Gregg Popovich is a guru, he is a basketball genius, and the way he gets a team like the San Antonio Spurs to be one of the most competitive teams every year for the past 15 years has been his heart and past experience with the army to guide him in his battles in basketball. He has been able to make Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, and Boris Diaw age like fine wine. You think with Gregg Popovich being one of the greatest coaches in the game, he has some kind of secret, something he does different that makes him so unique. Well he does, he does not watch other teams game-tape in order to prepare for games. You would think a person like Greg Popovich would focus heavily on how they prepare for teams by looking at what the opposing team has to threaten the Spurs with, but he focuses on his own team, Popovich tells the media after the San Antonio Spurs Beat the Celtics on Sunday.
After being asked numerous questions on the opposing team, Popovich said
” I don’t see any reason to watch film. When my team has a game and they have zero turnovers and shoot 60 percent, and the other team scores 40, then i’ll start worrying about other teams. But until that happens, I’ve got enough to correct and teach on my team, and that’s how i spend my time”
It’s interesting, and throughout the entire post-game interview he continued to discuss why film wasn’t important, he also went on to discuss how new players in the Spurs system fit in.
“It’s not an empirical sort of situation. You can make a mistake, and we have some guys along the way that we did have to talk to, or whatever. And, our method is usually tough love. I don’t think coddling someone, and blowing smoke at them really works. And beating them to death mentally doesn’t really work. So to give them a clear picture of what’s demanded and needed, is the first important thing and then showing the care and concern after that: being for them on the court. Caring about what they do off the court. Understand who they are on the planet, what makes them tick. You do all that, and if that doesn’t get through, get rid of them.”
Just by the way Popovich acts you can tell that tough love is something he takes to the grave. The last part about ‘knowing who they are on this planet” is very true. As a coach he has tried to make players who usually wouldn’t hang out on the team do activities together. For example, Stephen Jackson and Matt Bonner endured fishing trips, while other players watched presidential elections together. What Gregg Popovich does is bring life and things other then basketball into the picture in order to make the connection and then create a benefit for them on the court, and that works like magic. I think myself and the Spurs are okay with Pop not watching game tape.
