DeMar DeRozan spent three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs from 2018 to 2021. During his Spurs tenure, DeRozan witnessed what sets Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich apart from the rest of the coaches in the NBA. During an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, the Sacramento Kings star recalled how Coach Pop used a film session to put things in perspective for the players on his team.
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The veteran HC showed them a video of kids training for the army in a third-world country. At first, the purpose of the film was unclear to DeRozan and other players.
But then Coach Pop reminded the Spurs athletes that while they are earning millions in the NBA, there are kids who undergo intense arms training at an age they should be studying and playing. That’s when DeRozan realized how privileged he really is and that he shouldn’t be complaining about minor inconveniences.
”He[Popovich] always put life in perspective… I remember one time we came in thinking, we about to watch film on basketball and he showed us a whole video of kids in a third-world country, like 12 years old training to be in the army, with AK-47s and all this…”
“He didn’t give us a head-ups why he is showing it… He just said something like, ‘Y’all in the NBA,‘” the former Spurs star added.
DeRozan realized that the grind he was going through in the NBA was nothing compared to the struggles of the people in impoverished third-world countries.
Therefore, that film session made DeRozan and other Spurs players realize how they must always be grateful in life.
“So you take away from that like, putting in perspective like we bi**in’ and complainin’ about whatever it is we may be complaining about. But imagine if you had a kid that was over there, your kid was training for army, at 14, 12, 13 years of old. It’s real like we are very privileged so with that give yourself grace when you think sh** is hard.”
“It ain’t that hard if you compare to what lot of these other countries may be going through, and a lot of these families may be going through,” DeRozan added.
This instance proves that Coach Popovich wanted his players to build character both on and off the court. He wanted them to understand that the things that they are so worried about don’t really matter in the long run.
His real-life examples can have a humbling effect, as is evident in the case of DeMar DeRozan. It is one of the reasons why DeRozan finds coach Popovich to be a perfect mentor to a rising superstar like 20-year-old Victor Wembanyama.
