The Spurs head coach’s profession has outlasted many, many opponents
NBA seasons come and go. Gamers come and go. However one factor has been constant in San Antonio for the final twenty-seven seasons, Gregg Popovich has been teaching the San Antonio Spurs.
On October twenty fifth, Pop kicks off his twenty eighth season. That is fairly a feat within the fashionable NBA.
I understand this isn’t new data to the Spurs religious, however a graphic in final Monday’s preseason sport caught my eye. It’s not how lengthy Pop has been in San Antonio, it’s what number of opponents he’s coached in opposition to from the identical crew throughout his tenure.
For the reason that 1996-97 season, the Houston Rockets have had seven coaches: Rudy Tomjanovich, Jeff Van Gundy, Rick Adelman, Kevin McHale, J. B. Bickerstaff, Mike D’Antoni, and Stephen Silas.
And this season the Rockets add Pop’s eighth Houston opponent — Ime Udoka.
Udoka, a former Spurs assistant coach (2012-2019), additionally performed beneath Pop throughout two stints with the Spurs between 2007-2011.
This isn’t the primary time Udoka and Pop have confronted off in head-to-head competitors. Ime was the top coach of the Boston Celtics throughout the 2021-2022 season, nabbing the Jap Convention Championship earlier than falling to the Golden State Warriors within the NBA Finals.
Udoka’s spectacular head teaching debut season file of 51-31 did embrace two losses to his mentor. The Spurs received each video games in opposition to the Celtics on November twenty sixth and January fifth. Aside from Monday’s preseason sport, Udoka has but to beat Pop.
Now that Udoka is in Houston, the division rivals may have 4 match-ups: October twenty seventh, December eleventh, March fifth, and March twelfth.
The Spurs and Rockets break up a pair of pre-season video games, however for now, wins and losses solely matter in an summary sense. The Spurs long-time head coach will likely be examined by his former assistant instantly and all through the season at moderately spaced intervals.
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