Can Pop top last years coaching performance?

[romain.star]

he will top it if pop and his staff can:

- develop cory joseph to a breakout year with mills' mins the first few months

- get ayres to learn how to catch a ball

- polish baynes who is still a bit raw

- get daye to click in a role (long shot)

- maintain belinelli and get his confidence in his role back to reg season 14 status

- develop/toros for anderson and fit him in a role

IMO, those are secondary coaching issues for next year.

What Pop has to do is:
1/ Find a way to motivate his guys as successfully as he did last year after the Finals chocking disapointment (this will be hard)
2/ Manage wisely old legs and young legs minutes

[illusioNtEk]

CIA POP.

never forget

[BillMc]

IMO, those are secondary coaching issues for next year.

What Pop has to do is:
1/ Find a way to motivate his guys as successfully as he did last year after the Finals chocking disapointment (this will be hard)
2/ Manage wisely old legs and young legs minutes

This. Spot on!

[spursparker9]

Just find a way to get that Jim something guy and Errors off the team.

[FromWayDowntown]

. . . . unfortunately he will be a failure (mainstream) if he doesnt duplicate the success with the addition of the two you mentioned and another year together. Even if you dont agree with his rotations or decisions, it would be hard for anyone to not put Gregg in the top, if not the top, of the coaching ladder. People dont understand how hard it is to build a culture, and maintain it with professional athletes. If he leads SA to a ring this year, I dont know how anyone could say there was a better coach.

It's remarkable to me that Pop could conceivably do an even better job in the coming season managing his team and coaching strategically and if his team doesn't win the le, there are people who will question his coaching. There is virtually nobody in the free agent era of professional sports who's been able to sustain excellence in management the way Pop has. (Belichick? Sloan? Maybe the 49'ers of the 80's and early 90's? the Red Wings from the mid-90's through the late 00's?) And no matter who you might identify as a peer in longevity and general success, there are fewer still who've sustained that success while dotting it with 5 les.

After all these years, I think it's about the safest statement in sports to say that Pop is the best in his league at what he does and that for all the greatness of his players, Pop is vital to giving his teams a fighting chance every year. He's not above criticism at times, but I can't pretend to understand those who devote considerable time to criticizing him.

[xmas1997]

It's remarkable to me that Pop could conceivably do an even better job in the coming season managing his team and coaching strategically and if his team doesn't win the le, there are people who will question his coaching. There is virtually nobody in the free agent era of professional sports who's been able to sustain excellence in management the way Pop has. (Belichick? Sloan? Maybe the 49'ers of the 80's and early 90's? the Red Wings from the mid-90's through the late 00's?) And no matter who you might identify as a peer in longevity and general success, there are fewer still who've sustained that success while dotting it with 5 les.

After all these years, I think it's about the safest statement in sports to say that Pop is the best in his league at what he does and that for all the greatness of his players, Pop is vital to giving his teams a fighting chance every year. He's not above criticism at times, but I can't pretend to understand those who devote considerable time to criticizing him.

Excellent, excellent post.
No one is above criticism because no one is perfect.
Yet I have a problem with those who do nothing except criticize, and yet are not able to do better themselves.

[Jimcs50]

They say, and I guess Spurs are living proof that it is harder to repeat than to win a championship, so if Spurs get number 1 seed again and win it again, then yes, Pop will top this past year as coach.

[cutewizard]

Messina plus Pop equals Excellence

[apalisoc_9]

He almost choked in round 1, KY isn't that great at guarding quick PG's like Ellis, whereas Green excels at it (his 1st great lockdown performance ever actually came against Ellis), he went away from the obvious defensive match ups and it greatly hurt the Spurs. This wasn't the first time either, it happened in the GS series as well. He had Green on KT and KY on Curry, took him like 2 games to fix the match up after they were getting burned, both players proceeded to shut their man down.

Involve Leonard in the offense more by actually drawing plays for him, lessen the Splitter/TD combo as it destroys spacing, develop the young guns and he'll top it easily.

[therealtruth]

Chance to define his legacy. Find a way to repeat.

[spurspokesman]

I take the good with the bad when it comes to pop. And his good strongly outweighs his bad so kudos to him and I dont care if he tops this performance, he just has to be consistent and no. 6 will be in arms reach

[Maddog]

Pop's got a lot more tricks up his sleeve

New to the festival this year is Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, which features Gregory Popovich and 30 trained animals including dogs, cats, geese, birds and mice in a comedy/circus act. Popovich rescued and trained the animals in the show. As a juggler, clown and pet trainer, Popovich combines physical comedy, balancing and acrobatics.

http://www.comedypet.com/aboutgreg.html#bio
http://www.mercurynews.com/my-town/c...-lamorinda-sun

[TampaDude]

Just keep everyone healthy and the repeat is in the bag.

GO SPURS GO!!!!!

[wildbill2u]

It depends on the cir stances. Every year is a new challenge, but some years have greater challenges and difficulties for a coach to overcome. Last year was extraordinarily challenging and Pop did a masterful job in bringing the team along from the disappointment of of 2013.

2015's challenge will be to repeat, but it will not carry the same emotional content nor the difficulties of 2014 in all likelihood. Injuries could change the view of next year, but if all goes well, it will not be as difficult a job as this year.

[MultiTroll]

Nope, not in the regular season.

Still a prayer for the playoffs tho.