Buford Looks to Mentor for Title Success

Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford has a coaching mentor most hoop-heads would love to sit down and chat the game with – San Antonio Spurs coaching legend Gregg Popovich.

Popovich has been at the helm of the Spurs since 1996 and has registered more wins than any coach in NBA history. He also has five championships to his name.

Despite all the success of those championships, Popovich’s teams never managed to go back-to-back. The closest they came to achieving the milestone was their famous three titles in five years, from 2003 to 2007.

“It’s funny, I was with ‘Pop’ at my wedding a few weeks ago and I said to him, ‘I think I understand why you guys never repeated. Everyone is kissing your arse and telling you how great you are, and you can fall into the trap of believing it all,” Buford told Newscorp.

The Kings will look to become the first NBL side to win back-to-back championships since Perth achieved the feat in 2016 and 2017.

They open their title defence on October 1, playing away to local rivals Illawarra.

For the full story head to >> How NBA master coach Gregg Popovich is helping the Sydney Kings chase consecutive titles