Plenty of credit gets passed around to explain the San Antonio Spurs' success and a good chunk of it goes to former Milwaukeean Sam Schuler, the team's director of player personnel.

Schuler is a former coach at Oak Creek High School and a scout for the Milwaukee Bucks during the Don Nelson era. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and is a native of Blanchardville, Wis. His wife, Jean, was a longtime Bucks executive assistant during the Nelson years.

"He's a good man," coach Gregg Popovich said as his Spurs prepared for Game 4 of the National Basketball Association Finals tonight. "He's a hard worker. He's somebody who understands the business very well and I thought having that kind of experience would really help me in that regard. So he's been very important to us."

Schuler joined the Bucks in 1985 and three years later moved west to become an assistant under Nelson with the Golden State Warriors. Popovich was also with the Warriors at that time. Schuler followed Popovich to San Antonio in 1994.