duncan228
05-13-2008, 04:53 PM
The writer has been on NBA.com's BlogSquad, among his other stuff. I thought it was a nice piece on Pop.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/05/13/nononsense_coach_gives_spurs_p.html
No-nonsense coach gives Spurs plenty of Pop
Like Sir Alex Ferguson, San Antonio's Gregg Popovich is a straight-talking figure who knows what champions are made of
Mark Woods
When it comes to sartorial elegance, Gregg Popovich is never likely to be spotted doing a bit of summer shopping in the boutiques of Milan. Leave that kind of thing to Pat Riley or Jose Mourinho, he'd say. In the race to be cerebral, bordering on the sage, he'd always be bested by Phil Jackson or Arsene Wenger. Qué sera!
Appearances, though, have always been deceptive when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs head coach. And while all the talk is of whether his ageing and ring-laden side is slowly breaking down, it's easy to forget that their real power source is not the élan of Tony Parker, not the stop-me-if-you-dare potency of Tim Duncan. It's the sports-coat wearing, straight-talking figure who provides the tough love from the sideline. The NBA's answer, dare one suggest, to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Like his Manchester United counterpart, Pop's bark gives the reigning champions much of its bite. Four championships in eight years are testimony to those non-cosmetically altered teeth. Only once, in his first campaign with the Texans, have they missed the post-season. And it is a measure of how content he has been to get on with the job, without pushing for the red carpet treatment, that it's easy to forget that this is a dead cert, first-ballot Hall of Famer at work.
Duncan's outer placidity should never be confused with inner fire. Yet he is a leader by example rather than word. Parker, when he arrived as a fresh-faced 19-year-old rookie from Paris, needed major moulding. Even Manu Ginobili, with a record of excellence in the Euroleague, required a conduit to channel his energies in the right direction. Without Popovich, would the Spurs have accomplished what they have? Not a chance.
Time and again though, his contribution is played down, primarily by an American media who would rather the only time they went near the Alamo is to pick up a car rental en route to a more glamorous destination.
However, when the Spurs went 2-0 down in their Western Conference semi-final series with the New Orleans Hornets, he didn't panic. That's what they taught him at the Air Force Academy, where the motto is 'Character. Opportunity. Progress.' And when his team won Game Three, there was plenty of all traits on view.
But no taking the credit. As he noted: "It's funny when you lose a game, the word will be that your spacing is awful. And if you win you're spacing is great. But I didn't teach them anything different from the last game." He might not have come up with some fresh wisdom but guaranteed, behind closed doors, there was an honest appraisal of San Antonio's shortcomings against a New Orleans line-up which is proving utterly unwilling to treat its maiden play-off excursion as a mere learning experience.
There were subtle changes, with Bruce Bowen - voted, like Duncan, to the
league's All-Defensive team - moved to guard Peja Stojakovic rather than Chris Paul, effectively challenging the Hornets talisman to beat them on his own, and super-sub Ginobili moved into the starting line-up. Both adjustments paid dividends in Game Four as well, putting the Spurs back on level terms ahead of Thursday's Game Five back in the Big Easy.
Being able to offset the natural prima donna tendencies of today's superstars is no easy feat. Most coaches or managers have a certain shelf-life. Three years, they say, before the ears tune out and the inertia sets in. Somehow, Popovich's candour, his capacity to tell his charges how it is, has kept them buying into his system, (almost) night after night, year after year. Somehow, as only the very best can do, he straddles the thin line between affection and assertion, carrot and stick carried in each hand.
I remember the first time I got a true insight into Popovich's method. In a media scrum, ahead of a pre-season game in Paris, I mistakenly thought he'd beckoned me for a personal audience on the court. Two steps on to the sacred parquet were enough to earn me the full hairdryer treatment. But moments later, there was an arm on my shoulder, happy to explain a particular tactical nuance.
Therein lies the marvel of the Spurs talisman. What you get is what you see. Like their coach, the team will never be showy. Just effective. Substance matters more than style, deeds more than words. For all of United's brio, Fergie would doubtless approve.
A writer and broadcaster for a number of outlets, including The Guardian, The Sun, The Herald and Scotland on Sunday, Mark Woods has covered basketball and the NBA since 1990, scribing on everything from the high stakes of the Finals to the fun and games of All Star Weekend. Mark is a regular contributor to BBC Sport and he also produces a Podcast for Basketball 24/7. He still plays - dodgy right knee permitting - for Darroch BC in his home city of Edinburgh, UK. His own website is at www.insidesport.co.uk.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/05/13/nononsense_coach_gives_spurs_p.html
No-nonsense coach gives Spurs plenty of Pop
Like Sir Alex Ferguson, San Antonio's Gregg Popovich is a straight-talking figure who knows what champions are made of
Mark Woods
When it comes to sartorial elegance, Gregg Popovich is never likely to be spotted doing a bit of summer shopping in the boutiques of Milan. Leave that kind of thing to Pat Riley or Jose Mourinho, he'd say. In the race to be cerebral, bordering on the sage, he'd always be bested by Phil Jackson or Arsene Wenger. Qué sera!
Appearances, though, have always been deceptive when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs head coach. And while all the talk is of whether his ageing and ring-laden side is slowly breaking down, it's easy to forget that their real power source is not the élan of Tony Parker, not the stop-me-if-you-dare potency of Tim Duncan. It's the sports-coat wearing, straight-talking figure who provides the tough love from the sideline. The NBA's answer, dare one suggest, to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Like his Manchester United counterpart, Pop's bark gives the reigning champions much of its bite. Four championships in eight years are testimony to those non-cosmetically altered teeth. Only once, in his first campaign with the Texans, have they missed the post-season. And it is a measure of how content he has been to get on with the job, without pushing for the red carpet treatment, that it's easy to forget that this is a dead cert, first-ballot Hall of Famer at work.
Duncan's outer placidity should never be confused with inner fire. Yet he is a leader by example rather than word. Parker, when he arrived as a fresh-faced 19-year-old rookie from Paris, needed major moulding. Even Manu Ginobili, with a record of excellence in the Euroleague, required a conduit to channel his energies in the right direction. Without Popovich, would the Spurs have accomplished what they have? Not a chance.
Time and again though, his contribution is played down, primarily by an American media who would rather the only time they went near the Alamo is to pick up a car rental en route to a more glamorous destination.
However, when the Spurs went 2-0 down in their Western Conference semi-final series with the New Orleans Hornets, he didn't panic. That's what they taught him at the Air Force Academy, where the motto is 'Character. Opportunity. Progress.' And when his team won Game Three, there was plenty of all traits on view.
But no taking the credit. As he noted: "It's funny when you lose a game, the word will be that your spacing is awful. And if you win you're spacing is great. But I didn't teach them anything different from the last game." He might not have come up with some fresh wisdom but guaranteed, behind closed doors, there was an honest appraisal of San Antonio's shortcomings against a New Orleans line-up which is proving utterly unwilling to treat its maiden play-off excursion as a mere learning experience.
There were subtle changes, with Bruce Bowen - voted, like Duncan, to the
league's All-Defensive team - moved to guard Peja Stojakovic rather than Chris Paul, effectively challenging the Hornets talisman to beat them on his own, and super-sub Ginobili moved into the starting line-up. Both adjustments paid dividends in Game Four as well, putting the Spurs back on level terms ahead of Thursday's Game Five back in the Big Easy.
Being able to offset the natural prima donna tendencies of today's superstars is no easy feat. Most coaches or managers have a certain shelf-life. Three years, they say, before the ears tune out and the inertia sets in. Somehow, Popovich's candour, his capacity to tell his charges how it is, has kept them buying into his system, (almost) night after night, year after year. Somehow, as only the very best can do, he straddles the thin line between affection and assertion, carrot and stick carried in each hand.
I remember the first time I got a true insight into Popovich's method. In a media scrum, ahead of a pre-season game in Paris, I mistakenly thought he'd beckoned me for a personal audience on the court. Two steps on to the sacred parquet were enough to earn me the full hairdryer treatment. But moments later, there was an arm on my shoulder, happy to explain a particular tactical nuance.
Therein lies the marvel of the Spurs talisman. What you get is what you see. Like their coach, the team will never be showy. Just effective. Substance matters more than style, deeds more than words. For all of United's brio, Fergie would doubtless approve.
A writer and broadcaster for a number of outlets, including The Guardian, The Sun, The Herald and Scotland on Sunday, Mark Woods has covered basketball and the NBA since 1990, scribing on everything from the high stakes of the Finals to the fun and games of All Star Weekend. Mark is a regular contributor to BBC Sport and he also produces a Podcast for Basketball 24/7. He still plays - dodgy right knee permitting - for Darroch BC in his home city of Edinburgh, UK. His own website is at www.insidesport.co.uk.