How Gregg Popovich Manages Powerful NBA Personalities
Gregg Popovich on dealing with players
“Relationships with people are what it’s all about. You have to make players realize you care about them”
A topic I’ve been researching lately is how coaches can manage powerful personalities on their teams. And in no sport is the power dynamic more lopsided in favor of the players than in the NBA, where high-paid superstar players have the ability to influence major organizational decisions and can even usurp a coach’s authority should they decide they want a different voice in the locker room.
The Athletic’s recent anonymous poll of NBA players gave interesting insight into what coaches the players would most like to play for, and who they appear to have the most respect for in the NBA.
The Athletic
No surprise ranking high on the list is Steve Kerr, a former player who has won 4 NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors. While Kerr’s calm demeanor makes him a desirable coach to play for, the runaway winner possesses the exact opposite type of sideline demeanor: San Antonio Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich.
Popovich, while having the most career success of any current NBA head coach with five NBA titles over the past two decades, can be a very demanding coach who has no problem attacking problems with star players. In San Antonio, the Spurs’ system is the star of the program, not the players. But even with a coaching style that seems to defy what most believe is necessary to be successful with today’s NBA players, Popovich continues to coach, and continues to garner huge amounts of respect from current crop of NBA players, most of whom were toddlers when he first took over as Spurs head coach over 20 years ago.
How has Popovich done it? The answer is simple, and also why Kerr, a former player of Popovich, appears so highly respected in the league: These coaches prioritize their people and their relationships with each player.
Gregg Popovich on dealing with players
“Relationships with people are what it’s all about. You have to make players realize you care about them”
Regardless of the theatrics of how Kerr and Popovich lead their team, or handle emotions when things go wrong on the sideline, both of these coaches understand the true art of being an influential coach and getting buy-in from highly paid NBA players comes down not to the power dynamics within the team, but rather the relationships with each person on the team.
For more on Popovich, check out my recent writing on how Gregg Popovich builds a culture of character in San Antonio.
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