By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-10-02 16:33:16
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 于2025年9月29日星期一，在圣安东尼奥举行的球队媒体日上向记者发表讲话。(美联社照片/达伦·阿贝特)
从头到尾，这位马刺队的主教练都遵守了所有的规则。
他准时到达，坐在指定的座位上。他按照指示，对着摆放在赞助商背景板前恰到好处的麦克风讲话。即使他曾有过冲动，想对某个无聊的问题开个玩笑——这或许可以理解——他还是克制住了。
总而言之，这位教练以一种循规蹈矩、一本正经，甚至可能带有一丝敬畏的态度，对待着NBA季前赛媒体日这一年一度的盛会。
这就引出了一个显而易见的问题：米奇·约翰逊这是真的打算取代格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 吗？
此时此刻，在某个地方的跑步机上，约翰逊的前任正为这个笑话而开怀大笑，甚至可能为自己终于迎来一个不必再参与他最讨厌的“走过场”的秋天而欣喜若狂。
近三十年来，没有人能像波波维奇那样，一针见血地戳穿NBA宣传机器那些令人麻木的浮夸言辞，而约翰逊恐怕还需要积累相当的资历，才能以同样的方式应对这一切。
毕竟，对于一个38岁、从未执教过赛季揭幕战，更不用说季后赛的教练而言，当有人问及他首次执掌训练营的优先事项时，他至少得假装给出一个严肃的回答。
约翰逊说：“我的工作是为球员们确立愿景和期望，而他们的工作则是将这一切变为现实。”
这种愿景的构建，正是本赛季季前赛的新意所在。约翰逊的声音并不新鲜——自从11个月前波波维奇中风后，他接手球队以来，马刺球员们就一直听着他在战术暂停和球队会议中发号施令——但直到现在，那个声音都只是在重申波波维奇的计划。
从现在开始，这些计划将是约翰逊自己的。战术、体系、预期的比赛风格？全都由他决定。当然，这些都建立在波波维奇29年来所构建的一切基础之上，并且由马刺队在夏天组建的令人印象深刻的新教练团队进行了微调，但约翰逊对所有事情都拥有最终决定权。
他不再是临时的看管者，也不再是上赛季他担任了77场比赛的官方头衔——代理主教练。他的“代理”身份已经结束了。
这意味着，尽管约翰逊仍然将波波维奇体系的原则铭记于心，并继续寻求他的建议（他表示自己几乎每天都这么做），但他可以更多地展现出自己的风格。
“米奇是他自己的教练，”马刺队内效力时间最长的球员凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 谈到这位他已认识六年多的前助教时说，“他有自己的风格。”
这是否意味着，在米奇·约翰逊首次执掌训练营的未来几周里，马刺队将植入一系列全新的战术，并彻底改变比赛风格？或许并不会。
在拥有德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 在维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 身边提供大量组织进攻选择的情况下，圣安东尼奥希望打出快节奏，但这种转变在波波维奇时期就已经开始了。
这或许听起来有些反直觉，因为波波维奇一直被认为是联盟中最杰出的防守教练之一，但最重大的变化可能来自球场的防守端。约翰逊的新助教团队包括科利斯·威廉姆森 (Corliss Williamson) 和肖恩·斯威尼 (Sean Sweeney)，后者曾先后在密尔沃基和达拉斯为主教练杰森·基德 (Jason Kidd) 效力，并因其出色的防守调教工作而备受赞誉。
考虑到十月是NBA球队一年中唯一能获得大量训练时间的月份，这是对马刺队场上打法进行任何调整并付诸实施的最佳时机。
标准将保持不变，但细节可能会有所不同。
约翰逊说：“我认为我的工作就是明确我们试图实现的目标，以及我们所期望的结果。”
在信息传递方面，这简直是师承波波维奇。无论是年轻球员还是经验丰富的老将，他们对波波维奇执教风格的一致赞誉是，他们从不怀疑他对自己的期望是什么。
如果一切都按照约翰逊的计划进行，那么他的球员们对于他的期望，也同样不会有任何疑问。
如果这个赛季真的进展顺利呢？
到了四月，甚至五月，这位马刺队的主教练再走到那个有赞助商背景板的指定座位前时，就会明白他不必遵守所有的规则了。
只要他已经确立了属于自己的规矩。
点击查看原文：During first preseason in charge, Mitch Johnson setting own course
During first preseason in charge, Mitch Johnson setting own course
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson speaks to reporters during the NBA basketball team’s media day in San Antonio, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
From start to finish, the Spurs’ head coach followed all of the rules.
He arrived at the scheduled time, and sat in his assigned seat. As instructed, he spoke directly into the microphone, perfectly positioned in front of the sponsored backdrop. And if he ever felt the urge to poke fun at an inane question, which might have been understandable, he resisted it.
All in all, the coach treated the annual spectacle of preseason NBA media day with a sense of compliance, and of formality, and perhaps even of reverence.
Which brings up an obvious question: Is Mitch Johnson even trying to replace Gregg Popovich?
On a treadmill somewhere, Johnson’s predecessor is laughing at that joke, if not outright rejoicing over the long-awaited arrival of an autumn that won’t require him to take part in one of his least favorite charades.
For almost three decades, nobody cut through the mind-numbing grandiosity of the NBA’s hype machine quite like Popovich did, and it probably will be a while before Johnson earns enough skins to handle it the same way.
After all, a 38-year-old guy who’s never coached a season opener, let alone a playoff game, has to at least pretend to give a serious answer when someone asks about priorities for his first training camp in charge.
“It’s my job to set the vision and expectations for the players,” Johnson said, “and then it’s their job to bring that to life.”
That vision-setting is what’s new about this preseason. Johnson’s voice isn’t – the Spurs have heard it leading huddles and team meetings ever since he took over for Popovich following his stroke 11 months ago – but until now that voice was reiterating Popovich’s plans.
Starting now, the plans are Johnson’s own. The schemes, the system, the intended style of play? All his. They are founded, of course, on everything Popovich built for 29 years, and they’re fine-tuned in part by an impressive new staff the Spurs assembled over the summer, but Johnson has the final say on all of it.
He’s not a caretaker anymore. He’s not an acting head coach, which was his official designation for 77 games last season. The acting part is over.
This means that even though Johnson keeps the tenets of Popovich’s system in mind and continues to seek his counsel (which he said he does almost every day), he can show a little more of himself.
“Mitch is his own coach,” Keldon Johnson, the Spurs’ longest-tenured player, said of the former assistant he’s known for more than six years. “He has his own style.”
Does that mean the Spurs will spend the next couple of weeks installing a bunch of completely new plays into a totally different style of play as Mitch Johnson runs a training camp for the first time? Probably not.
With De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper providing a bevy of playmaking options around Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio will want to play fast, but that transformation had begun under Popovich.
It might sound counterintuitive, considering that Popovich long was known as one of the league’s most brilliant defensive coaches, but the most significant changes might come at that end of the floor. Johnson’s new assistants include Corliss Williamson and Sean Sweeney, who was particularly well-regarded for the defensive work he did for head coach Jason Kidd in both Milwaukee and Dallas.
Considering that October is the only time of year when NBA teams are able to get significant practice time, this is when any adjustments to the Spurs’ on-court approach have the best chance of being implemented.
The standards will be the same. The details might be a little different, though.
“I think it’s my job to have the clear objectives of what we’re trying to achieve, and the outcomes that we’re looking for,” Johnson said.
In terms of messaging, that’s right out of Popovich’s playbook. One thing that young players and seasoned veterans always praised about his coaching style was that they never had any doubt about what he expected them to do.
If things go according to Johnson’s plan, there won’t be any doubts about what he expects from his players, either.
And if the season goes really well?
By April, or even May, the head coach of the Spurs will approach his assigned seat in front of the sponsored backdrop, knowing he doesn’t have to follow every rule.
As long as he’s set a few of his own.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News