone, Popovich knew what it meant for him to be at Victory Capital Performance Center on Monday. He knew what it meant to Johnson, the 38-year-old longtime assistant who’d received a very public vote of confidence from the organization when he was promoted to full-time head coach, but who deserved to get a public endorsement from the winningest coach in NBA history, too.
Popovich knew what his presence meant to the Spurs players who will be asked to carry on the program he built. He knew what it meant to all the co-workers he was able to thank, including “the people from the ticket office and the people who put on a show during timeouts.” And he knew what it meant to everyone who roots for the Spurs – everyone who considers that team a part of their lives – to see him granting his blessing, to see him still funny, to see him still talking about his plans to help win games.
“One of the reasons that I’m doing this now,” Popovich said, “is that we have to have someone in charge who’s fully capable of giving their very best.”
For months, Popovich tried to believe he still was capable of giving his, even after the stroke that caused him to collapse before a game at Frost Bank Center last November. Intent on returning to the sideline, he attacked his rehab, with Ginobili and Duncan accompanying him during daily sessions at the team facility.
Popovich joked that his fellow Hall of Famers were there as “payback” for all the grueling practices to which he’d subjected the team over the years. Like so many others in the organization, though, Ginobili and Duncan surely viewed the concept of “payback” through a different lens.
After all the times Popovich had been there for them when they were up against it, didn’t they owe him the same?
Everyone with the Spurs felt some of that, which is why there was no push to make a final decision on the head coach’s position until Popovich himself had become convinced he wouldn’t be capable of giving his version of his very best.
“Things are getting better by the day,” Popovich said, “But it’s not good enough for what we plan ahead, and so it’s time to make this change.”
His use of the word “we” there was intentional. Popovich is staying on as president of basketball operations – as “El Jefe,” he’s still the boss – and part of his message to fans was, “we won’t let you down.”
Popovich remains invested in the long-term championship contender the Spurs are trying to build, and Johnson wants it that way. Over the final 77 games of last season, when he held the title of acting head coach, he checked in often with his mentor and predecessor.
That won’t stop. Neither will Popovich’s influence on the type of coach Johnson hopes to become.
“I can’t be him, or El Jefe,” Johnson said. “But to be able to commit and invest in people and relationships – and that can be having to yell and hold someone accountable, and that can be to put your arm around someone’s shoulder and love him – he did it better than anybody that’s ever walked the sidelines.
“And I will attempt to do it my way, in whatever that looks like moving forward.”
And if anyone ever tries to tell Johnson that taking responsibility isn’t worth it, or that there are too many things that could go wrong to try something hard?
He’ll know that’s baloney. He’ll understand the moment, the way the coach who came before him always did, all the way to the end.
When Popovich lived up to it, one last time.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News
