Suns players compared the first practices under interim head coach Earl Watson to college practices, prompting Watson to joke that he already was no longer a “player’s coach.”
Watson even likened the team’s Friday practice to a training-camp session, blaming its physical and mental grind for draining the team before Saturday’s 12-point first quarter.
“We have to keep pounding the rock through the wall,” Watson said of the team’s struggles.
Watson’s repeated use of “pounding the rock,” a long-lasting San Antonio Spurs mantra, is no slip of the tongue or mistaken mention. Social reformer Jacob Riis’ classic quote about a stonecutter’s diligence is entrenched in the Spurs culture, which Watson intentionally chose as his first coaching destination last season when he assisted their D-League affiliate in Austin.