Gregg Popovich

Gregg Popovich is retiring as coach but will remain Spurs president with interim Mitch Johnson becoming coach, the team announced.

Popovich is arguably the best coach in NBA history. He won his first championship in 1999 with the league's top defense and a good offense. More than a decade later, his Spurs posted the NBA's best record with the league's top offense and a good defense. A few years after that, he won his fifth championship led by a different star.

Popovich often attributed his success to Tim Duncan, and Duncan was a coach's ideal superstar. But Popovich deserves immense credit for building with Duncan a great culture and repeatedly reinventing the team's style of play. While adhering to the fundamentals, Popovich was a step ahead with international players, rest and player development – most notably, Kawhi Leonard.

While it wasn't shocking San Antonio won behind No. 1 picks David Robinson and Duncan, the Leonard-led 2014 championship really showed Popovich's staying power. Leonard followed Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and many role players who exceeded expectations under Popovich, who so often got the best from his players.

It's a shame Popovich won't get the same opportunity with Victor Wembanyama.

But Popovich hasn't been on the sideline since suffering a stroke in November. He was already four years older than any other NBA head coach ever, and he's now 76.

Popovich retires as the all-time leader in wins (1,422) and tied for third in championships (five – behind only Phil Jackson's 11 and Red Auerbach's nine, matching Pat Riley and John Kundla). Popovich's 29 years in San Antonio is the longest tenure in league history, and he trails only Lenny Wilkens (32) and Don Nelson (31) in total seasons coached. The Spurs made the playoffs a record 22 straight seasons under Popovich.

Mitch Johnson

New Spurs coach Mitch Johnson acquitted himself fairly well unexpectedly filling in for Gregg Popovich last season. But John and Nate still rated Johnson just Nos. 27 and 26 in their coach rankings.

If San Antonio wants familiarity, Popovich's coaching tree is vast – including Taylor Jenkins, Mike Brown, Mike Budenholzer, Brett Brown, Monty Williams and Becky Hammon. There was even thought former Spurs assistant Quin Snyder could leave the Hawks or former Spurs assistant Will Hardy could leave the Jazz to return to San Antonio.

Victor Wembanyama is a major draw.

In fact, because of Wembanyama, the Spurs maybe could have lured a bigger name, even one without ties to the franchise.

But Johnson will get to coach the ascending generational superstar.

Tuomas Iisalo

The Grizzlies are keeping interim Tuomas Iisalo as head coach, the team announced.

Memphis was 44-29 when firing Taylor Jenkins. Iisalo went 4-5 in the regular season then oversaw the most-lopsided sweep of a team with such a good overall record (which was built largely under Jenkins).

Obviously, the Grizzlies didn't make this decision based on Iisalo's harried interim tenure.

But they targeted him as an assistant with a reported $1 million+ salary before the season. They probably always viewed him as a potential successor.

Brian Gregory

The Suns promoted executive Brian Gregory to general manager and transitioned James Jones to advisor, the team announced.

Maybe Gregory has tremendous aptitude for the job. But I'm skeptical about Phoenix promoting Gregory, a longtime college coach who was a Michigan State assistant while Suns owner Mat Ishbia played for the Spartans. Georgia Tech fired Gregory in 2016 and South Florida fired him in 2023 – prompting his only NBA experience, a year in Phoenix's front office.

Though I'll reiterate I don't know Gregory's acumen, this wreaks of hiring for the wrong reasons. If that's the case, Ishbia will ultimately be the one to suffer.

James Jones

James Jones is the fifth lead executive deposed in the last month – following the Nuggets' Calvin Booth, Pelicans' David Griffin, Kings' Monte McNair and Hawks' Landry Fields.

That's basically on par with April-May 2013, when the Suns' Lance Blanks, Timberwolves' David Kahn, 76ers' Tony DiLeo, Raptors' Bryan Colangelo and Kings' Geoff Petrie lost their jobs

And this offseason is just beginning!

John Haliburton

The Pacers decided Tyrese Haliburton's father, who talked trash on the court to Giannis Antetokounmpo after Indiana eliminated the Bucks, can't attend games for the foreseeable future, according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

John publicly apologized and said he'd never do it again. If John is truly sorry and the Pacers believe he'll never do something similar again, I don't want him banished. I don't see it as a deterrence for other fans, who already ought to know better (and won't get special treatment as the parent of a franchise player). And I feel no desire for John to be punished, not after Antetokounmpo said they were now in a good place.

But I'm not sure what John told the Pacers. He told Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files, "I'm not going to stop being me," and repeatedly emphasized people should watch the full footage to understand what truly happened.

What happened was clear: John went on the court and confronted a player. John was absolutely wrong, and if he's making excuses, I'd understand not letting him back. He was clearly acting emotionally, but future games will arouse emotions, too.

It's just a shame he won't be present to watch his son on this playoff run.

Game length

If it feels like games are taking longer this year, it's because they are.

Average length of non-overtime first-round games:

Last year: 2 hours and 25 minutes
This year: 2 hours and 30 minutes

If you're the type of person who watches every game – looking at you, Dunc'd On subscribers – that's an extra 2 hours and 44 minutes of viewing so far.

There have already been three games this year – Knicks-Pistons Game 3, Warriors-Rockets Game 4 and Knicks-Pistons Game 6 – longer than any non-overtime playoff game last year.

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons made plenty of progress this year – making the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and even ending their record run of not winning a playoff game.

But they still haven't won a playoff series since 2008.

The 17-year drought is tied for seventh-longest in NBA history and third-longest active. The Hornets haven't won a series since reemerging as the Bobcats in 2004-05. The Kings have also gone 21 years without winning a series.

The Buffalo Braves/San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers hold the all-time record – 29 seasons (1977-2005). The Washington Bullets/Wizards are next – 22 seasons (1983-2004).

Longest streaks of not winning a playoff series:

duncd on pistons playoff-series win drought.png

Knicks-Pistons

Knicks-Pistons was a historically tight series:

Just three series of 5+ games have ever had an average final margin so low:

1955 NBA Finals: Syracuse Nationals 4, Fort Wayne Pistons 3 (average final margin: 4.3)
1980 conference semifinals: Seattle SuperSonics 4, Milwaukee Bucks 3 (average final margin: 4.0)
2000 conference semifinals: New York Knicks 4, Miami Heat 3 (average final margin: 4.0)

The only series, of any length, closer since: