Reporters were treated to an odd sight as they waited for Kyle Shanahan to hold a press conference in the 49ers’ meeting room on Tuesday. A basketball hoop sitting conspicuously in the corner.
Not exactly sure why there’s a basket in the 49ers’ auditorium before Shanahan’s presser but I’ll definitely ask pic.twitter.com/Ts6kj635LO
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) August 15, 2017
Shanahan was asked what it was doing there, and he explained that the team uses it to break “ties” on the field.
“We used that all the time in Atlanta. We bring it in a lot, I think we just usually take it out when our meeting is done,” he said. “Just when we tie in our stuff. We always compete on turnovers or we have a period and whenever there’s a tie we finish that tiebreaker in here. Between shooting free throws and stuff. Call two people out to do it. Usually offensive and defensively.”
Shanahan added that just about everyone is bad at shooting, and that one of his coaches stands out as the worst.
“It’s been a lot of bad ones, to tell you the truth,” Shanahan said. “(Defensive line coach Jeff) Zgonina, our coach was really bad. I enjoyed saying that. But, we’ve got a bunch of good football players in here.”