Gregg Popovich Says He Hates The Three-Pointer, Proves Why He's A Good Coach

Gregg Popovich is the best current coach in the NBA. He’s been with the Spurs for 19 seasons; in that span, he’s won five championships. With all his success, it’s jarring to hear that he despises the shot that so many great teams take full advantage of these days: the three-pointer.

Via CBS Sports:

“I still hate it,” Popovich said. “I’ll never embrace it. I don’t think it’s basketball. I think it’s kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don’t we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing. But that’s just me, that’s just old-school. To a certain degree, you better embrace it or you’re going to lose. And every time we’ve won a championship, the 3-point shot was a big part of it. Because it is so powerful and you’ve gotta be able to do it. And nobody does it better than Golden State, and you know where they’re at. So it’s important. You can’t ignore it.”

Popovich loves to toy with the media, but this is one of his sincere stances. He really hates three-point shots. He’s an old-school guy who has the same hard-on for old-timey basketball that many of the other wrinklier coaches in the NBA have. But the difference between Popovich and those guys is that he doesn’t let his personal distaste get in the way of helping his team win games by discouraging his team to shoot from behind the arc. It’s not like anyone was questioning Popovich’s acumen, but his ability to reconcile his personal tastes with what’s best for the team is a nice change of pace from Randy Wittman or Byron Scott.

[ CBS Sports]

Photo: AP

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