Leadership: Lesson in Pop Management

You don’t care that every time your team gets to the NBA Finals the rest of the country shrugs. You don’t mind that the nickname for your best player is “The Big Fundamental.” You could care less that your team might be the third most popular NBA team in Texas. But one thing that you care about is that your team has just won its fourth NBA title in nine years. You are Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. Few coaches have won four titles, that’s three more than your mentor the legendary NBA coach Larry Brown often considered one of the very best in the game.

Popovich, or Pop as he is known to his players and friends, is a throwback to the days when NBA coaches actually coached. He is skilled at the fundamentals as well as understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his opposition. He is teach and mentor, and for many an all-around great guy. He’s simply not Broadway, or Hollywood, South Beach or even the Windy City. A graduate of the Air Force Academy, Pop is a coach’s coach. And for that reason, Greg Popovich is a good role model of managers to study. Here are three reasons why:

He can teach. The NBA is known as a player’s league. Not in San Antonio, however. Tim Duncan is the star power forward and maybe one of the very best of all-time to play the position but his self-effacement and willingness to listen to Pop opens the door for everyone else on the team for follow his example.

He can outsmart the opposition. San Antonio is a team that makes adjustments. Usually their game plans hold up but when they find themselves getting outfoxed and outsmarted, Pop calls a timeout and shares his lesson plan for the moment. Duncan mans the post better than anyone; Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are strong scorers. And the rest of the players fall into place, enabling the team to compete as a cohesive unit.

He can sustain. The Spurs just captured their fourth championship title in nine years. Only one player, Duncan, is a veteran of all four teams. That means, Popovich, together with team management, has assembled a team of stars and role players who meld as a team for one purpose: to win. ESPN’s http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=danpatrick
"> Dan Patrick drew a comparison between Pop and the other systems coach – Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. Different sport, but same principle. Find the right players with the right mindset to play as team players and coach them to win. And they do.

When the Spurs played Game 2 on the Sunday that marked the airing of the final episode of The Sopranos, Popovich was realistic. “I can’t make [the public] keep watching us,” he said in a pre-game press conference, “but it’s always dumbfounded me, since the arrival of Tony [Parker] and Manu [Ginobili]. If you can’t enjoy watching those two guys play and you don’t understand that they’re as much fun to watch as a lot of other people in bigger markets, then I can’t help, and it means you’re not much of a fan and you don’t understand the game, anyway, and you should probably tune in HBO.” Strong leaders know what they can control and what they cannot. Viewing habits be damned, Pop and his team were on a mission.

Popovich understands the grind of the schedule and for that reason he knows when to push his players as well as to ease up on them. He creates player rotations that leave his players to get the rest they need so they are fresh and ready for the playoffs. You need to win to get home field advantage but this year when the Dallas Mavericks ran away with the regular season, Popovich kept his players focused. The Mavs may have burned out chasing the regular season win record (they fell short) and they fell in the first round of the playoffs. That left the Spurs the favored team in the West and they simply closed the deal by beating the Utah Jazz and then sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by superstar LeBron James, 4-0 in the Finals.

With his weathered complexion and thinning gray hair, Popovich will not make anyone’s A list for leading men. But with uncanny knack for putting players in the right places to succeed, Pop is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame. But before than happens, he just might win another title.

Sources:
Harvey Araton “In the NBA, the Good Guys Wear Black” New York Times 6.10.07; Dan Patrick “The Dan Patrick Show” ESPN Radio 6.13.07

John Baldoni • Leadership Author/Speaker • Baldoni Consulting, LLC • john@johnbaldoni.com • www.johnbaldoni.com