Popovich’s brilliance has Spurs in control

I will give you the Xs and Os part, although drawing up an offensive set to attempt a last-second shot or making the right substitution in the final seconds of an NBA playoff game is likely much tougher for those inside a huddle than all of us watching on television.

Coaching matters in the world's best basketball league, just not in the same manner as it might at your local high school gym or on a college campus.

And if you don't believe it, you haven't watched the San Antonio Spurs.

They have won 18 straight games and are seeking their fifth NBA championship under a coach who is more than in the conversation as the best ever to hold such a position, his team continuing its journey against visiting Oklahoma City on Sunday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Coaching in the NBA is part motivation, part organization, part innovation, part everything about Gregg Popovich. His strengths were obvious before this season. Now, they're just stupid good.

I will give you the players part, because not even the Armani suits of Pat Riley combined with the cigar of Red Auerbach and the Zen persona of Phil Jackson would have produced many wins from the Bobcats this season. There is coaching, and there are miracles.

But while Michael Jordan has proven to be an awful owner in Charlotte, he sure did make Jackson look good during all those championship seasons in Chicago. Talent still reigns supreme.

Popovich, though, is more than just the NBA's best coach. He has designed the model for how any sports franchise should be run, a culture of professionalism and accountability and character and doing things the correct way.

Never has that been more important than this season.

A shortened schedule caused by labor unrest challenged teams to prepare faster, train and practice less, withstand injuries and overcome fatigue. It took its toll on most everyone. The injury part caught up with a few contenders. So did the schedule.

The Lakers weren't as good as the Thunder in a just-completed five-game playoff series won by Oklahoma City, but it also didn't take a sleep doctor to realize how tired Los Angeles appeared.

That's the most impressive thing about the Spurs. Tim Duncan is 36; Manu Ginobili is 34; Tony Parker is 30. But they also are the best example of a Big Three going in the NBA, not a trio in Miami who seem far better at predicting greatness than delivering it.

Reason: Duncan-Ginobili-Parker long ago bought into San Antonio's template for success.

You won't find much of what Popovich teaches when attending coaching clinics. You're not going to hear his name when learning about UCLA cuts or Princeton back-doors or Indiana motion or Wisconsin swing. It's another reason he is so successful. He doesn't attach himself to one philosophy anymore.

His views have changed as the Spurs aged in parts and became younger in others, still winning with defense but more willing now to trust an up-tempo style that has produced the league's best transition offense.

I'm not sure who has more input into final roster decisions - Popovich or general manager R.C. Buford, or both in an equal manner - but San Antonio is better at putting together a team than most.

The Spurs haven't had a selection higher than 20th in the NBA Draft since taking Duncan in 1997, and yet they picked Parker at the end of the first round and Ginobili at the end of the second.

They do things on draft night like give up a popular and productive player in George Hill for an unproven rookie in Kawhi Leonard and it works out perfectly. They've been wrong a few times but not enough to keep them from missing the playoffs only four times in franchise history.

David Robinson helped. Duncan has helped a lot. Parker and Ginobili have proven to be anything but low draft picks. Popovich hasn't had Zen Master-type talent who wore uniforms in Chicago and Los Angeles, but he hasn't had to coach a bunch of Bobcats, either.

But 65 teams have won NBA championships, and just 29 coaches have captured at least one.

If coaching didn't matter, why haven't more guys won a ring?

Coaching in the NBA is not like coaching Bishop Gorman High or Duke. Different levels, different skills, different worlds, different everything.

But it matters.

If you don't believe so, you haven't watched the Spurs this season.

Or for decades before it.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.