SAN ANTONIO - Not many coaches could have put this Spurs team in a position to have the best record in the league, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has done it and some are calling him coach of the year.
“For the record, Gregg Popovich gets the ‘coach of the year’ vote that i don't have,”
wrote Bill Simmons on ESPN.com. “The way Pop managed everyone's minutes, juggled his rotation, coaxed a decent season from an aging Duncan, landed that 1-seed and kept his team intact for the playoffs was nothing short of spectacular.”
Simons also wrote, “This Spurs team was more like a beautiful, slightly broken-down sailboat sailing across the Atlantic -- it needed a skipper who had done the trip a few times, understood his boat completely, could make a few on-the-fly fixes if anything happened, clicked with his crew completely, and wouldn't panic if water ever started spurting from the deck.”
But it wasn’t all praise from Simmons. He doesn’t think the Spurs will win the championship.
“I just don't think they can beat the Lakers or Bulls,” Simmons wrote.
We'll find out if the actual voters feel the same as Simmons during the playoffs. Hopefully, we'll see pop with that trophy.
