Spurs Brazil
12-30-2007, 07:31 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA20071230.08C.NZ.State.SPO_popovich_feature_123 .28dc55a.html
Sportsman of the Year: Gregg Popovich
Spurs coach sparks run to fourth NBA title
Web Posted: 12/29/2007 11:12 PM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
The Houston Rockets had just handed the Spurs their eighth loss in a 23-game stretch, a 90-85 defeat in front of a big crowd at the AT&T Center.
It was late January, and the team's annual rodeo road trip loomed, an eight-game, 18-day grind that could make or break a team whose 2005 NBA championship banner seemed little more than a cruel reminder of recent glory.
If Spurs players expected a blistering postgame review from their coach that night, they were taken aback by what coach Gregg Popovich said in the sanctity of their team room.
Aware that trade rumors had oozed up from the Internet as their struggles magnified during a month that produced four homecourt losses in nine games, Popovich calmly told his players there would be no trades by the NBA's trade deadline, less than a month away.
It was a simple message that made all the difference.
"I don't know how much of that was trying to put guys at ease," said Spurs guard Brent Barry, who had reason to wonder if the Spurs might be shopping him for a second-straight season. "It was just said to let us know we were going to have to figure it out, and when that was, was really up to us.
"It took a little time, a couple of weeks to figure things out. But we did."
Indeed, the Spurs figured out everything, as the club's fourth NBA championship attests.
For all Popovich did to help his players bring another title to San Antonio, and for what he has meant to the Spurs and to his community for nearly two decades, the Express-News has selected him as its 2007 Sportsman of the Year.
Popovich is the ninth recipient with a Spurs connection. Others are one-time Spurs owner B.J. "Red" McCombs (1988); team president Bob Coleman (1993); center David Robinson (1994 and 1995); forward Tim Duncan (1999); entire Spurs team (2003); guard Manu Ginobili (2004); and forward Bruce Bowen (2005).
Those who know the Spurs organization best call Popovich's talk on that cold January night the turning point of another championship season.
General manager R.C. Buford believes what happened that night made it the "telling date" of the season.
"He said, 'Guys, this is going to be our team. Don't expect anyone to bail us out. Now let's go to work,'" Buford said.
Majority owner and chairman Peter Holt called it a stroke of motivational genius.
"It was obviously the right thing to do," Holt said, "and it helped those guys to know there wasn't going to be some savior for this group. They were going to have to do it."
Popovich agrees his reassurance of job security and admonition to corporate rededication sparked something in his team that ultimately produced a championship. He disputes that his role last season merits special recognition.
Notoriously uncomfortable with adulation of any sort, the team's executive vice-president for basketball operations and head coach said he will share the honor with the Spurs organization, just as he shared his NBA 2005 Coach of the Year Award.
"I'm honored that the powers that be would think of me in that regard," he said, "but I didn't score any points, rebound or make any assists.
"I was fortunate enough to be the guy in charge of a team that has displayed great character and ability over a whole decade. That means a lot of people had a lot to do with that type of award. It doesn't really reflect on me individually. Rather, it reflects on our group and what we all stand for, so it's an honor and a privilege, but it's more about our group than it is about me."
Holt, though, believes Popovich does not get enough credit for the success the Spurs have enjoyed since the luck of the 1997 draft lottery produced the opportunity to select Tim Duncan.
"When you spin the lottery balls and get a Tim Duncan, there is no doubt the Good Lord is looking down on you," Holt said. "Pop would be the first to say that. The key is: What do you do with a guy like that? How do you build a team around him? How do you create an atmosphere that becomes a winning atmosphere?"
Popovich has done it, a process that began when he took control of the team's basketball operations in 1994.
Like Buford, assistant coach Mike Budenholzer has been with Popovich since 1994. He believes it is Popovich's insistence on doing things right that has made the Spurs the envy of the NBA for more than a decade.
"When he first came here he wanted to change the way the Spurs were viewed in the NBA and how the team was run," Budenholzer said. "He constantly mentioned how we wanted this to be a first-class organization; do everything first-class. We're going to make this a great place for people to play and to be."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Sportsman of the Year: Gregg Popovich
Spurs coach sparks run to fourth NBA title
Web Posted: 12/29/2007 11:12 PM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
The Houston Rockets had just handed the Spurs their eighth loss in a 23-game stretch, a 90-85 defeat in front of a big crowd at the AT&T Center.
It was late January, and the team's annual rodeo road trip loomed, an eight-game, 18-day grind that could make or break a team whose 2005 NBA championship banner seemed little more than a cruel reminder of recent glory.
If Spurs players expected a blistering postgame review from their coach that night, they were taken aback by what coach Gregg Popovich said in the sanctity of their team room.
Aware that trade rumors had oozed up from the Internet as their struggles magnified during a month that produced four homecourt losses in nine games, Popovich calmly told his players there would be no trades by the NBA's trade deadline, less than a month away.
It was a simple message that made all the difference.
"I don't know how much of that was trying to put guys at ease," said Spurs guard Brent Barry, who had reason to wonder if the Spurs might be shopping him for a second-straight season. "It was just said to let us know we were going to have to figure it out, and when that was, was really up to us.
"It took a little time, a couple of weeks to figure things out. But we did."
Indeed, the Spurs figured out everything, as the club's fourth NBA championship attests.
For all Popovich did to help his players bring another title to San Antonio, and for what he has meant to the Spurs and to his community for nearly two decades, the Express-News has selected him as its 2007 Sportsman of the Year.
Popovich is the ninth recipient with a Spurs connection. Others are one-time Spurs owner B.J. "Red" McCombs (1988); team president Bob Coleman (1993); center David Robinson (1994 and 1995); forward Tim Duncan (1999); entire Spurs team (2003); guard Manu Ginobili (2004); and forward Bruce Bowen (2005).
Those who know the Spurs organization best call Popovich's talk on that cold January night the turning point of another championship season.
General manager R.C. Buford believes what happened that night made it the "telling date" of the season.
"He said, 'Guys, this is going to be our team. Don't expect anyone to bail us out. Now let's go to work,'" Buford said.
Majority owner and chairman Peter Holt called it a stroke of motivational genius.
"It was obviously the right thing to do," Holt said, "and it helped those guys to know there wasn't going to be some savior for this group. They were going to have to do it."
Popovich agrees his reassurance of job security and admonition to corporate rededication sparked something in his team that ultimately produced a championship. He disputes that his role last season merits special recognition.
Notoriously uncomfortable with adulation of any sort, the team's executive vice-president for basketball operations and head coach said he will share the honor with the Spurs organization, just as he shared his NBA 2005 Coach of the Year Award.
"I'm honored that the powers that be would think of me in that regard," he said, "but I didn't score any points, rebound or make any assists.
"I was fortunate enough to be the guy in charge of a team that has displayed great character and ability over a whole decade. That means a lot of people had a lot to do with that type of award. It doesn't really reflect on me individually. Rather, it reflects on our group and what we all stand for, so it's an honor and a privilege, but it's more about our group than it is about me."
Holt, though, believes Popovich does not get enough credit for the success the Spurs have enjoyed since the luck of the 1997 draft lottery produced the opportunity to select Tim Duncan.
"When you spin the lottery balls and get a Tim Duncan, there is no doubt the Good Lord is looking down on you," Holt said. "Pop would be the first to say that. The key is: What do you do with a guy like that? How do you build a team around him? How do you create an atmosphere that becomes a winning atmosphere?"
Popovich has done it, a process that began when he took control of the team's basketball operations in 1994.
Like Buford, assistant coach Mike Budenholzer has been with Popovich since 1994. He believes it is Popovich's insistence on doing things right that has made the Spurs the envy of the NBA for more than a decade.
"When he first came here he wanted to change the way the Spurs were viewed in the NBA and how the team was run," Budenholzer said. "He constantly mentioned how we wanted this to be a first-class organization; do everything first-class. We're going to make this a great place for people to play and to be."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]