San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich Shares His Favorite Leaders

On Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs lost Game One of their NBA Western Conference semifinals game to the Houston Rockets, 126-99.

In his post-game press conference, Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich kept it plain – the Spurs lost because they didn’t execute.

More specifically: “We lost, they won,” Popovich said. “And they played better.”

Popovich has always found a way to keep it real. In a recent feature on leadership with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, Popovich told him who his inspirations were while growing up.

I think that all idols have feet of clay and I think that especially in our country, we tend to mythologize people. So I look to people that I’ve known personally, whether that’s a coach or teacher, a relative; somebody that I respect because I know them. But people who I don’t know that have been mythologized, I don’t know them much. At the top of my head, Thomas Jefferson was a great guy; he was a slave owner. You can make that similar analogy with a lot of other people who have been idolized. They all have flaws. So I go for people that I know.

Lots of meaty stuff in this interview. You can watch the full video here.