Gerard Martin Summer League San Antonio Spurs

Gerard Martin Summer League San Antonio Spurs

All right, quick catch up here with Jared Martin before he heads off to summer league. Uh you are teaming up with the San Antonio Spurs.
First of all, congratulations on that all coming about. So that is a it’s an awesome opportunity whenever you get a chance to spend time with an NBA team, right? Yeah, absolutely. Um especially an organization like the Spurs known for their culture, what they do on and off the floor. So very very grateful to to be able to go over there and spend three weeks with them. So excited to get over there.
How did it all come about? uh little bit of over the last couple years have uh caught up with a few of their people and front office coaching staff and just kind of built a relationship and you know as relationships go things kind of come about and when summer league was coming around I just said hey would there be any opportunities and a couple weeks went by and they said yeah we’d love to bring you over so uh super pumped about it and uh definitely grateful for them. So, do you know much about what you’ll be doing, what your involvement is with the team once you get to summer league how it all rolls out?
Not a ton. I’m kind of going a little little dark, but it’ll be good. I I’ll learn on the fly. It’s a lot of learning, but uh spoke to the head coach a couple times who’s coaching the summer league who’s on staff with um the Spurs. Um he’s just talked about, hey, come here, bring energy, and then he’s given me a a player to look after for the three weeks. So, I’m excited about that.
Do we know who you got? Let us know.
Yeah, Nathan Mensah. He uh played five years at San Diego State and then last couple years been in the G- League, had some NBA games and he just played at Olympia. So, pretty pretty good player.
Nice. And I guess for our Wildcats fans that’ll be watching this, uh I I assume you head over there, you see what you can bring back to our guys and things that we can implement with the Cats this season. Yeah, absolutely. I think anytime you go somewhere when you can learn and find new things, you’re always going to try and bring it back and see if you can grow as a coach and and help your players out. So, uh, offense, defense, play development, anything that I think could could help us, I’ll definitely bring back.
You’ve spent a bit of time in the US. So, what are some of the key differences you feel between our game, their game, you know, how do you bridge the gap between the two?
I wouldn’t say there’s much differences in the game. I think the the amount of players that are over there is much larger and you can choose from a lot more, but the style of play, the pace is very similar. We play very very fast and a free flowing less sets, much more concepts offensively. So, uh those things are very similar. Uh but the NBA, the athletes, the size is completely different to our league.
And as far as coaching aspirations go, of course, we love having you around the club here. You’re great for the guys and and good for morale and and awesome to have around, but I I’m I’m guessing you’d also have aspirations of coaching in the in the NBA as well. Yeah, I think if you’re in this industry, a competitive industry, you want to achieve the highest things possible. And the NBA, in my opinion, is the pinnacle. So, if I can do that, uh, at some point in my career, I’d love to do it. And, you know, my my wife’s from from Phoenix, Arizona in the States. So, I’ve got a lot of ties back there. Spent a lot of time over there. So, I love the States.
We need at least another three, four seasons out of your first before you can before you can go do that. Yeah. And spending much time in Vegas there. Imagine you’re pretty busy and you’re going to be around the team a lot, but it is in Vegas.
Yeah. No, I’m going to try and stay in the gym as much as possible. I’ve been to Vegas too many times and a lot of basketball tournaments and you don’t need to do too much in Vegas. Stay in the hoops and and that’ll be enough.
Stay in the gym and stay out of trouble. I think that’s the key. And as the season approaches for us for again for Wildcats fans, uh you’ve been here a lot. You’ve been training with a lot of the guys. Uh preseason yet to start, but you know, offseason guys have been coming down and getting some workouts in. and how you feeling things are shaping up
right now we’re we haven’t lost a game so I feel greatated yeah it’s been really good um but no it’s been a lot of fun being in the gym being consistently in with a few guys that are here Elijah Pepper and and Tom Jerovic so far we had Cam Hofner here last week it’s been uh awesome to really work with those guys on a more personal basis get to know them even better and just help them out as much as we can so I’m excited for those guys for this next year
and has JR passed on any words of wisdom to you as you head off to Absolutely not. No wisdom from him. No wisdom.
Spend for yourself.
Yeah.
Well, man, congrats on the opportunity. Can’t wait to hear how it all goes and uh en enjoy your time in Vegas.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Nice.