NBA coaching legend Gregg Popovich, 5x NBA champion and 3x NBA coach of the year, goes through the philosophy system basics of his San Antonio Spurs. This is a summary of the video produced by FIBA.

1. SPURS
PHILOSOPHY
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 )

2. EVERYBODY KNOWS O’S AND
X’S…NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT
PART OF A PROGRAM.
IT’S ABOUT ORGANIZATION,
DISCIPLINE, BUILDING THE BLOCKS,
RELATIONSHIP WITH PLAYERS,
GETTING SOMETHING OUT OF THE
SELFISH OR NON-COMPETITIVE.
THESE THINGS HAVE MORE TO DO
WITH 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

3. Can you change character?
Usually, “they am what they am”.
If they’re selfish, it’s going to come out in the wash and
you’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, to
the coach?
That tells you a lot more than if they’re just a good player.
THE FIBER OF
YOUR TEAM
IS THE
BEGINNING
OF
EVERYTHING
YOU DO.

4. WHEN YOU AMASS ENOUGH
CHARACTER YOU CAN
HANDLE SOMEONE WHO IS
OFF THE MARK IN SOME
FORM. IT’S HARD FOR
SOMEONE TO BE TOO MUCH
OF A JERK WHEN THEY’RE
AROUND 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

5. Potential is going to get
you 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, if
you’re around jerks. To hell with them. Get
rid of them and start again with character.
Pop hates the 3pt shot;
it’s like a lottery. Why
not have a 6pt shot? It’s
not real basketball.
Pop plays his bench a
lot to develop
motivation and freshen
the 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

6. America lost its way with fundamentals, skills, & work ethic. The foreign guys seemed
more 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 an
idea 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, between
the 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 treat
people differently (because they are different) but they all have to march to the same
drummer.

7. THE COACH MUST
HAVE FORTITUDE. IF
THE 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

8. Avoid highs and lows, its basketball, get over
yourself. Bust your ass, do the best you can, go
home and have a beer. No reason to jump off a
building if you lose or think you’re some kind of
a hero if you win.
If you win, act like you do it all the time and it’s
nothing special. If you lose, go back to work and
figure it out.
The game 6 loss in the 2013 finals hurt very
badly. We got over it with honesty.
The Spurs watched every minute of game 6 & 7.
Pop wanted players to feel the pain all over
again. We could have done ABC to finish the
game off, but WE blew it. Next season was to be
a measure of our courage and fortitude.
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

9. In time-out, coaches walk
around from bench and
players huddle at bench.
Pop often says, “You guys
got anything?” If coach
talks he only tells them
one thing—pick something
e.g. pick and roll defense.
“What do you guys want to
do on pick and roll? Well,
do it” Timeouts can help
some players become
better 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 daily
basis is what drives the
spirit and character; then
they deserve to win a
Championship.
PRIDE
You can tell who’s a leader or who’s not. It’s an intrinsic
quality. People do it differently e.g. Avery Johnson was
very talkative; Tim Duncan does it differently—by
example, and a tactile sense (arm around, hand
rubbing top of head).
LEADERSHIP
We can’t skip steps and they
start at the beginning.
Training camp starts with
jump stops. They don’t start
with secret plays.
PROCESS

10. Popovich has no specific goals for
the team. His goals are very basic
and general. They don’t talk about
winning the conference or
championship. It’s a journey, it’s a
process. The joy is in the journey.
"PRIDE IN WORK ON A DAILY BASIS IS
WHAT DRIVES THE SPIRIT AND
CHARACTER; THEN THEY DESERVE TO
WIN 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

11. Guy is one of Australia’s most highly respected and decorated coaches.
His development philosophy centres around a teaching system that
heralded more athletes into the NBL in 2012 than any other Coach in
Australia. Guy drives ACS’s culture, the progression of our athletes and
manages the interplay between our athlete's goals and our high
performance model. Some of Guy's career successes are:
SUMMARY BY GUY MOLLOY
DIRECTOR OF COACHING AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF SPORT
W A T C H V I D E O
Current WNBL Coach - Melbourne Boomers
Head Coach, Australia U17 Men [Silver Medallist FIBA World
Championship 2012]
Head Coach Australia U21 Men
Head Coach Victoria [Metro] U18 Men – Australian Champions 2007,
2008, 2009
Australian Coach of the Year 2009
WNBL Coach of the Year 1995 and 2014
Assistant Coach – Australia Olympic Women’s Team 1990, 1992, 1994
G U Y M O L L O Y - T H E D R I B B L E P E N E T R A T I O N G A M E
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