Mitch Johnson spent the complete season making essentially the most compelling case for the Coach of the Year Award. He led the Spurs to ranges of success that very few envisioned heading into the 2025-26 marketing campaign, getting them to 62 wins (their most since 2014) and elite manufacturing on either side of the ground.
Now, the remainder of the sector is hard. Joe Mazzulla has been wonderful for the Celtics, a bunch that was in an analogous predicament, receiving modest preseason expectations from critics. JB Bickerstaff for the Pistons additionally deserves some shine, main the Pistons to the East’s high seed and their first 60-win season since 2006.
But their physique of labor this season nonetheless would not high what Johnson has been in a position to do. His affect goes past what the information and standings present. He’s been in a position to navigate a number of robust conditions to get this workforce to the place they’re.
Mitch Johnson had to navigate a wierd scenario
Let’s be very clear, Johnson wasn’t anticipated to be thrust into his position fairly like this. Obviously, Greg Popovich suffered a stroke in November 2024, taking him away for some time because the Spurs’ head coach. Ultimately, he stepped right into a entrance workplace place because the workforce’s President of Basketball Operations.
This compelled Mitch Johnson to tackle the largest task of his basketball profession. He was tasked with establishing the tradition and system crucial to transfer the Spurs out of a rebuild into turning into the NBA’s subsequent dynasty. And to date, he is executed an incredible job.
While San Antonio missed the playoffs final yr, they had been considerably first rate earlier than Wemby’s season-ending blood clot scare, posting a 21-25 report. They’ve expanded on that this time round, climbing from the thirteenth spot on the finish of the 2025-25 marketing campaign to the second seed out West in 2026.
Johnson navigated these huge developments inside the Spurs franchise flawlessly. He led this group to astronomical ranges of success this season, making him probably the greatest new faces within the head teaching ranks and the strongest COY candidate.
Mitch Johnson turned a frightening problem into an elite offense
The Spurs had a problem within the offseason. In the 2025 NBA Draft, they went for expertise over match, deciding on Dylan Harper with the second general choose. This created a posh, guard-heavy roster with Harper paired alongside De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle.
But someway, Johnson’s made this work. He experimented with a large number of lineups, with every guard discovering time on the courtroom collectively, and the offense thrived. Additionally, he is discovered the proper steadiness: making an attempt to make the match make sense whereas additionally permitting every of those gamers to develop.
We’ve seen Castle develop into one of many league’s most improved playmakers with a rising scoring arsenal. Harper spent his rookie season as probably the greatest paint finishers within the NBA whereas rising as a three-point shooter by way of the post-All-Star stretch.
Perhaps that is essentially the most spectacular factor about Mitch Johnson’s teaching. He’s pushed so lots of his gamers to develop their particular person video games whereas nonetheless getting them to function as a successful workforce. Their improvement didn’t come on the expense of regular-season dominance like different rebuilding teams.
Few coaches have been in a position to discover this a lot success with such a younger core over time, like Johnson. The Coach Of The Year Award must be his for the taking, giving him the primary crown since Coach Popovich in 2014. Ironically, this was the final time the Spurs notched 62 wins.
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