Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA, found a passage by a 19th-century social reformer that crystallized his thoughts on building a team.
A great article in Sports Illustrated describes how reading a book by Jacob Riis struck Popovich enough that he had it displayed in the Spurs' locker room, and in each of the different languages spoken on his multi-cultural roster:
"When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
Popovich does have three stars in his team - Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli - but the genius that is Coach Popovich is surrounding that cast with players who buy into his system.
"We get guys who want to do their job and go home and aren't impressed with the hoopla," says Popovich. "One of the keys is to bring in guys who have gotten over themselves. They either want to prove that they can play in this league -- or they want to prove nothing. They fill their role and know the pecking order. We have three guys who are the best players, and everyone else fits around them."
The players that fill those roles are interchangeable based on their ability to accept their roles, and to buy into the idea of being a part of something bigger than themselves. You only have to hear sometimes starter/sometimes reserve center Fabricio Oberto to fully understand what players who believe in winning first and everything else second truly buy into-
The system, on the other hand, also means that players know the reality and manage expectations accordingly. Asked about his reduced role, Oberto says, "If I'm not playing and the teams wins, that's perfect." Perfect? "Look, everyone wants to play, [but] everyone wants to win more." Mason has noticed the abiding irony. "It's funny, on the losing team you can have the egos and selfishness. This is a winning organization -- they've earned the right [to ego] -- and there's no one self-centered. Total team. We'll exercise in the pool and all 15 guys are in there. It's just different here."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/03/04/spurs/
A great article in Sports Illustrated describes how reading a book by Jacob Riis struck Popovich enough that he had it displayed in the Spurs' locker room, and in each of the different languages spoken on his multi-cultural roster:
"When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
Popovich does have three stars in his team - Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli - but the genius that is Coach Popovich is surrounding that cast with players who buy into his system.
"We get guys who want to do their job and go home and aren't impressed with the hoopla," says Popovich. "One of the keys is to bring in guys who have gotten over themselves. They either want to prove that they can play in this league -- or they want to prove nothing. They fill their role and know the pecking order. We have three guys who are the best players, and everyone else fits around them."
The players that fill those roles are interchangeable based on their ability to accept their roles, and to buy into the idea of being a part of something bigger than themselves. You only have to hear sometimes starter/sometimes reserve center Fabricio Oberto to fully understand what players who believe in winning first and everything else second truly buy into-
The system, on the other hand, also means that players know the reality and manage expectations accordingly. Asked about his reduced role, Oberto says, "If I'm not playing and the teams wins, that's perfect." Perfect? "Look, everyone wants to play, [but] everyone wants to win more." Mason has noticed the abiding irony. "It's funny, on the losing team you can have the egos and selfishness. This is a winning organization -- they've earned the right [to ego] -- and there's no one self-centered. Total team. We'll exercise in the pool and all 15 guys are in there. It's just different here."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/03/04/spurs/
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