The San Antonio Spurs introduced Wednesday that Corridor of Fame coach Gregg Popovich suffered a gentle stroke on Nov. 2 at Frost Financial institution Heart and stays out indefinitely.
Popovich is anticipated to make a full restoration, in response to the staff, and has already commenced a rehabilitation program.
A mannequin of consistency in Popovich’s 29 seasons, San Antonio finds itself in unfamiliar territory because the coach’s absences over the past six video games marks probably the most consecutive outings he is missed within the common season or the playoffs.
Mitch Johnson, 37, has served because the Spurs’ appearing head coach all through Popovich’s absence. Johnson will coach the Spurs for the foreseeable prolonged future, a supply instructed ESPN’s Shams Charania. From there, although, it is unclear whether or not San Antonio has a definitive plan to switch Popovich, ought to he select to retire.
“It is clearly a tricky state of affairs to cope with,” stated Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, who labored below Popovich for 3 years (2000-03) as an assistant in San Antonio. “I am positive all people is in contact with him a method or one other, and I simply proceed to hope for the most effective. It appears like he’s going to be OK.”
Here is the newest the newest on Popovich and the Spurs:
When might Popovich return?
The assertion the Spurs launched Wednesday stated “At this level, a timeline for his return to the sidelines has not been decided.”
The actual fact Johnson began his media availability on Nov. 4 with an announcement on Popovich’s affect on the franchise was telling, as was Chris Paul’s admission that the staff nonetheless hasn’t spoken with the coach.
“I have not, and do not assume any of the blokes on the staff have,” Paul stated. “Clearly, we wished to. We’re attempting to provide him area, and attempting to verify we will management what we will management.”
Johnson did communicate to Popovich on Nov. 3, the day after his delicate stroke and stated, “he is in good spirits” however added that he was “Not at liberty to talk on [a potential return]. I do not know sufficient info to even attempt to put one thing on the market like that.”
“Clearly, the circumstances are distinctive,” Johnson stated of his dialog with Popovich. “However as a lot continuity and familiarity we will have I feel is what we’re on the lookout for. That is what we all know Pop would need. He stated he needs us to do it. We’ve talked and nothing adjustments.”
What have the Spurs achieved prior to now when Pop was sick or in any other case absent?
Johnson finds himself in an optimum place to succeed as a result of Popovich routinely delegated vital obligations to assistant coaches over time, in response to Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
“The belief and alternative to develop is the primary factor,” Udoka defined. “He places quite a bit in your plate and would not attempt to micromanage, do all of it himself. He needs you to be well-rounded and work on each side of the sport. So, you are doing scouts. However you even have a ton to do with participant growth.
“The belief he instills in his guys might be as a result of he is so assured in what he is achieved and been doing for thus lengthy that he lets you actually develop, which isn’t all the time the case with different locations.”
The Spurs have all the time utilized assistant coaches as fill-ins each time Popovich missed video games. Previously, the assistant drawing that duty was normally the one who had scouted the upcoming opponent coming into the matchup.
Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, former Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown and former Spurs massive man Tim Duncan have all stuffed in for Popovich throughout their time as Spurs assistants.
However this time, it is totally different, as sources have instructed Charania that the group instantly turned to Johnson to take over for Popovich. Johnson has changed Popovich prior to now, main San Antonio in March of 2023 to a 110-99 victory over the Indiana Pacers when the coach fell in poor health.
Johnson additionally stood in for Popovich in 2021 when he attended Tim Duncan’s Corridor of Fame induction.
“This has occurred a couple of instances,” Johnson stated. “My position is totally different. I’ve coached summer time league earlier than. I have been behind the bench. I have been within the G League. All these issues assist the group. That is simply one other alternative in a unique position to hopefully assist the staff win.”
Who’s Mitch Johnson, the Spurs’ present interim coach?
Johnson, 37, joined the workers as an assistant with the Austin Spurs in 2016, shortly establishing himself as a rising star within the teaching ranks. Many across the NBA stated he was poised to turn into a head coach coming into the season, and was spectacular in interviews for head-coaching positions with different groups, sources stated.
Johnson is the son of former two-time NBA All-Star John Johnson, and first spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the franchise’s G League affiliate in Austin, serving to it win a G League title in 2018 earlier than becoming a member of Popovich’s workers in 2019.
He performed faculty basketball at Stanford, the place he averaged 5.3 factors and 4.1 assists because the Cardinal superior to the NCAA match twice throughout his tenure. Johnson additionally performed briefly within the G League for Tulsa.
What different assistants are on the Spurs’ bench?
Brown spent 9 years as an assistant below Popovich in San Antonio earlier than leaving in 2013 to turn into head coach of the 76ers. Brown coached for seven seasons in Philadelphia, however returned to San Antonio in 2022 as an assistant. Matt Nielsen serves as the opposite assistant on the bench.
Brown, 63, is concentrated on his position as a participant growth coach. The membership initially employed him in 2002, when the Spurs first introduced future Corridor of Famer Manu Ginobili to San Antonio from Europe, and instantly paired him with Ginobili to assist in his growth.
Sources have stated that in recent times Johnson and Nielsen have dealt with a lot of San Antonio’s movie research as Popovich has step by step delegated these obligations to assistants.
Like Johnson, Nielsen labored with San Antonio’s G League affiliate earlier than becoming a member of Popovich’s workers, serving as head coach of the Austin Spurs throughout the 2020-21 season, after working the earlier season as an assistant there. Nielsen initially started his teaching profession in San Antonio as a participant growth assistant throughout the 2014-15 season and hung out as an assistant with the membership’s Summer time League staff from 2014-19.
Nielsen labored as the top coach of San Antonio’s Summer time League staff going into Victor Wembanyama’s rookie season.
ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.
