Pop taking hands off approach

[SAGirl]

Article in SAEN by Jeff Mc Donald http://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/Popovich-takes-hands-off-approach-to-adjusting-6613392.php?t=03ef9d3ed6927fc3fb&cmpid=twitter-premium

He cites Pop:

“We still haven’t coached him much,” Popovich said. “We just watch him.”
“Coaching him didn’t seem too smart to me,” Popovich said. “If there’s something you might add to his game, you do it after you’ve seen what he does naturally.”



Aldridge says he appreciates Popovich’s hands-off approach.
“He said he could tell I’m overthinking things at times,” Aldridge said. “He said just go play basketball, and we’ll figure it out as we go along.”

[apalisoc_9]

Pop: "Hands off the buritos lamarcus"

love pops hands off approach tbh. Should do the same thing with tony

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Pop: "Hands off the buritos lamarcus"

love pops hands off approach tbh. Should do the same thing with tony

He should let him be himself? Isn't this the opposite of what you've been spouting off for a while?

[Fireball]

He should let him be himself? Isn't this the opposite of what you've been spouting off for a while?

I guess in Tony's case he means a "keep your hands off the ball" approach :rolleyes

[MI21]

One thing I would like Pop to do is order the team to play to LMA's strengths on the odd occasion.

Pick n Pop and low post left block would be nice.

[kobyz]

Like i said, pop afraid to challenge la about all his bad habits...

[Kawhi 5-0]

Aldridge is having to change his game to fit in. It's probably smart to not attempt "changing" him right away. We went out and got him because he was already a great player. The rest of the team is changing to mesh with Aldridge. It's not instantaneous. LMA devoted a lot of his heart and soul to Portland and now he finds himself in a different uniform. That's quite an adjustment. Spurs are used to competing AGAINST this guy. It's going to take some time. I'm happy with how we've started. Could we have been better so far? Absolutely. Worse? No doubt. We have a winning record in the West and the team is healthy. Not gonna be easy, but we made the upgrade we needed to make. LMA is the real deal. Kawhi is locked-in. Big 3 playing great. Future is bright!

[ILoveOranges]

:flag:

I'm always impressed with what the "Spurs culture" can do with a player. Early interviews with Aldridge suggested he expected heavy usage with the ball as he's been doing his entire career (later it came out that he had those thoughts put in him by the Lakers, Phoenix), so it's quite the thing watching him spend most of his effort on trying to be a good team player. Unlike Richard Jefferson, Aldridge has the right mentality and competitiveness to allow him to succeed in Pop's perfectionist system. Good stuff, thanks for posting.

[Kawhitstorm]

It is smart to let the LMA approach him instead of trying to boss him around from day 1 since he is already an established player. Pop is massaging his ego & trying to establish rapport before he goes full Serbian on him:lol

[Thomas82]

Aldridge is having to change his game to fit in. It's probably smart to not attempt "changing" him right away. We went out and got him because he was already a great player. The rest of the team is changing to mesh with Aldridge. It's not instantaneous. LMA devoted a lot of his heart and soul to Portland and now he finds himself in a different uniform. That's quite an adjustment. Spurs are used to competing AGAINST this guy. It's going to take some time. I'm happy with how we've started. Could we have been better so far? Absolutely. Worse? No doubt. We have a winning record in the West and the team is healthy. Not gonna be easy, but we made the upgrade we needed to make. LMA is the real deal. Kawhi is locked-in. Big 3 playing great. Future is bright!

Well said!!

[Kawhi 5-0]

Well said!!
Thank you!