Useruser666
02-05-2005, 01:23 PM
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3375942
Popovich won't relish All-Star weekend
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Mike Monroe / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 15 hours ago
Two realties that may surprise you:
# Gregg Popovich, fourth on the all-time winning percentage list for NBA coaches, has never coached an All-Star team.
# Despite this fact, Popovich would just as soon not have to coach the Western Conference in the All-Star game on Feb. 20, which the Spurs' win over the Lakers on Thursday night means he has to do.
It's not that Popovich won't feel honored to coach in the game. He will, especially since it means his team had the best record in the conference, as of Sunday. It's just that he is nearly as uncomfortable with the kind of glitz and glamour that characterizes All-Star weekend as his superstar and All-Star starter, Tim Duncan.
Popovich is a no-nonsense kind of guy.
All-Star weekend is pretty much all nonsense.
"Pop will be an absolute fish out of water," Duncan told my San Antonio Express-News colleague, Johnny Ludden. "You think I don't enjoy that stuff? He's pretty damn close to how badly I dislike it, if not worse. Plus, I've been though it a couple of times. I kind of know what to expect. He's a rookie in that respect."
Popovich might have been off the hook for the Denver game had he kept Malik Rose in his doghouse for one more game. Rose had been pine-bound for two straight games after committing the unpardonable sin of pulling his jersey up over his face after throwing the ball away against the Kings on Jan. 27, allowing Darius Songaila to get behind him for an easy layup. But with Rasho Nesterovic still on the injured list with a sprained ankle, Popovich made Rose his first "big" substitution against the Lakers, and the veteran responded with a season-high 19 points.
Popovich had begun to take some heat on San Antonio sports babble radio for relegating the popular Rose to "DNP-CD" status, but Rose's response shows the genius of Pop's control-freak approach to the most disciplined team in the league.
One enormous consolation for Popovich, now that he knows he has to be in Denver the third weekend of February instead of making his annual All-Star weekend tour of some of San Francisco's finest restaurants, is this: He will be able to limit Duncan's playing time, even more important after the scary left knee hyperextension Duncan suffered in the Spurs' win over the Lakers at Staples Center on Thursday.
Duncan revealed this week that he has been bothered by a nagging hip injury, a muscle strain suffered in a recent practice session. Popovich already had been considering curtailing his playing time on the team's long road trip — seven games in 19 days, the Spurs covering 8,769 air miles along the way — because of Duncan's sore hip. After the knee hyperextension he might even sit him for a game or two, though the Spurs don't play again until Tuesday, in Charlotte, meaning Duncan will have time to get lots of treatment on the knee.
In other words, don't pick Duncan if you're planning on having a fantasy draft for the All-Star game.
Popovich won't relish All-Star weekend
Story Tools: Print Email XML
Mike Monroe / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 15 hours ago
Two realties that may surprise you:
# Gregg Popovich, fourth on the all-time winning percentage list for NBA coaches, has never coached an All-Star team.
# Despite this fact, Popovich would just as soon not have to coach the Western Conference in the All-Star game on Feb. 20, which the Spurs' win over the Lakers on Thursday night means he has to do.
It's not that Popovich won't feel honored to coach in the game. He will, especially since it means his team had the best record in the conference, as of Sunday. It's just that he is nearly as uncomfortable with the kind of glitz and glamour that characterizes All-Star weekend as his superstar and All-Star starter, Tim Duncan.
Popovich is a no-nonsense kind of guy.
All-Star weekend is pretty much all nonsense.
"Pop will be an absolute fish out of water," Duncan told my San Antonio Express-News colleague, Johnny Ludden. "You think I don't enjoy that stuff? He's pretty damn close to how badly I dislike it, if not worse. Plus, I've been though it a couple of times. I kind of know what to expect. He's a rookie in that respect."
Popovich might have been off the hook for the Denver game had he kept Malik Rose in his doghouse for one more game. Rose had been pine-bound for two straight games after committing the unpardonable sin of pulling his jersey up over his face after throwing the ball away against the Kings on Jan. 27, allowing Darius Songaila to get behind him for an easy layup. But with Rasho Nesterovic still on the injured list with a sprained ankle, Popovich made Rose his first "big" substitution against the Lakers, and the veteran responded with a season-high 19 points.
Popovich had begun to take some heat on San Antonio sports babble radio for relegating the popular Rose to "DNP-CD" status, but Rose's response shows the genius of Pop's control-freak approach to the most disciplined team in the league.
One enormous consolation for Popovich, now that he knows he has to be in Denver the third weekend of February instead of making his annual All-Star weekend tour of some of San Francisco's finest restaurants, is this: He will be able to limit Duncan's playing time, even more important after the scary left knee hyperextension Duncan suffered in the Spurs' win over the Lakers at Staples Center on Thursday.
Duncan revealed this week that he has been bothered by a nagging hip injury, a muscle strain suffered in a recent practice session. Popovich already had been considering curtailing his playing time on the team's long road trip — seven games in 19 days, the Spurs covering 8,769 air miles along the way — because of Duncan's sore hip. After the knee hyperextension he might even sit him for a game or two, though the Spurs don't play again until Tuesday, in Charlotte, meaning Duncan will have time to get lots of treatment on the knee.
In other words, don't pick Duncan if you're planning on having a fantasy draft for the All-Star game.