To me it's not even whether or not it's completely made-up. It's worded with such venom that there's not really any way to defend it as remotely impartial.
Um, this is just he said - he said. Here's what I think:
- when Popovich wants someone gone he's gone.
- both sides say a high number was communicated by the agent.
- the rest is "meh".
If your feelings get hurt by crap like this there's something wrong with you.
So Pop gets to deny Del Negro a shot at a ring again?
Interesting. I didn't know some of the background info. Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth, I'm about 95% positive the behind the back dunk was in the Forum and he dunked on James Worthy.
Vinny was worse the Beno bringing the ball upcourt.
I am a Spurs fan since 93, Del Negro was some shyt, he had a midrange but nothing else as far as I remember.
Del Negro tbh. All I remember about that guy was that he was crazy inconsistent. He would have a good game or handful of games in a row, and then the bed the next 10 games. And I also remember him choking when it mattered most. So give me Elie, Kerr, and Jaren Jackson > Del Negro any day.
Looked it up out of curiosity. The first four games of the 1994-95 season, Willie Anderson started at shooting guard. Anderson sucked and got replaced by Vinny. And in Vinny's first 13 games as a starter, he was ungodly:
18.5 points per game
57.7% shooting from the field
40% on three-pointers
80.6% at the line
5-to-1 assist to turnover ratio
I think that's around the time than AJ gave himself and Vinny the nickname of "Red Beans and Rice". And a 13-year-old timvp was hoping that Vinny had turned the corner and was going to keep up his scorching ways.
Unfortunately it didn't last . . .
I remember Vinny was money on pull up jumpers on the break...
Avery would get nutso assits driving and kicking to Vinny on the side or in the corners where hed one dribble shoot.
Watching Del Negro on Drexler was worse than seeing Finley guarding LeBron tbh.
Searching for Vinnie Del Negro highlight reel...
I wonder what O'Keeffe thinks about Pop and Holt four championships later.
Not re-signing Vinny might have been the best move before the '99 season.
The internet and the NBA league pass wasn't around back then, so living in the bay area I only could follow the Spurs by watching the occasional game on TNT/TBS and watching the highlights on SportsCenter back then, so I really didn't know the politics like most of you do.
That being said, if the story did go down like this O'Keefe guy says it did, or anything close, I don't understand why people in this thread are bashing him or Del Negro.
Especially, I would expect L.J. to be more mature about it. What the does how well or poorly Del Negro played have to do with anything? That's like so reactionary. That's like saying it's okay for Duncan to drink and drive, but not James Anderson.
According to the story, all Del Negro wanted was for his coach/GM to be straight with him, basically (I'm paraphrasing) "I'm a pro, I'm a grown-up, if you don't think I'm any good just tell me and we'll go our separate ways, no hard feelings. We don't need to play games."
The fact that Pop and the Spurs won four rings doesn't make him "right" or justify his behavior if indeed this is how it went down. Nobody is debating getting rid of Del Negro as a basketball decision.
The argument is whether Pop went about it the right way.
Again, I'm not saying I know for a fact that it did go down that way. It could all be pure fiction and Del Negro could be full of it or his quotes could be exaggerated. But if it's right, then the end result doesn't justify the means at all.
I think the fact that Pop has been about the most straightforward coach in sports over the last decade is more the point. O'Keefe painted Pop as an egotistical snake-oil salesman with a need to make himself look good in public at any and all costs, even if it sacrificed the team or the franchise. It's not really how he turned out. O'Keefe had some personal ax to grind and it showed in his writing. It was unprofessional and embarrassing. Whatever truth it's based on, it doesn't excuse paranoid rantings.
The next time Vinny leaves SA, he'll be down 2 games to 0.
Small correction, VDN's behind-the-back dunk was against James Worthy and the Lakers.
Derek Anderson spoke bad about the Spurs, since the Spurs offer was somewhat lower than the one he got from the Blazers and the last years were team option. But DA slammed the Clippers before when they rejected some trade offer, so he looked like mal-content.
Antonio Daniels complained to the media about starting, then he got traded. But from the start it was obvious Parker was talented, and only needed playtime. True to be said being an sixth man wasn't an insult.
Another example was Jack, he spoke saying the Spurs didn't offered him a starter SG type of money. Jack eventually signed two big contracts. Manu got offered like 3x more than Jack, he also had better offers though.
Finally, I have the impression Scola also got accused about wanting too much money. And it seems that he complained about the fact the Spurs were taking too much time to bring him on. He out-grew the ACB and wasn't able to sign for another team as the Spurs held his rights.
Over the time the Spurs became very careful about only signing players of good character, so there were few issues.
Vinny says here that Pop was one of the pro coaches that text him:
As Del Negro shoveled some popcorn into his mouth, he unearthed his BlackBerry out of his pocket. He squinted at the screen, held it up and said, "Fifty-two [text] messages. I bet there are five pro coaches in here."
[...]
He started to scroll the messages, and there was a congratulatory text from Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. "Rick always calls me … and Doc [Rivers] … And Pop … "
He thinks for a moment. "And Mike Fratello, he calls."
Class Pop!
I had a teacher in middle school that would say the only reason Vinnie was with the spurs or even in the nba was because of his last name. I didn’t get it at the time
or maybe del negro was a damn scrub
o'keefe was such a tool. and if vinny could have ever just learned to bring his toe back a few centimeters then maybe he could have been retained as a 3 point specialist
Kerr was hardly valuable on the 99 championship team. Obviously in '03 he was amazing in several playoff games but Del Negro likely would have contributed more in '99 than Kerr did. AD was a key player in 99 though, so it all worked out on the court obviously.
Vinnie was one of my favorite Spurs during this era - his mid range jumper was money.
He and Hornacek were my favorite 6'4" white guys who could shoot from this time period - Hornacek had a lot better range.
Remember that Pop wasn't as polished back then as a GM and the Spur's front office wasn't as refined as it is now.
You're being kind. Vinny was horrific defensively.
Coach Pop talks Clippers and Vinny Del Negro
http://www.woai.com/content/sports/s...cw.cspx?rss=68
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