Gregg Popovich says he learned to never 'study much' game tape from Jerry Sloan
There is probably a callous on Gregg Popovich’s right thumb, but it’s not because he is spending his time fast forwarded through endless clips of NBA contests. The San Antonio Spurs coach recently professed to taking it easy when it came time to break down the Texas-thick spools of tape that his video staff had on the ready in years past.
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Years that longtime Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Popovich’s predecessor as the longest-tenured coach in North American pro sports, also declined to perpetually peruse. According to Popovich, at least.
From Mike Sorensen at Deseret News:
“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.”
You can’t help but agree with Popovich on the final point. Those that work in sports and take a busman’s holiday to use the majority of their time to read up on what else is going on in the world of sport badly need an intervention.
Of course, there are no “spools of tape” to work through anymore, as any bit of information needed to glean the sort of wisdom that has led to five San Antonio championships and 1093 career regular season wins for Pop (not including Tuesday night’s Spurs loss over the Jazz) is all available digitally.
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For Sloan, who coached the Jazz from Dec. 1988 until 2010, the task was an arduous one involving either actual game film or stacks of VHS tapes. Coach’s Pop’s work is made all the more easier due to the fact that just about every currently produced play possible is categorized and in quick, digitized form – but it’s also just as fun to look up Yelp suggestions on the same laptop for, say, the best restaurants in Salt Lake City – where the Spurs will be headed to play on Friday evening.
As with everything that comes out of Gregg Popovich’s mouth on record, one has to stare down the realization that he could be working with tongue placed in cheek. Bringing up Jerry Sloan’s name to local Utah media prior to a Jazz/Spurs tilt also might play into the idea that Coach Pop is hustling the board yet again, as is the acknowledgement that Jerry Sloan probably led the NBA in “I don’t even know how to program my VCR”-jokes from 1988 until 2004 or so.
Still, the Spurs are deep in the assistant coach department, the team routinely turns out Popovich deputies that turn into highly-regarded head coaches, and the team’s front office and scouting staff ranks as good as these sorts of outfits come. Why not let their voices determine the tasting menu, so to speak, instead of barging in to work the remote yourself?
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!