Coach Pop vindicated for controversial successor decision as Mitch Johnson shines

Mitch Johnson has the second-best odds at winning Coach of the Year (+250), according to FanDuel. There's still a lot of season left, but that's a significant development for the guy replacing Gregg Popovich. That's no small task, and Coach Johnson has stepped up to the challenge admirably, leading the Spurs to one of the best records in the league more than 30 games in.

JB Bickerstaff sits in first place (+220), but he's only barely above San Antonio's leader after Detroit's last two games were losses to the Jazz (we know how dangerous they are) and the Clippers. Obviously, the Spurs also lost to Utah, but I'd like to think that beating OKC three times in 12 days affords you a little leeway. Clearly, the oddsmakers agree.

Mitch has had awkward motion on this list. He went from the top five, dropped to seventh, and worked his way up to second. I'm still confused about how he ever dropped, considering the Spurs' trajectory has been stellar all year, but we won't dwell on the mistakes of the past. They're on the right track now, and any notion that Pop made an error in selecting Johnson as his successor has faded.

Nailing the coach ensures a strong future for Spurs

San Antonio wouldn't have had a dynasty without Coach Popovich. The Warriors could have done it without Steve Kerr, and Chicago needed Phil Jackson. It's way too early to tell if Mitch Johnson will even come close to sniffing the greatness of those three, but you have to start somewhere, and I think he's hit the ground running.

Circumstances aside, at the end of the day, this was a lottery team last year. 30 games into his first season as the official head coach of the team, and they're the second seed in the Western Conference. That's no small feat. The west is where the monsters are.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, and Luka Doncic—the list goes on. The Spurs have slain them all. They're the only team in the league with a top-five offense and a top-five defense. They've accomplished this while having an inconsistent rotation for the majority of the season.

Coach Johnson hasn't accomplished anything yet, but he's had as promising a start as one could hope for. He has an MVP candidate on his team, they're winning a boatload of games, and he's one or two more good weeks from becoming the favorite to win Coach of the Year. Spurs Nation can't ask for much more than that.