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。
By Danny Chau 5月2日，美国太平洋时间晚上10:09
马刺传奇教练即将离开教练席，但他永远不会停止教导。波波成功的秘诀一直就在我们眼前！
“我能很快地看穿人，” 格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich) 曾经说过。“谁自命不凡？谁已经克服了自负？谁是利他的，谁不是？”
这并不是说这位圣安东尼奥马刺队的长期主教练强加了一种特定的处世方式——毕竟，他曾最大限度地发挥了像大卫·罗宾逊一样守序善良的球员，也发挥了像马努·吉诺比利一样混乱善良的球员；像布鲁斯·鲍文一样守序邪恶的球员，以及像科怀·伦纳德一样绝对中立的球员。波波维奇像任何教练一样，理解球队动态的复杂性。各个部分构成了整体。随着时间、奉献、纪律，以及格雷格·波波维奇在近三十年的NBA辉煌生涯中一直保密的各种疯狂方法，整体变成了一个整体。
当2025年年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)本周早些时候与过去获得年度最佳新秀的马刺球员大卫·罗宾逊、蒂姆·邓肯和维克托·文班亚马合影时，这是一幅令人鼓舞的画面，展现了马刺队跨越时空的真正文化底蕴。这是一个密集的交织。对于大多数球队来说，进行跨世代的比较可能会让人觉得是在生硬地构建叙事。但对于马刺队来说，历史以新的方式折叠自身——文班亚马简直就是邓肯的精神续作——几乎感觉像是更宏伟计划的一部分。这证明了波波维奇数十年来在进攻体系中灌输的流畅性，以及我们如何看待圣安东尼奥庇护下的球员。链条上的环节，既不同又不可分割。提到任何一位球员的伟大，就等同于提及他身边的以及在他之前的每一位球员。马刺队在整个联盟的影响力方面从未达到王朝级别，在波波维奇执教生涯的后期，他们甚至没有令人信服的竞争力。但只要波波维奇坐在场边，他们就一直是某种形式的连续性和前瞻性的标杆。
现在，这个整体进入了一个新时代。波波维奇已经从他过去29年一直担任的主教练职位过渡到幕前，他将担任圣安东尼奥的篮球运营总裁。“虽然我对比赛的热爱和激情犹存，但我已经决定是时候卸任主教练了，”波波维奇在周五的一份声明中说。“我永远感谢那些允许我担任马刺队主教练的出色的球员、教练、工作人员和球迷，并且很高兴有机会继续支持这个对我来说意义重大的组织、社区和城市。”
这种转变在逻辑上是有道理的，可以减轻这份工作带来的身体负担，让76岁的波波维奇减少高压的日常责任，同时又不牺牲他至关重要的声音。米奇·约翰逊，由于波波维奇去年11月因中风缺席，本赛季担任临时主教练，现已被任命为球队第18任正式主教练。约翰逊在过去六个赛季一直是波波维奇的教练组成员。波波维奇的继任者总是会从内部产生；只是没有人知道那个时刻何时到来。波波维奇以NBA历史上获胜场次最多的教练身份离开教练席，常规赛获胜1422场。在至少有20年执教经验的教练中，他的胜率仅次于菲尔·杰克逊、红衣主教奥尔巴赫和帕特·莱利。他赢得了五座NBA总冠军。他打造了19个50胜赛季——比任何其他教练都多。他与约翰·伍登并列成为有史以来最伟大的篮球教练。他是一位活着的传奇，但他并不在乎这些赞誉——在周五下午的新闻发布会上宣布一段标志性的主教练生涯的结束是波波维奇的巅峰之作。
“做你所做的事，做好它，并充满激情地去做。但不要担心赞扬或谴责，因为两者都会降临到你身上，” 波波维奇曾说过。“无论你是当地麦当劳的经理，还是波莫纳学院的教练，还是芝加哥公牛队的菲尔·杰克逊，你都会得到赞扬，也会得到谴责，而且两者都是错误的观念。你需要关心你如何做好你的工作，以及如何对待你的家人和朋友。其他一切都不重要。”
NBA是一个彻头彻尾的球员联盟，但在本世纪的大部分时间里，想要战胜马刺队实际上意味着要战胜波波维奇。在最近一集的Mind the Game中，勒布朗·詹姆斯和史蒂夫·纳什深陷在躺椅里，笑着回忆着他们在2000年代与波波维奇竞争时所面临的创伤。“当你和马刺队比赛时，你不仅要击败名人堂级别的球员，还要击败名人堂级别的教练，”勒布朗说，然后纳什打断了他，气恼地说：“我可以打断你一下吗？就像，波波维奇是间谍吗？”当纳什滔滔不绝地发表着心照不宣的阴谋论时，镜头对准了勒布朗的手，他将一瓶酒倒进了自己的杯子里。
在勒布朗赢得总冠军之前，他必须在2007年总决赛中被马刺队横扫。在沙克-科比湖人队成为最后一支“三连冠”球队之前，他们必须在1999年季后赛第二轮中被马刺队横扫，那是圣安东尼奥的首次总冠军征程。迈克·德安东尼是现代篮球中最有影响力的进攻大师之一，但他从未在季后赛系列赛中击败过波波维奇，从2005年到2017年，他在三支不同的球队（太阳队、湖人队、火箭队）的五次交锋中都输掉了比赛。我认为斯蒂芬·库里(Steph Curry)的第一个真正的明星时刻发生在2013年勇士队与马刺队的第二轮比赛的第一场，当时斯蒂芬在57(!)分钟内得到44分……但最终还是输了。
输给波波维奇并不是什么耻辱；而是一种通过仪式。过去四分之一世纪里，篮球界最具代表性的人物都曾与马刺队交手，并在达到他们注定要达到的高度之前失败过。在七场系列赛中试图破解波波维奇的密码似乎会对明星的大脑化学产生影响。波波维奇是篮球界终极导师之一，无论你是否在他的球队。
多年来，波波维奇将比赛中和比赛后的采访变成了一种大卫·布莱恩式的行为艺术，向所有人展示他对这种不便的痛苦。他无法忍受那些平庸的、简单的问题。他很敏感，但不是以脆弱的方式——他的思想似乎经过校准，会给他关心的事情赋予适当的权重。任何使这些交流或多或少超出其本质的东西都变得令人厌恶。如果我们曾经有机会一窥波波维奇的哲学，那就是他在大约十年前在国际篮联教练诊所发表的34分钟演讲中。来自GOAT的“魔术师的秘密被揭示”，但不知何故，观看次数不到70万。
“没有魔法，”波波维奇告诉与会者。“我没有任何秘密战术，如果我有一个，那么400个人也会有同样的战术。这关乎组织，关乎纪律，关乎构建基石，关乎与球员的关系。你如何从一个自私的人身上，或者一个不以你喜欢的方式竞争的人身上，得到一些东西等等。我认为所有这些都比能够画出某种战术更能决定输赢。”
波波维奇总是看到更大的格局。这种清晰的视野和原则在他在马刺队四十多年的生涯中为他提供了良好的服务。随着这位76岁的老人过渡到他熟悉的担任球队前台主要决策者的角色，他将有幸弄清楚当今篮球界最令人羡慕的情况：如何最好地围绕着这项运动有史以来最有天赋的年轻篮球运动员进行建设。从某种意义上说，这是一种背离，但在另一种意义上说，马刺队并没有太大的变化。波波维奇始终不仅仅是一位教练。他是圣安东尼奥的指路明灯。
点击查看原文：Gregg Popovich Has Always Been More Than a Coach
Gregg Popovich Has Always Been More Than a Coach
“I can read people pretty quickly,’’ Gregg Popovich once said. "Who is full of themselves? Who has gotten over themselves? Who is altruistic and who is not?”
That isn’t to say the longtime San Antonio Spurs head coach enforced a specific way of being—after all, he’d gotten the most out of players as lawful good as David Robinson and as chaotic good as Manu Ginobili; as lawful evil as Bruce Bowen and as true neutral as Kawhi Leonard. Pop understood the mosaic of team dynamics as well as any coach could. The pieces make up the whole. And with time, dedication, discipline, and whateverother methods-to-madness Popovich has kept private over nearly three decades of NBA brilliance, the whole becomes a monolith.
When Stephon Castle, the 2025 Rookie of the Year, posed for a photo earlier this week alongside past Spurs rookies of the year David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Victor Wembanyama, it was a heartening visual of the Spurs organization’s true cultural fabric woven across time. It’s a dense weave. For most teams, making cross-generational comparisons can feel like a ham-fisted narrative construction. For the Spurs, the way history folds upon itself anew—the way Wemby simply is Duncan’s spiritual sequel—almost feels like part of the grander scheme. It is a testament to the methods by which Popovich has instilled flow, both in offensive scheme over the decades and in the way we conceive of players within San Antonio’s auspices. Links in a chain, distinct but indivisible. To reference any one player’s greatness is to reference every player alongside him and before him. The Spurs have never been dynastic in their leaguewide influence, and in the late stages of Popovich’s coaching career, they weren’t even convincingly competitive. But they’ve been a standard-bearer of continuity and forward thinking in one form or another for as long as Pop has sat along that sideline.
Now, the monolith enters a new era. Popovich has transitioned from the head coaching position he’s held for the past 29 years back to the front where he will serve as San Antonio’s president of basketball operations. “While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” Popovich said in a statement Friday. “I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organization, community and city that are so meaningful to me.”
The transition makes logical sense to ease the physical tolls of the job, giving Popovich, 76, fewer high-pressure day-to-day responsibilities without sacrificing his all-important voice. Mitch Johnson, who served as interim head coach this season in Popovich’s absence due to a stroke last November, has been named the franchise’s 18th official head coach. Johnson was a member of Popovich’s coaching staff for the past six seasons. Pop’s successor was always going to come in-house; there just wasn’t any way of knowing when that time would come. Popovich steps away from the sideline as the winningest coach in NBA history, with 1,422 regular-season wins. Among coaches with at least 20 years of experience, his win-loss percentage is bested only by Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, and Pat Riley. He’s won five NBA titles. He’s produced 19 50-win seasons—more than any other coach. He is right up there with John Wooden as the greatest basketball coach ever. He’s a living legend, and he couldn’t care less about the acclaim—announcing the end of an iconic head coaching run in a Friday-afternoon news dump is Peak Pop.
"Do what you do, do it well, and do it with passion. But do not worry about plaudits or condemnation, because both are going to come your way,” Popovich has said. “Whether you’re the manager of the local McDonald’s, the coach at Pomona or Phil Jackson with the Chicago Bulls, you are going to get plaudits and you are going to get condemnation and they’re both false notions. You need to care about how you do your work and how you treat your family and friends. Nothing else matters.”
The NBA is a player’s league, through and through, yet for much of this century getting past the Spurs really meant getting past Popovich. In a recent episode of Mind the Game, LeBron James and Steve Nash went deep while slumped in lounge chairs, laughing and reminiscing in solidarity about the traumas they’d faced competing against Popovich in the 2000s. “When you play the Spurs, not only are you trying to defeat the Hall of Fame players, you’re also trying to defeat the Hall of Fame coach,” LeBron said, before Nash cut him off, exasperated: “Can I stop you there for a second? Like, was Pop a spy?” As Nash went on a wink-wink conspiratorial spiel, the cameras focused on LeBron’s hand emptying a bottle of wine into his glass.
Before LeBron could ever win a championship, he had to get swept by the Spurs in the 2007 Finals. Before the Shaq-Kobe Lakers could become the last team to “three-peat,” they had to get swept by the Spurs in the second round in 1999, during San Antonio’s first-ever championship run. Mike D’Antoni, one of the most influential offensive minds in modern basketball, has never beaten Popovich in a playoff series, losing five different matchups from 2005 to 2017 across three different teams (Suns, Lakers, Rockets). I’ve argued that Steph Curry’s first true star-making moment happened during Game 1 of the Warriors’ second-round matchup against the Spurs in 2013, when Steph scored 44 points in 57(!) minutes … in a losing effort.
Losing to Popovich is no indignity; it is a rite of passage. The most iconic figures in basketball over the past quarter century have run up against the Spurs and failed before reaching the heights they were meant to reach. Trying to crack Popovich’s code in a best-of-seven series seemingly does something to a star’s brain chemistry. Pop is one of basketball’s ultimate teachers, whether you’re on his team or not.
For years, Popovich turned the in-game and postgame interviews into a sort of David Blaine performance art, displaying his anguish at the inconvenience for all to see. He couldn’t bear to suffer through inane softball questions. He was sensitive, but not in the fragile way—his mind seemingly calibrated to give things he cared about an appropriate weight. Anything that made those exchanges to be more or less than what they were became unpalatable. If there was ever a time we got an unfettered glimpse into Pop’s philosophy, it came in a 34-minute lecture he gave at a FIBA coaching clinic about a decade ago. A “magician’s secrets revealed”from the GOAT that somehow has fewer than 700,000 views.
“There’s no magic,” Popovich told those in attendance. “I don’t have any secret plays and if I had one, then 400 people would have the same play. It’s about organization, it’s about discipline, it’s about building the blocks, about relationships with your players. How do you get something out of somebody who’s selfish or doesn’t really compete the way you would like or so on and so forth. All those things, I think, have more to do with winning and losing than being able to draw a certain kind of play.”
Popovich always saw the bigger picture. That clarity of vision and principle served him well across more than four decades in the Spurs organization. As the 76-year-old transitions into a familiar role as lead front office decision-maker, he’ll have the pleasure of figuring out the most enviable situation in basketball today: How to best build around the most talented young basketball player the game has ever seen. It’s a departure in one sense, but in another, nothing much has changed in the Spurs organization. Pop has always been more than just a coach. He is San Antonio’s guiding light.
, via https://theringer.com/2025/05/02/nba/gregg-popovich-san-antonio-spurs-coach-career-legacy
