For someone with the resume that Coach Pop has, he sure gets a lot of crap. But after 2 straight seasons with his San Antonio Spurs failing to make the playoffs, some people ask the question of "Has the game passed Greg Popovich by." One thing is for sure, Popovich was able to prove a lot of critics wrong this summer after serving as the head coach for the USA basketball team and leading them to another gold medal. Early during the Olympics, after 1 exhibition loss and 1 official game lost, the skeptics were laying it on the coach and his US team. That is why I thought it was important to start this project with the most recent clip released that shows Pop talking to his team in the locker room after winning gold.
I go back and forth on Coach Pop and some of his tactics. Certainly not as far as a coach. It is clear he is not only one of the best in the business at coaching but maybe one of the greatest coaches of all time. What I am referring to is more of how he seems to treat the media. I get it, sometimes the media can be more than annoying and ask questions hoping to catch coaches or players off guard so they say something that will make headlines. But as you will see from this video, Pop has had more than his share of run ins with different reporters over his career.
Me being a basketball coach as well, I have great admiration for the way Pop handles his teams. There is one clip I will always refer back to when the coach was speaking at a FIBA coaches convention and basically said that when it comes to selecting players for his team, if their are obvious attitude problems or if the player behaves like he is entitled, no matter how good the player is, Popovich is not interested in the player playing for him. In a sport where it seems you are only as good as the amount of superstars you have on your team, this has to be a difficult commitment to honor at times.
Gregg Popovich is also a big relationship guy when it comes to coaching his players which is something I know from experience is very important to have as a coach. I once read a great book called "The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups," by Daniel Coyle that featured a whole section of the book on Pop and his Spurs teams. Pop is a big wine drinker and apparently has a tactic where he meets with one of his players, they open a nice bottle of wine and talk about everything and anything until the bottle is gone. A very interesting tactic but it obviously was good enough for one of the games greatest in Tim Duncan who played for Pop his whole career.
While I am not sure if there are any more championships in the Spurs immediate future, one thing is for sure. Gregg Popovich aint changing for anyone but himself. And to be fair, that is probably what has led to all the success he has had over his career. Enjoy the video. #GreggPopovich #SanAntonioSpurs #USABasketball
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