Jimcs50
06-13-2005, 09:01 AM
COMMENTARY
Popovich speaks fluent basketball
By LIZ ROBBINS
New York Times
SAN ANTONIO — Were it not for Diyarbakir, and the officer on the military base in southern Turkey during the early 1970s, the Spurs might not be in the NBA Finals.
But Gregg Popovich, who majored in Soviet Studies at the Air Force Academy, enjoyed traveling as much as he loved basketball. When a general told him early in his tour to leave his counterintelligence work and go TDY— on temporary duty for the U.S. Armed Forces basketball team in Eastern Europe — Popovich found a permanent calling.
He took his curiosity and appreciation for foreign cultures with him as currency, and it has paid dividends with the Spurs.
Diverse roster
In games against the Belov brothers of the Soviet Union before the fateful 1972 Olympics, and against countless others from Estonia, Latvia, Yugoslavia — names he no longer remembers — Popovich developed his worldview that helped bring memorable names to the NBA. Manu Ginobili. Tony Parker.
The Spurs boast the most diverse roster in a league steadily populated by international players: Popovich's team flies the flags of Argentina, France, Slovenia, New Zealand, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United States.
"The opportunities I got in the military to travel with basketball really made me understand how much basketball is played around the world, how many good players there are," Popovich said after the Spurs had a 1-0 lead over the Pistons in the best-of-seven Finals. "I always thought what a great way to combine my own personal enjoyment with professional responsibilities. So we made a commitment when we came that we were going to hit the streets out there in the other countries, and we were going to find bodies."
Players relate well
The man who could have been a spy has, instead, commanded the fourth-best winning percentage of any coach in NBA history (.661).
Popovich will be the first to say that having No. 1 picks — David Robinson, from the U.S. Naval Academy, and Tim Duncan, from Wake Forest, via the Virgin Islands — helped him earn that distinction. But the unconditional respect he has from all his players propelled the Spurs' success.
"Pop's a different Renaissance man," general manager R.C. Buford said. "He doesn't really care whether people know about him; he doesn't feel comfortable when people know about him. His diversity, of personality and experience, is very, very strong."
Popovich's demanding yet caring relationship with his players holds the team together, Buford said. Popovich flew to the island of St. Croix to get to know Duncan before the Spurs drafted him in 1997. He attended Parker's arbitration trial with his French basketball team in 2001 and stayed with Parker in London as the Sept. 11 attacks prevented Parker from flying immediately.
Back in San Antonio, Popovich pushed, prodded and yelled at Parker, a 19-year-old rookie point guard, instilling him with military toughness on the court, but steadily building his confidence.
"Pop just wants the best out of you," veteran forward Robert Horry said. "He's going to be on you hard, I mean really hard, so if you have the mental toughness to take that, you're going to develop well as a player."
With Parker and Ginobili, Popovich learned to discipline their games without stifling their creativity.
"He's the best thing that could have happened to those guys," assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "You got to let them play the way they are, and Pop recognized that about them right away."
Over the past two years, Parker and Ginobili have learned to read Popovich and his sarcasm. Witness the first quarter of Game 1 when the Spurs fell behind, 17-4, and Popovich had to call two timeouts.
"I asked them, if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do, and, if it didn't make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great," Popovich said after the game.
Ginobili got the point, especially when seeing Popovich's face. "You get worried, because there's a vein here that just gets so big, you think it's going to explode," Ginobili said Friday. "He's a smart coach. He knows how to get the best from his team. He's got that temperament that he gets very upset, and he's not afraid to tell anything to anybody. He doesn't care if it's Tim Duncan or the player that is on the IR. So everybody feels the same situation; I think it's really good for the spirit of the team."
Players call Popovich's invective-laced tirades, "going Serbian." When Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey was on the team with current center Rasho Nesterovic from Slovenia, Popovich would converse in broken Serbian with them.
"That's something that those guys don't get a lot of places," Buford said. "It just adds to the relationship. It doesn't cement it, but it sure puts it in a different perspective. Those guys know he is making an attempt to be one of them."
Despite his time in Eastern Europe, Popovich insists he speaks only one language fluently: English. Popovich frequently quizzes his players on national politics, though his intellectual curiosity sometimes gets lost in translation.
But Popovich always has reveled in this communicating challenge.
"Most people just didn't believe it; they didn't want foreign kids, thinking they didn't speak English and it's going to be a pain," he said.
In 1988, Popovich persuaded Brown and Spurs general manager Bob Bass to send him to Cologne, Germany, to scout players at the Euroleague championships. There, Popovich established a relationship with his first prospect: Zarco Paspalj. (The 6-9-inch forward from Yugoslavia lasted one season with the Spurs, as Brown disliked his defense and poor conditioning.)
During those championships, Popovich recalled seeing only one other NBA coach — Don Nelson, then at Golden State, who is responsible for starting the European wave of players by signing Lithuania's Sarunas Marciulionis in 1989.
"When I saw Nellie over there on that trip, I knew we were on the right track," Popovich said.
Popovich worked for Nelson as an assistant coach for two seasons before returning to San Antonio to become the executive vice president for basketball operations in 1994. With his influence and the persistence of Buford, who became Spurs general manager in 2002, the Spurs became a model of international scouting.
Buford mined Parker with the 28th overall pick in 2001. Ginobili was the 57th pick in the 1999 draft and did not join the Spurs until 2002. The Spurs last year drafted Luis Scola, Ginobili's teammate on Argentina's gold-medal team at the Athens Olympics.
At those Olympics, Popovich was Brown's assistant for the U.S. team, making up for 1972, when Brown cut him as a player during Olympic trials. Popovich stayed on tour until 1975 in Europe before returning to the Air Force Academy to begin his coaching apprenticeship.
So much for spy work. Popovich said he and the military had agreed basketball would be best for him and the country.
"That's too long a story," he said with a cryptic smile. "Let's say it didn't work out."
Popovich speaks fluent basketball
By LIZ ROBBINS
New York Times
SAN ANTONIO — Were it not for Diyarbakir, and the officer on the military base in southern Turkey during the early 1970s, the Spurs might not be in the NBA Finals.
But Gregg Popovich, who majored in Soviet Studies at the Air Force Academy, enjoyed traveling as much as he loved basketball. When a general told him early in his tour to leave his counterintelligence work and go TDY— on temporary duty for the U.S. Armed Forces basketball team in Eastern Europe — Popovich found a permanent calling.
He took his curiosity and appreciation for foreign cultures with him as currency, and it has paid dividends with the Spurs.
Diverse roster
In games against the Belov brothers of the Soviet Union before the fateful 1972 Olympics, and against countless others from Estonia, Latvia, Yugoslavia — names he no longer remembers — Popovich developed his worldview that helped bring memorable names to the NBA. Manu Ginobili. Tony Parker.
The Spurs boast the most diverse roster in a league steadily populated by international players: Popovich's team flies the flags of Argentina, France, Slovenia, New Zealand, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United States.
"The opportunities I got in the military to travel with basketball really made me understand how much basketball is played around the world, how many good players there are," Popovich said after the Spurs had a 1-0 lead over the Pistons in the best-of-seven Finals. "I always thought what a great way to combine my own personal enjoyment with professional responsibilities. So we made a commitment when we came that we were going to hit the streets out there in the other countries, and we were going to find bodies."
Players relate well
The man who could have been a spy has, instead, commanded the fourth-best winning percentage of any coach in NBA history (.661).
Popovich will be the first to say that having No. 1 picks — David Robinson, from the U.S. Naval Academy, and Tim Duncan, from Wake Forest, via the Virgin Islands — helped him earn that distinction. But the unconditional respect he has from all his players propelled the Spurs' success.
"Pop's a different Renaissance man," general manager R.C. Buford said. "He doesn't really care whether people know about him; he doesn't feel comfortable when people know about him. His diversity, of personality and experience, is very, very strong."
Popovich's demanding yet caring relationship with his players holds the team together, Buford said. Popovich flew to the island of St. Croix to get to know Duncan before the Spurs drafted him in 1997. He attended Parker's arbitration trial with his French basketball team in 2001 and stayed with Parker in London as the Sept. 11 attacks prevented Parker from flying immediately.
Back in San Antonio, Popovich pushed, prodded and yelled at Parker, a 19-year-old rookie point guard, instilling him with military toughness on the court, but steadily building his confidence.
"Pop just wants the best out of you," veteran forward Robert Horry said. "He's going to be on you hard, I mean really hard, so if you have the mental toughness to take that, you're going to develop well as a player."
With Parker and Ginobili, Popovich learned to discipline their games without stifling their creativity.
"He's the best thing that could have happened to those guys," assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "You got to let them play the way they are, and Pop recognized that about them right away."
Over the past two years, Parker and Ginobili have learned to read Popovich and his sarcasm. Witness the first quarter of Game 1 when the Spurs fell behind, 17-4, and Popovich had to call two timeouts.
"I asked them, if it wasn't too much trouble, if I wasn't being too pushy, if they could execute what we were trying to do, and, if it didn't make them too angry, if they also wanted to play some defense on the other end, that would be great," Popovich said after the game.
Ginobili got the point, especially when seeing Popovich's face. "You get worried, because there's a vein here that just gets so big, you think it's going to explode," Ginobili said Friday. "He's a smart coach. He knows how to get the best from his team. He's got that temperament that he gets very upset, and he's not afraid to tell anything to anybody. He doesn't care if it's Tim Duncan or the player that is on the IR. So everybody feels the same situation; I think it's really good for the spirit of the team."
Players call Popovich's invective-laced tirades, "going Serbian." When Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey was on the team with current center Rasho Nesterovic from Slovenia, Popovich would converse in broken Serbian with them.
"That's something that those guys don't get a lot of places," Buford said. "It just adds to the relationship. It doesn't cement it, but it sure puts it in a different perspective. Those guys know he is making an attempt to be one of them."
Despite his time in Eastern Europe, Popovich insists he speaks only one language fluently: English. Popovich frequently quizzes his players on national politics, though his intellectual curiosity sometimes gets lost in translation.
But Popovich always has reveled in this communicating challenge.
"Most people just didn't believe it; they didn't want foreign kids, thinking they didn't speak English and it's going to be a pain," he said.
In 1988, Popovich persuaded Brown and Spurs general manager Bob Bass to send him to Cologne, Germany, to scout players at the Euroleague championships. There, Popovich established a relationship with his first prospect: Zarco Paspalj. (The 6-9-inch forward from Yugoslavia lasted one season with the Spurs, as Brown disliked his defense and poor conditioning.)
During those championships, Popovich recalled seeing only one other NBA coach — Don Nelson, then at Golden State, who is responsible for starting the European wave of players by signing Lithuania's Sarunas Marciulionis in 1989.
"When I saw Nellie over there on that trip, I knew we were on the right track," Popovich said.
Popovich worked for Nelson as an assistant coach for two seasons before returning to San Antonio to become the executive vice president for basketball operations in 1994. With his influence and the persistence of Buford, who became Spurs general manager in 2002, the Spurs became a model of international scouting.
Buford mined Parker with the 28th overall pick in 2001. Ginobili was the 57th pick in the 1999 draft and did not join the Spurs until 2002. The Spurs last year drafted Luis Scola, Ginobili's teammate on Argentina's gold-medal team at the Athens Olympics.
At those Olympics, Popovich was Brown's assistant for the U.S. team, making up for 1972, when Brown cut him as a player during Olympic trials. Popovich stayed on tour until 1975 in Europe before returning to the Air Force Academy to begin his coaching apprenticeship.
So much for spy work. Popovich said he and the military had agreed basketball would be best for him and the country.
"That's too long a story," he said with a cryptic smile. "Let's say it didn't work out."