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If The First Semester Of Law School Punched You In The Mouth, Sip Some Wine And Rebound Like NBA Coach Gregg Popovich

More so than IQ or talent, grit is the quality that results in hard work and focus – not just for weeks or months, but for years.

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“Thought that I would fail without you, but I’m on top / Thought it would be over by now, but it won’t stop / Thought that I would self-destruct, but I’m still here / Even in my years to come, I’m still going to be here.” — Beyoncè, Destiny’s Child

Last night, ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption co-hosts Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discussed the possibility of Gregg Popovich retiring at the end of the season. The conversation was prompted by Marc Stein’s reporting for the New York Times that Popovich didn’t “know the answer,” when asked about his plans for next season.

If Pop decides to hang them up after this season, then the NBA will lose a visionary of the game. Pop took over the San Antonio Spurs coaching gig twenty-three years ago after a miserable 3-15 (three wins and fifteen loss) record during the beginning of the 1996-1997 season. The Spurs wound up with a 20-62 overall record during his inaugural season.

Nevertheless, I followed this team because David Robinson was my favorite player at the time and I had over 200 of Robinson’s basketball cards. I had even pasted a miniature David Robinson cutout blocking Michael Jordan on the Nike’s “Art of the Dunk” poster, hanging up on the wall in my bedroom. Due to an injury, Robinson only played in six games during Pop’s first year. Suffice it to say, Pop faced a steep learning curve.

Robinson, whose nickname was “The Admiral,” due to his past service as a United States Navy Officer, retired in 2003 after his second NBA championship with Pop running the ship. Popovich, like Robinson, also spent time in the service—as an active member of the Air Force and possibly as a spy. And after a brutal initial season at the helm, Pop would not only survive, but would thrive and capture five NBA titles, becoming one of the greatest NBA basketball coaches of all time. If you’re interested in learning more about his legendary career, visit here, here, and here.

Perhaps the most impressive story, which serves as a microcosm of Pop’s grit, I’ve ever heard about Popovich was told by Daniel Coyle in his book The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. As Pop periodically did throughout his career, he instructed his team to think about the big picture:

[T]he Spurs had gathered in the video room to review the Oklahoma City game. They had sat down with trepidation, expecting Popovich to detail the sins of the previous night, to show them what they did wrong and what they could do better. But when Popovich clicked the video, the screen flickered with a CNN documentary of the fiftieth anniversary of the Voting Right Act.

The team watched in silence as the story unfolded: Martin Luther King, Jr., Lyndon Johnson, and the Selma marches. When it was over, Popovich asked questions. He always asks questions, and those questions are always the same: personal, direct, focused on the big picture. What did you think of it? What would you have done in that situation?

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Maybe this helped them after one of the most devastating daggers in NBA playoff history. In the 2013 NBA championship, the Spurs were up 3-2 in a best-of-seven series against the Miami Heat. And in the sixth game, they were a mere 19 seconds away from Pop’s fifth NBA championship. But in those final seconds, Chris Bosh would wrestle away a rebound from the Spurs, kick the ball out to Ray Allen, and Allen would hit one of the most clutch three-pointers in NBA history to tie the game at 95-95—ripping the Spurs’ heart out in the process. The Heat would end up conquering the Spurs in overtime.

As Coyle highlight in his book:

The Spurs were in shock. Tony Parker sat with a towel over his head, crying. ‘I’ve never seen our team so broken,’ he said later. Tim Duncan lay on the floor, unable to move. Manu Ginobili could not look anyone in the face. ‘It was like death,’ said Sean Marks. ‘We were gutted.’

Players and coaches naturally assumed the team would scrap the gathering at Il Gabbiano [where they planned to celebrate] and go back to their hotel to regroup. But Popovich had other plans…. Popovich left before the team, taking a car with Marks. When they reached the empty restaurant, Popovich started working, preparing the space. He had the tables moved—he wanted the team together in the center, with coaches close by, surrounded by an outer ring of family. He started ordering appetizers, picking dishes that he knew his player would like. He chose wine and the waiters open it. Then he sat down.

‘He looked as sad as I’ve ever seen a person look,’ Marks recalls. ‘He’s sitting in his chair, not saying a word, still devastated. Then—I know this sounds weird—but you can just see him make the shift and get past it. He takes a sip of wine and a deep breath. You can see him get over his emotions and start focusing on what the team needs. Right then the bus pulls up….’

In a moment that could have been filled with frustration, recrimination, and anger, he filled their cups. They talked about the game. Some of them cried. They began to come out of their private silences, to get past the loss and to connect. They even laughed.

‘I remember watching him do that, and I couldn’t believe it,’ R.C. Buford [Spurs GM] says. ‘By the end of the night, things felt almost normal. We were a team again. It’s the single greatest thing I’ve ever seen in sports, bar none.’

In a footnote, Coyle writes: “The Spurs went on to play game seven with cohesion and energy that surpassed their game six performance, though they ended up falling to Miami. The Spurs kept the unopened champagne and used it in the following year after they defeated the heat in five games to win their fifth championship.”

San Antonio News-Express columnist Buck Harvey covered this night of recovery as well in his article “Eat, pray, recover — how Popovich tried to find way back.”

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In her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, MacArthur Genius Fellow and University of Pennsylvania professor Angela Duckworth observed across numerous and disparate contexts that grit was the ultimate predictor in success. More so than IQ or talent, grit is the quality that results in hard work and focus – not just for weeks or months, but for years.

Grit depends on having focused, long-term passions. It is often derived from a growth-mindset – the belief that one’s most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Grit is about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.

Maybe your first semester’s grades were off the mark. Just remember, one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time launched his campaign with a 17-47 record. Your grit and determination will determine where you go from here. Take a sip of wine and a deep breath. Fill your cup up, it’s time to get back to work.

Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn. 

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