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Training camps won’t start for NBA teams until September, but San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has begun tutoring DeMar DeRozan on the basketball court.
Thursday marked the start of Team USA’s minicamp in Las Vegas, and with Popovich as the head coach of the squad and DeRozan among those invited to the workout, the two were given a convenient time to build rapport early.
Here’s a video of Pop teaching the shooting guard some tricks at the post, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
Gregg Popovich and DeMar DeRozan are already working one on one on DeMar’s post game 👀 pic.twitter.com/5C98gNAJbc
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) July 26, 2018
DeMar DeRozan is the shiny new toy the Spurs will be parading on the court, beginning next season. He was the key piece that ultimately convinced the Spurs that it’s time to give up on embattled forward Kawhi Leonard. The Toronto Raptors shipped DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a future draft pick to San Antonio for Leonard and Danny Green.
Now in San Antonio, DeRozan finds himself working in an organization with an established winning culture. While the Spurs were knocked out in the first round of this year’s playoffs, they did manage to extend their streak of appearances in the postseason to 21. Along the way, the Spurs won five NBA championships.
It will take time for DeRozan to adjust to the style of Gregg Popovich, but early one-on-ones with the legendary mentor like the one he had today in Las Vegas will help him fit faster into Popovich’s system. For now, the focus for DeRozan is to impress Popovich enough to make the final cut of the team that the US will send to the 2019 FIBA World Cup and to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
