San Antonio Spurs: 5 reasons to be excited for the 2019-20 NBA season

The coaching staff

The San Antonio Spurs’ coaching staff has been, for as long as I have been alive, nothing short of spectacular. It seems that Gregg Popovich has always had the right people around him and if anything is to go wrong, it can be fixed.

The Spurs have always been known for playing a pure and close to the perfect game of basketball when they are at their high points. At their low points, they simply do not have the firepower to make things happen or late-game blunders like in Game 7 of the Nuggets series fire against them.

Here are some of the former assistants for the Spurs: James Borrego, Brett Brown, Mike Budenholzer, Mike Brown, P. J. Carlesimo, George Karl and Tom Thibodeau, just to name a few recent faces.

The San Antonio coaching tree is massive and their assistant coaches always take something to the table and leave with even more. Current assistants like Becky Hammon, Chip Engelland and Will Hardy are more that play a solid role in their success.

That staff is adding Tim Duncan to its array of assistants. Another big name who can add to the illustrious history of the position. Duncan, along with Hammon, Engelland and Hardy, will provide levels of cerebral, fundamental basketball he was known for in his career.

The best power forward of all time, Duncan can help shape up their frontcourt.

And he has already started. Before he was officially a staff member, Duncan helped scout out the first-round draft pick for the Spurs. San Antonio, with Duncan’s input, picked Luka Samanic 19th overall in June.

Samanic, at 6’11″, was drafted out of Slovenia. Even though the Spurs’ do not usually give rookies high minutes, Samanic has plenty of opportunities to learn behind people like Aldridge and Duncan.

Looking at the commander of it all, Gregg Popovich, you have to feel a level of respect and warmth. Coach Pop is the driving force behind this team’s long term success and will take a spot in the Hall of Fame in 2020.

A man who can reasonably be called one of the greatest coaches of all time in any sport, Pop is staring into retirement. He is 70 years old now, the oldest coach in the league. How many years does he have left as a coach?

In one of his last years, he will be facing some of the most challenging circumstances around the league.