The first one.
Hill was a dapper dandy who wore expensive suits, and constantly threw players under the bus, a la George Karl.
The first one.
I agree. In the '95 playoffs, he really made me focus on basketball, kept me on the straight and narrow. - Dennis Rodman
why was bob hill fired?
That actually made me laugh out loud.
I think he'd have gone back to being just a GM, not fired from the franchise altogether.
no defense, Rodman was doing whatever he wanted (on and off the court), and I think he was pretty arrogant
As I recall, most of the team and staff wanted Hill gone after the playoffs the previous year. I wanted him gone when he wouldn't double HO and Rodman was leaving the perimeter to get rebounds. Robinson suffered a humiliating series not just because of Hakeem, but also because of Hill and Rodman.
I still remember...every effing time a TO was called and the camera went to Hill, he would stand up, adjust his tie, and smooth his hair back with both hands...
Calling out players is how many old school coaches did it. That doesn't really fly so much in today's NBA full of spoiled players.
From one of the owners' reps (not me - the rep told me this though), this is exactly the reason. No defense. And if you guys remember, those were the days when great defense really WAS the determining factor.
I have always remembered the conversation with the rep because I disagreed with the decision. I had enjoyed Hill's coaching (kind of like enjoying D'Antoni's in retrospect). The rep told me that Hill was fired because "he had lost the team" - that quote was attributed to Pop himself, and because he only coached offense - "only half the game".
I remember at the time arguing that "well, defense is only half the game too, and that is all that Pop coaches"...but I was wrong, totally. Pop DID emphasize defense much more than Hill ever did, but the fact that he changed the Spurs' offense over the years according to rule and personnel changes convinced me just how wrong I had been.
Plus, as others have aptly pointed out, Hill never went anywhere else either.
Last edited by EVAY; 08-27-2015 at 05:32 PM.
The "you have lost the team" is a big deal, apparently, and I remember Pop trying to fire himself a couple of years ago because he thought that about himself. Holt basically told him to go back to the bench and keep coaching and Pop did. I don't really know what changed that made things so much better (other than Tim turning the clock backwards and Holt finally starting to bring in some decent folks around Tim), but I haven't heard anything but love songs from players about Pop for the last few years.
Sean Elliott too. Hated hill. Big reason? Immediately after getting knocked out by Utah, Hill came in the room and started saying David Robinson needed to do more and failed us.
Apparently the big three then went to Pop the days after and said his ass needed to go, pop fell on the sword 18 games in and took the blame.
The guy was a putz a terrible coach. People formerly in the media that are close to Pop, explained how the players commonly thought he was a terrible game plan and X's and O's coach.
Didn't seem to fly too well back then, either.
Meh. Spurs FO didn't help the cause TBH. David didn't have near the cast that TD did. Now for that series, the Jazz was a better team. They had a REALLY good defense, and were a 55 win team. The 4-2 SA loss had less to do with Bob Hill as it did with the crap the FO (Pop and Co) put on the floor. Great timing for Pop to come in and coach. Top 10 player of all time with arguably a top #1 draft pick of all time. The west was loaded when David was around. Pop is a great coach, no doubt, but to say that Hill wasn't done dirty, is... not correct. Put Tim out there with trash and people would be calling for Pop's head during playoff failures.
Man I disagree. Hill was a good offensive coach, but he didn't give a crap about defense.
and as as far as what he had to work with, I agree a little bit. If I'm not mistaken, there was no cap and small market teams struggled to compete for FA's, but i would be willing to bet that team goes seven or wins if pop had them the whole year.
Hill got fired because the Spurs had a better coach. The rest is color commentary.
I disagree. Pop had to get rid of him & he took full responsibility for the bad hire. I don't think he got extra pay for adding coaching duties to his resume either. The results speak volumes.
David Robinson
Keith Van Horn
Sean Elliott
Mario Ellie/Jaren Jackson
Avery Johnson
would have been 2nd round fodder at best.
At the time the firing seemed suspect as David came back from his injury I think on Pop's second game as HC. It was like, wow they fired the guy with his best player injured and now that player is coming back. At that point all of us long time fans were suffering from PTSD from all the nut job coaches that had come through the Spurs in the prior 10 years: John Lucas, Jerry "Tarkington", Larry Brown, Bob Weiss and Mo McHone. It was like, , here we go again.
Wait, you think Pop is an example of coaches who spoil players? Um, ok.
Figure out what the modifier "so much" means and then don't get back to me.
One thing no one has mentioned was Mario Elie. He has signed w the Spurs in 98. Pop wanted a champion on the team. Mario wanted another bling. After the Jazz blowout, he went off on a profanity laced tirade directed at the players. The team was not doing what Pop was telling them to do. Won in HOU the next evening and the rest is continued history. We all owe Mario a major props, otherwise, Doc would have taken over and success could of happened, but not to the level the Spurs have had.
Thank you Mario.
It was after the 2005-06 season.
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