Some teams do a glaringly obvious tank job – Gregg Popovich doesn’t want to play that way
Advertisement
Gregg Popovich is a coach with strong ethics. He built all of his title winning teams on those fundamentals, and there is no way he would do otherwise on his current team. Although they are not anywhere close to competing, Pop does not ask his players to lose on purpose. He let’s all his players play their natural game, and take the result whichever way it goes.
The San Antonio Spurs sit 12th in the conference, with a 22-36 record. To a normal person, that record would look like they are a dysfunctional team that is going nowhere. But that is exactly the opposite of how the team is being set up. The Spurs are a team that are exciting to watch, with a strong young core. Leading them from the baseline is legendary coach, also the 2020 Olympics gold medal winner.
There is no denying that the Texas based team are in rebuild mode, but they aren’t doing a bottle job of it. Some teams openly rest their players citing “injuries” just to put out a weakened team. Worse the record, better their chances for a higher draft pick, hence teams with no reason to play well, don’t. Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poetl are playing their socks off, and will be some of the top players in the league soon.
Pop on tanking: “You can’t go to your team and ask them to lose.”
He says you go out and teach and do what you do, and if you lose and get a good draft pick you accept it, but “it can’t be because you didn’t push them or teach them or demand from them.”
— Tom Petrini (@RealTomPetrini) February 14, 2022
Gregg Popovich is the best active coach in the NBA today – he built the Spurs franchise on values he thinks are right
The 5 time NBA championship winning coach is probably one of the best ever to hold a clipboard. Ever since he took over as head coach in 1996, he has had a winning record each season up until recently. The team overall has a winning record, and even if they lose 832 straight games, they would still be at .500.
A lot of franchises throw their morals and ethics out the window if they see a draft pick in the horizon. Not the Spurs, who play to achieve the best result possible. They have drafted well over the years, building a strong core, and can definitely be competing again at the top.
Pop knows he wont stay long at the coaching role even though fans would love for him to. His idea right now is to leave the franchise at a place where they do not have to worry about playing like a poverty franchise. The fans are used to winning and winning big, so he knows they cannot take becoming like the Sacramento Kings.
