SPURSPHILOSOPHY

SYSTEM BASICS

A SUMMARY BY GUY MOLLOY

A P R O D U C T I O N O F B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

C L I C K B E L O W F O R F U L L V I D E O : S P U R S P H I L O S O P H Y S Y S T E M B A S I C S

G R E G G P O P O V I C H - B A S K E T B A L L F U N D A M E N T A L S ( F I B A , 2 0 1 6 )

EVERYBODY KNOWS O’S ANDX’S…NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT

PART OF A PROGRAM.

IT ’S ABOUT ORGANIZATION,DISCIPL INE, BUILDING THE BLOCKS,

RELATIONSHIP WITH PLAYERS,GETTING SOMETHING OUT OF THE

SELFISH OR NON-COMPETIT IVE .THESE THINGS HAVE MORE TO DOWITH WINNING AND LOSING THAN

X’S AND O ’S .

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

S P U R S P H I L O S O P H Y

Can you change character?

Usually, “they am what they am”.

If they’re selfish, it’s going to come out in the wash andyou’ve got to get rid of them.

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

We want "players who have gotten over themselves".

Club’s job is to figure this out.

How do they react to teammates in timeouts?If they’re losing the game do they go and hide?

If they’re winning the game do they beat their chests?Instead, how hard do they compete?

Are they respectful to the game, to their teammates, tothe coach?

That tells you a lot more than if they’re just a good player.

THE FIBER OFYOUR TEAM

IS THEBEGINNING

OFEVERYTHING

YOU DO.

WHEN YOU AMASS ENOUGHCHARACTER YOU CAN

HANDLE SOMEONE WHO ISOFF THE MARK IN SOME

FORM. IT ’S HARD FORSOMEONE TO BE TOO MUCH

OF A JERK WHEN THEY’REAROUND GOOD PEOPLE.

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

G R E G G P O P O V I C H

Potential is going to getyou fired; it doesn’t

always happen.

C O A C H I N G J E R K S

The other part is, you won’t enjoy yourself, ifyou’re around jerks. To hell with them. Getrid of them and start again with character.

Pop hates the 3pt shot;it’s like a lottery. Why

not have a 6pt shot? It’snot real basketball.

Pop plays his bench alot to develop

motivation and freshenthe team.

POTENTIAL 3-POINT SHOT THE BENCH

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

America lost its way with fundamentals, skills, & work ethic. The foreign guys seemedmore skilled; they play more unselfishly with ball and player movement. It’s a great way

to play and more fun for everybody.

Why so many foreign players?

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

Spurs have a participatory arrangement to assess talent. Pop doesn’t care where anidea comes from. The head coach has to be “comfortable enough in his own skin”.

Talent Assessment

Accountability

You have to have accountability. The thing that works best for Spurs is “total, betweenthe eyes, honesty". Never try to trick or manipulate a player. If someone’s doing well,

tell them. Don’t have a different system for stars than others. But, a lot of people(coaches) are afraid of this. You need to have the same standards for all. You can treatpeople differently (because they are different) but they all have to march to the same

drummer.

THE COACH MUSTHAVE FORTITUDE. IFTHE COACH IS WEAK,OVER TIME YOU HAVE

A PROBLEM.

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

G R E G G P O P O V I C H

Avoid highs and lows, i ts basketbal l , get overyourself . Bust your ass , do the best you can, gohome and have a beer . No reason to jump off a

bui lding i f you lose or think you’re some kind ofa hero i f you win.

I f you win, act l ike you do i t a l l the t ime and it ’snothing special . I f you lose, go back to work and

figure i t out .

The game 6 loss in the 2013 f inals hurt verybadly. We got over i t with honesty.

The Spurs watched every minute of game 6 & 7 .Pop wanted players to feel the pain al l overagain. We could have done ABC to f inish the

game off , but WE blew it . Next season was to bea measure of our courage and fort itude.

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

P O P O V I C H O N W I N N I N G A N D L O S I N G

In time-out, coaches walkaround from bench andplayers huddle at bench.Pop often says, “You guys

got anything?” If coachtalks he only tells them

one thing—pick somethinge.g. pick and roll defense.

“What do you guys want todo on pick and roll? Well,do it” Timeouts can helpsome players becomebetter leaders without

coaches present.

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

TIME-OUTS

Pride in work on a dailybasis is what drives the

spirit and character; thenthey deserve to win a

Championship.

PRIDE

You can tell who’s a leader or who’s not. It’s an intrinsicquality. People do it differently e.g. Avery Johnson was

very talkative; Tim Duncan does it differently—byexample, and a tactile sense (arm around, hand

rubbing top of head).

LEADERSHIP

We can’t skip steps and theystart at the beginning.

Training camp starts withjump stops. They don’t start

with secret plays.

PROCESS

Popovich has no specif ic goals forthe team. His goals are very basicand general . They don’t talk about

winning the conference orchampionship. I t ’ s a journey, i t ’ s aprocess. The joy is in the journey.

"PRIDE IN WORK ON A DAILY BASIS ISWHAT DRIVES THE SPIR IT AND

CHARACTER; THEN THEY DESERVE TOWIN A CHAMPIONSHIP."

B A S K E T B A L L I M M E R S I O N . C O M

P O P O V I C H O N G O A L S

Guy is one of Austral ia ’s most highly respected and decorated coaches.His development phi losophy centres around a teaching system that

heralded more athletes into the NBL in 2012 than any other Coach inAustral ia . Guy dr ives ACS ’s culture, the progression of our athletes and

manages the interplay between our athlete's goals and our highperformance model . Some of Guy's career successes are:

SUMMARY BY GUY MOLLOYDIRECTOR OF COACHING AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF SPORT

W A T C H V I D E O

Current WNBL Coach - Melbourne BoomersHead Coach, Austral ia U17 Men [S i lver Medal l ist F IBA WorldChampionship 2012]Head Coach Austral ia U21 MenHead Coach Victoria [Metro] U18 Men – Austral ian Champions 2007,2008, 2009Austral ian Coach of the Year 2009WNBL Coach of the Year 1995 and 2014Assistant Coach – Austral ia Olympic Women’s Team 1990, 1992, 1994

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