#160: World Champion Basketball Coach Dishes on NBA Finals, Pro Injuries, Michael Jordan

Run The Race

As the NBA Finals tip off (tonight), our guest this week is a man who helped lead the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back world championships, part of his 45 years of coaching college or pro basketball, which also included being a scout and assistant coach for the Olympics "Dream Team." (3:36) Coach Brendan Suhr tells some fascinating stories about being an assistant coach under Chuck Daly for the "Bad Boy" Pistons, including Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, now in one of the top positions in the NBA. One of his fellow coaches was the dad of current Denver Nugget's head coach. One the other side was a guy named Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls! Suhr talks about helping to come up with the "Jordan Rules" at 2am in a hotel lobby, during the playoffs. He says coaching is taking players where they can't take themselves. (13:38) What does it take for pro athletes to have that really strong winning mentality? Part of it is buying in, and it takes everyone to do that part as a team - not just in sports but other career fields. Suhr gives us the 3 keys to coaching. For NBA players, (19:36) staying in shape is essential, but Coach Suhr says they used to not play during the offseason, taking a break from basketball and getting needed recovery...but nowadays, overtraining leads to more injuries. Running for an hour every afternoon of a game day was Suhr's ritual. Along with being on the bench for the Pistons in the early 1990's, he also has helped coach the NJ Nets, Toronto Raptors, and Orlando Magic. (27:19) The most dominant team doesn't always win the NBA Finals, he says, and the Miami Heat have the confidence, but he believes the Denver Nuggets will win thanks top having the league's best player plus home court advantage. Suhr has known both head coaches since they were teenagers, including Erik Spoelstra who started in the video room. (32:41) He also founded and has led "Coaching U" for the last 15 years, teaching how to be a great coach, business leadership, and more. (38:55) Find out why coaching people to be better involves their heritage, hopes and heartaches. We close with some of his quick stories about Coach Billy Donovan, Tony Robbins, Coach Nick Saban. Thanks for listening to the #RunTheRace podcast, which I hope you'll subscribe to! Share it with your friends. Also, write a quick review about it, on Apple podcasts. For more info and listen to any previous episodes, go to www.wtvm.com/podcast/.