The Beauty in Pop’s Tanking Speech

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basketball

In April of 2022, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich received a chicken question from a reporter and turned it into an opportunity.

Kens5.com posted this video after the Spurs lost their 2021-2022 season finale.

Reporter: There’s some teams, several teams, that pretty clearly have not prioritized winning down the stretch to put it politely, what benefit do you think your team your young guys in particular get from being in competitive situations and you know, playing to win?

Me [narrating]: First, what a cupcake. The question and the reporter. Note how the reporter weakly broaches the subject of tanking for question context but then quickly backs off to transition into a question that presumes the Spurs aren’t doing just that.

Pop takes the lead.

Pop: Well, you know it’s it’s a really incisive question. Unlike most that I receive. It is because there’s a lot to unpack there.

Me [narrating]: Uh, oh. Incisive means intelligently analytical and sharp. That question was neither. Pop is garnering favor with ice cream. I‘ll stop interrupting.

Part of it is it’s just not who we are. It’s not who I am, I can’t. I can’t operate like that, which might not be the most intelligent overall philosophy to have and I get that.

But we are who we are and we’re going to go ahead and compete. And I think that the young players gained a real understanding of just a, philosophically, moral space where it’s the right thing to do, to continue to compete.

And frankly, I don’t, I don’t know how it would go to my team and say, okay guys, we’re we’re not going to compete the way we should or how you get that across or you do it with a wink and a nod. That kind of thing.

I think you do the the players a disservice if they’re not able to go out and perform at the best of their ability, so. You know?

I think the lessons to be learned are are very important as their careers advance. And you hope that in the end, in the long run. They’ll that value they gain from that will help them compete at an even higher level later.
But I understand the opposite, I just can’t do it.

Lionel Hutz: “That was a right pretty speech, sir.”

I had to get Hutz in here.

If that clip isn’t used now, I don’t know what it’s for.

Anyway, back to the speech analysis.

After the initial driving 10 miles out of the way to give a compliment, notice how Pop voluntarily cedes tanking may be intelligent.

Actually, wait, we need to back up. Notice how Pop actually answered the question as if the reporter directly asked Pop about tanking.

If you’ll recall, the reporter chickenly asked, “what benefit do you think your team your young guys in particular get from being in competitive situations and you know, playing to win?”

Pop was either waiting on this question like Jose Canseco waiting on a fastball or he was able to deftly recognize and extract the undertone from the question and immediately formulate a response that professed his innocence of tanking.

In other words, Pop used the reporter’s shy wording as his opportunity to address tanking on his own terms.

Anyway, here’s the money line:

“And frankly, I don’t, I don’t know how it would go to my team and say, okay guys, we’re we’re not going to compete the way we should or how you get that across or you do it with a wink and a nod. That kind of thing.”

Secondary crème de la crème line:

“I think you do the the players a disservice if they’re not able to go out and perform at the best of their ability, so. You know?”

Oh the magician’s sword, sleight of hand.

Beautiful in its own way, is it not?

Here is Pop seemingly addressing the tanking subject but he frames tanking using only the smallest of slivers in the Tanking Pie Chart.

Tanking Pie Chart: Damn Injuries 40.3%, Trade Players 27.8%, Rest Stars 19.4%, Coach to Lose 11.1%, Tell ’Em 1.4%

Traditionally, especially in modern times like now, the GM or coach doesn’t walk into the locker room and go, “Alright guys, this season’s a no-go. We need that high lottery pick.”

As you can clearly see from the Tanking Pie Chart, the tell-em route is quite rare.

But in this presser Pop is telling us he can’t do it. In fact, he won’t.

And what is it again exactly that he won’t do?

As his outro before the next question, Pop finishes by adding that he does understand tanking.

Here the legendary coach indicates he can walk right up the edge of the peer, but he just can’t jump into the ocean of tanking.

However, one (me) can’t help but notice that he didn’t say anything about boarding a boat to ride the seas of tank.

The boat, for those of you also scrolling TikTok, could be any of the largesque slices of the Tanking Pie Chart.

Pop’s answer here reminds me of the charged suspect who thinks he can deftly talk himself out of the guilty spotlight by acknowledging how it looks like he’s guilty but then explaining that he’s really not.

It’s not David Stern-envelope level of culpability but it’s up there.

P.S. I have a very scientific and technical term for the technique Pop employeed here. It’s called address it, but not really.

This topic only arises now because the Spurs (front office types) are being called big fat phonies by me, Richard Jefferson, and a few egg accounts on Twitter.

But I didn’t have a problem with the Spurs 2022–2023 talent reassignment program where Jakob Poeltl, DeJounte Murray, and Derrick White found new homes somewhere other than San Antonio.

Is that style of tanking not fair?

Does anybody choose purgatory vs. 14% chance of an alien spaceship ride to the moon?

Sometimes you just need to reshuffle the deck and see what cards Miss Cleo throws on your side of the table.

So that’s been adjudicated and the verdict is rendered no-fault on the part of Pop.

But where we do have a sticky situation is this season.

You won Victor probably fair and square.

That’s it. You have to let someone else have a turn.

And if you do cut in line for another round, don’t think we don’t see you cutting in line.

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Kris Rivenburgh, In-Between Game Podcast
Kris Rivenburgh, In-Between Game Podcast

Written by Kris Rivenburgh, In-Between Game Podcast

Wemby Watch article after most Spurs games. Chronicling Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. inbetweengamepodcast@gmail.com.

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