Popovich on tanking: 'You can't go to your team and ask them to lose' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AP - Scanpix Credit AP - Scanpix

The San Antonio Spurs have been on a different kind of road in the last several years. A basketball dynasty led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili is now facing its third losing season in a row.

2-pointers this season

52%32,3Points made:32,3Accuracy:52,3%Place in standings:1Record max:46Record min:22Most made 2FGs:Dejounte MurrayTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

Before tonight's match against Chicago Bulls, Spurs legendary coach Gregg Popovich was asked about the differences in coaching David Robinson and the famous trio, and now.

"It's the same in a sense of the standards, and the principles are the same," Popovich started off. "If Timmy didn't rebound, I was on him. If we threw it to him in the post, and the guys were open and he didn't kick it, he played into the crowd, I was on him."

"As a coach, you have to make that decision that the principles and the standards are the same for everybody," the coach continued. "How you treat people is different. Everybody has a different level of acceptance for criticism. You gotta be able to know how to get to people a little bit thinner skin maybe."

"As far as what basketball gods demand, if you don't have a good transition defense, you're not going anywhere. If you can't play half-court defense, you're not going anywhere," Popovich emphasized. "If you can't rebound, if you're getting 22 assists a game, you're not gonna win. If you're turning it over 20 times a game, you're not gonna win. All these sorts of things are still important no matter what the level of talent or level of maturity."

"In that sense, it's all the same. What's different here is there's a lot more emphasis on fundamentals," the coach continued. "A lot of these guys haven't been to school for 4 years, so coach didn't really get a chance to repeat things with them over the years, to get them habitual in certain ways. This is more repetition, more fundamentals, more basics than with previous teams."

San Antonio Spurs / Schedule

Cleveland Cavaliers San Antonio Spurs105-92 Atlanta Hawks San Antonio Spurs121-136 New Orleans Pelicans San Antonio Spurs114-124 Chicago Bulls San Antonio Spurs120-109 Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio SpursThu01:00

The times are different now, and Popovich fully agrees with that assumption. "This is a rebuilding time, you can say that. We're not gonna win a championship this year," the coach admitted.

In difficult times, team fans often wish their teams lost more games to get a higher draft pick next, and a better chance of a successful rebuild. Popovich had empathy for the fans, but at the same time stressed his role as a coach in the process.

"Well, you have to understand that about fans. It's totally logical that they might think that way," Popovich agreed. "If you put yourself in that situation, more as a coach than any other position in the organisation besides players, you can't go to your team and ask them to lose. You can't do that."

"It's an impossibility for all the logical reasons you can think on your own. You go play your best, you keep teaching, you keep doing what you do," the coach continued. "If you lose and you end up with a high draft pick, well, you accept it and you're glad you got a high draft pick, but you can't be because you didn't push them, or teach them, or demand from them, you just gotta go do it."

"I don't know if everybody subscribes to that philosophy, but that's mine," Popovich finished his statement.

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