Blackjack
08-14-2009, 01:40 AM
Wojnarowski on Pitino and Popovich (http://www.48minutesofhell.com/2009/08/13/wojnarowski-on-pitino-and-popovich/)
Adrian Wojnarowski broke stories left and right this summer. Apparently he takes little vacations from news breaking to offer thoughtful commentary on already existing stories. Today Wojnarowski contributed a scathing critique of Rick Pitino (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsrghQVDFgcKCm7b6iDCpci8vLYF?slug=aw-pitinonba081309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns), who comes off as an anti-Popovich in the piece.
And there is actual Popovich content in the article too. Future biographers take note:
The model for the elite pro coach is San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who has four NBA titles and no self-help books, no speaker’s fee. “It’s a player’s league,” Popovich once told me. “I think it’s very important for a coach to make sure that his players believe 100 percent – and not with lip service – that it’s about them. Coaches are going to do everything they can to create that environment for them. It’s not about creating an environment for us. It’s a privilege to be able to coach these guys.
“We make enough money.”
The rest of the article is full of wow, but not for the same reasons as the Pop quote.
Spurs fans sometimes debate who Pop’s eventual successor should be. For the sake of semantic sensitivity, let’s be careful to call that person, whomever he may be, the next Spurs coach. Let’s avoid the mistake of calling him Pop’s replacement.
Adrian Wojnarowski broke stories left and right this summer. Apparently he takes little vacations from news breaking to offer thoughtful commentary on already existing stories. Today Wojnarowski contributed a scathing critique of Rick Pitino (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsrghQVDFgcKCm7b6iDCpci8vLYF?slug=aw-pitinonba081309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns), who comes off as an anti-Popovich in the piece.
And there is actual Popovich content in the article too. Future biographers take note:
The model for the elite pro coach is San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who has four NBA titles and no self-help books, no speaker’s fee. “It’s a player’s league,” Popovich once told me. “I think it’s very important for a coach to make sure that his players believe 100 percent – and not with lip service – that it’s about them. Coaches are going to do everything they can to create that environment for them. It’s not about creating an environment for us. It’s a privilege to be able to coach these guys.
“We make enough money.”
The rest of the article is full of wow, but not for the same reasons as the Pop quote.
Spurs fans sometimes debate who Pop’s eventual successor should be. For the sake of semantic sensitivity, let’s be careful to call that person, whomever he may be, the next Spurs coach. Let’s avoid the mistake of calling him Pop’s replacement.