A look inside the unique coach-player relationship, in which the Trojans coach has been unapologetic about loosening the reins for the transcendent freshman
USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, left, and freshman guard JuJu Watkins celebrate after their victory over Cal Poly last week at the Galen Center. , JuJu Watkins trudges into the media room at the Galen Center, a self-inflicted weight drooping her shoulders. She clutches a customary postgame smoothie. She wears a scowl.
“There’s not one ounce of me,” Gottlieb continued after that Washington State win, “that wants to change or stifle anything that she’s capable of doing. And if she’s 3 for 24 from three, I think she’s probably going to go 10-for-her-next-12.”Growing up in Scarsdale, New York, Gottlieb became childhood friends with future Duke point guard Hilary Heick, the two sharing basketball dreams and mock-commitment-announcement press conferences.
“Like, that’s been more of my philosophy versus saying, ‘Hey, you’ve lived your life this way for 17 years, and now you’re coming to my school and my program – you have to change everything to fit into this one box.’”In 2021, when Gottlieb’s career was on the rise as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Watkins’ sheer existence was one of her reasons for taking the USC job..
And as she watched offenses flow, she realized schemes in the NBA were simpler. Structured, often, not around adhering to complicated sets but about getting great players the ball in spots to operate.Pieces of her learnings showed up from her first season at USC. Gottlieb’s offense, Grant said, wasn’t structured so much around rigid plays but “blueprints.” Calculated possibilities could arise, alternate actions could branch.
So Gottlieb wrote personalized speeches for every single one of her seniors. And as she assumed the microphone at Galen that Sunday, emotion choked her words. Once. Twice. Too many times to count. Senior India Otto’s tribute came last, a guard who’d played a total of 26 games in five years for USC.
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