Are you ready for a perfect Gregg Popovich anecdote that is perfect?
Mike Sorensen of the Deseret News has you covered:
When asked Tuesday if he’s seen improvement from Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he didn’t know because he doesn’t watch much film, something he learned from former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
“I don’t study much, I learned that from Jerry Sloan,” he said. “I asked him one time, ‘How much film do you watch?’ and he said, ‘None.’ I said ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘That’s what my assistants do.’ I took that philosophy from that day on. You’re much better worrying about what you do (than the opponent).”
Later, when asked if he’d read a certain article about a basketball player, Popovich replied, “You think I read much of that stuff? I read nothing about sports — it’s boring.”
I’m honestly not sure if Popovich is serious about the reading tidibit, but we should fully, wholly, totally, unconditionally believe that he doesn’t watch that much film.
For one, there’s an army of San Antonio Spurs staffers under him, as he notes. Two, he seems like the type of coach who obsesses more over his own team’s performance than that of his opponents.
LeBron James dropped 60 points and 25 assists? That’s on the Spurs’ defense, nothing the Cleveland Cavaliers did. The Golden State Warriors scored 250 points before the fourth quarter? The Spurs could have limited them to under 90 if they executed better. San Antonio shoots 0-of-37 from three-point range? It would have been perfect if the ball movement and screens were better.
Mostly, though, Coach Pop is Coach Pop. If he still maintains that he doesn’t watch film, well, then knowing him, he really doesn’t watch film.
