Vaughn a master at transition game
By Jeff McDonald
Spurs point guard Jacque Vaughn makes no bones about it. He would love to be a basketball coach someday.
The operative word in that sentence is “someday.”
“Don't throw me out of the league too early, now,” the 11-year NBA veteran said with a chuckle. “I've got a lot of basketball left in me.”
Consider the first month of the season, then, to be a dress rehearsal for the far-off day when Vaughn finally trades his jump shot for a clipboard.
With Tony Parker sidelined by a sprained ankle, rookie George Hill has assumed starting point guard duties for the Spurs. It has been part of Vaughn's job to help ensure Hill — primarily a college shooting guard at IUPUI — is up to the task of running an NBA team.
For the past few weeks, Vaughn, 33, has been equal parts big brother, camp counselor and sounding board for Hill, 11 years his junior.
“Jacque has helped me out with a lot of different things,” Hill said. “He's a real big part of my life right now.”
Off the court as much as on it, Vaughn has been a crucial cog in the Spurs' three-game winning streak, which they will put to the test against the Chauncey Billups-led Denver Nuggets tonight at the AT&T Center. He is the closest thing to a player-coach the Spurs have going.
In that, Vaughn is only paying forward the veteran guidance he received when he was a rookie with Utah in 1997. There, one of his mentors was future Hall of Famer John Stockton.
“I remember when I was a rookie,” Vaughn said. “What I want to do, if there's a question, (Hill) should always feel free to come to me — any time, any day.”
So far, Hill has been eager to take Vaughn up on that offer. Barely a practice — heck, barely a timeout — goes by that Hill isn't in Vaughn's ear, picking his older teammate's brain and brushing up on the intricacies of the Spurs' system.
“The thing I love about him is he wants to learn,” Vaughn said. “He wants to get better.”
For Hill, the lessons are myriad and, at times, overwhelming. It is to be expected: He is less than a semester into his crash course in NBA Point Guard Play 101.
Not only must Hill know the ins and outs of every call the Spurs make, the expected movement of every X and every O, he must know how to execute those calls with clockwork precision.
The timing with Tim Duncan on the pick-and-roll must be just so. How does Michael Finley like the ball delivered on a curl? And so on.
Some lessons are more self-evident than others. On one possession during the Spurs' 90-88 victory at Sacramento on Sunday, the offense went haywire because Finley never heard what play was called.
Onus for that falls on the point guard.
“Georgie,” coach Gregg Popovich had to gently remind his rookie, “make sure everybody gets the call.”
Helping Hill sort it all out, both the simple and the complex, has been Vaughn — even as he has surrendered playing time to his protégé.
“Jacque is a consummate pro,” Popovich said. “He wants to play as many minutes as anybody else. But he's also taken on the task of trying to teach this young kid and make him feel comfortable in the system.”
Sometimes, the best way for Vaughn to teach Hill how to be a point guard is to show him. And so it was on the Spurs' two-game, West Coast road trip earlier this week.
With Hill scuffling at times through back-to-back victories at Sacramento and the L.A. Clippers, the Spurs turned to Vaughn to steady the ship.
Vaughn, both Hill's guru and his backup, logged 23 minutes apiece in each game. The Spurs might not have won either without him. Duncan says Vaughn brings “a calming effect” when he's on the floor.
“No fault of George, he just hasn't been here long enough,” Duncan said. “But Jacque having been here, he understands what we want to run. He's in control.”
One day, perhaps soon, Hill will have the same calming effect. That's coach Vaughn's sincere hope, anyway.
“I'm unselfish enough, and I'm his teammate, and I want us to win,” Vaughn said. “So I want him to play well.”
Who was asking that question about Vaughn's mentoring again?
Vaughn still sucks.
mcdonald is out of topics to write
McDonald is the worst sportswriter in history.
mcdonald should stick to selling fries.
his article sucks!
To anyone who's followed Vaughn's career, this is no big surprise. He's a consummate pro and will make a fine coach someday. For now, I just wish he was a better shooter.
Do you think he'll be a good help to Hill? The article makes it sound like Hill is using him as a pretty heavily as a mentor.
Absolutely. I'm sure that was what Pop was thinking when he drafted Hill. He's using JV to help mentor Hill, similarly to him having Terry Porter for Tony Parker.
Sequ Bait.
Anyway, for those of you who think that teaching ability depends on playing ability: who was a better player, Jacque Vaughn or Gregg Popovich?
Pop did not got a chance to play in NBA
;d
btw. Shoog says obvious things.
Cus d'Amato was teaching Mike Tyson, not necessery he was better boxing fighter. :d
Wasn't there an article before, saying that role/bench players have made the most successful transitions into coaching?
master and vaughn should not appear in the same sentence let alone article
what a jip
Btw
Cus was more then a mentor to Tyson
He was like ...
Shoog to polandprzem
Except that Tyson made Cus millions.
Shoog I've only got 160 vbooks ....
But it is always something
What's your account number?
I actually thought Jeff McDonald's article was one of his better works, to date. Jeff probably had the benefit of travelling with the team and getting some decent insight, as opposed to his normal methods of players/coaches' access when the Spurs are at home.
I see improvement in Jeff McDonald's depth of information and quality of writing with this article...and I've been very critical of his work in the past.
Something has clicked with Hill in finding Timmy and Fin in the places they like the ball delivered for scoring. It's noticeable. Most of Hill's 8 assists Sunday were delivered in flow and in rhythm to score. He also had some very good ball reversals for scores...not something he'd been doing earlier.
Hill also needed to be bailed-out by Vaughn, particularly in Milwaukee, Sac, and LA when he struggled to enter the offense early enough and was tentative.
Well, it went to the position when everybody wants to bash Jeff. (an automatic reaction) No matter the article he putting up.
If you critisize somebody you feel better then him.
Words of wisdom.
I see what you did there, McDonald.Vaughn a master at transition game
Umm sarcasm?
Is it possible that part of Pop's man love for Vaughn is about keeping the Spurs first in line to get him as a coach when he retires?
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