coaching problem?

[nikegirl]

Pop's coaching this season has been iffy and I honestly feel they could have won a few more games if pop didn't screw up the rotations in the fourth quarter of many games. I'm also a little concerned at the playing time gooden is receiving, if the spurs wanna go deep they need golden to be playing. Anyone else thinks pop might cost the spurs games in the playoffs with his unwillingness to play the better pLayers like hill, gooden and Bowen? I really don't understand what's goin through pops head and it's the first time coming into the playoffs that I'm worried about the coaching. Anyone else feel this way?

[Rogue]

nice article :toast: but I really can't agree with you that Pop is not a good coach. In fact there're not so many good coaches in today's NBA, but Pop is inarguably one of them.

[ClingingMars]

nice article :toast: but I really can't agree with you that Pop is not a good coach. In fact there're not so many good coaches in today's NBA, but Pop is inarguably one of them.

this.

[nikegirl]

I do think pop is a great coach, he just has been erratic this season. Moving away from defense, focusing on offense scares me. People say Bowen lost a step our defense isn't as flgood as it used to be. But think about it we are still up there in the defensive category given that pop hasn't emphasized on it. I feel that our defense can still be better if they just focused on it a little more. I think that great defense will still give us a better shot at winning than offense.

[CubanSucks]

This is unfucking believable. If I was a fan of a lesser team and I heard this shit coming out of a Spurs fan's mouth I would fucking vomit. I will give Pop AT LEAST 4 shitty years as head coach, as it is appropriate considering he's got 4 rings, before I will truly question him. Go root for L.A. or Cleveland you fucking spoiled bitch.

[raspsa]

Pop's coaching style this season is a direct consequence of the players he's had to work with. Factor in the new faces and the injuries to key players and the need to adjust to increasingly tougher competition, its not surprising Pop has been experimenting to see what works best hopefully come the playoffs. I think this has been Pop's most challenging season and he's done a terrific job.

[spursfan1000]

I don't really dissagree on POPS decisions, Hill dosent have any experience in the playoffs and hasnt played where it counts, but he shouldent have really played Vaughn, he is just a scrub. Gooden needs to get alot of minutes off the bench, sorta like starter minutes, I will really be dissapointed if he dosent get 30+ minutes. Bowen has really slowed it down this year, he is not the old Bowen we are used to watching, anyways we need to try and get rid of Bowen and get a younger type of him or just stick with Udoka who has shown this year he can produce when given the opprtunity,thats why I don't know why people call Udoka a scrub.

[zepn]

This is unfucking believable. If I was a fan of a lesser team and I heard this shit coming out of a Spurs fan's mouth I would fucking vomit. I will give Pop AT LEAST 4 shitty years as head coach, as it is appropriate considering he's got 4 rings, before I will truly question him. Go root for L.A. or Cleveland you fucking spoiled bitch.

You're a mushroom cloud laying mothfucker?

[itzsoweezee]

This is unfucking believable. If I was a fan of a lesser team and I heard this shit coming out of a Spurs fan's mouth I would fucking vomit. I will give Pop AT LEAST 4 shitty years as head coach, as it is appropriate considering he's got 4 rings, before I will truly question him. Go root for L.A. or Cleveland you fucking spoiled bitch.

wow, this looks like the ramblings of a psychotic

[NZ Spurs]

I'm also a little concerned at the playing time gooden is receiving, if the spurs wanna go deep they need golden to be playing.

A 18 and 5 line from Gooden and a similar line from Ginobili are worlds apart. Gooden cannot replace the impact of Ginobili by matching his output. The sooner you realise this the sooner you will realise what Pop is dealing with.

[nikegirl]

this is exactly what im talking about. no gooden and matt bonner in the fourth? thats really messed up, i dont really think gooden plays worse defense than matt but at least he can shoot the ball (i know he didnt shoot well but was at least aggressive). pop u have to play gooden more mins! he can get offensive rebounds!! there was a stretch in the fourth where they only got one attempt per possession and gooden could've helped. heck hill on barea. even if he's a rookie all he had to do was play d on barea and thats more than enough.

[poop]

i cant believe there are still TOOLS defending pop's coaching.

he WAS a great coach but now hes shitty as hell.

its OK to call him out on making stupid ass decision when they are costing us playoff games.

[Horse]

Pop is a great coach, but I don't understand his love affair with Bonner. The guy is a regular season player. I mean when does he hit big shots? Finley was money all night mase tried to save us, Bonner can't do shit.

[nikegirl]

exactly! is there actually anybody here who honestly thinks pop has done a great job with the rotations this march towards the playoffs?

he was really awful. going small when desperate and constantly playing matt bonner again and again.

[peskypesky]

nice article :toast: but I really can't agree with you that Pop is not a good coach. In fact there're not so many good coaches in today's NBA, but Pop is inarguably one of them.

My left nut is a better coach than Poopavitch.

[Blue Jew]

Making a topic like this after a loss is weak make it before the game starts if your serious.

[SPURS50]

Pops a stupid Fuck ! Play Bonner more!

[nikegirl]

Making a topic like this after a loss is weak make it before the game starts if your serious.

uhm kindly check my posting date. it was after midnight, way before the game.

[nikegirl]

never did i say that he wasn't fantastic! he has been for many years it's just that coming to the end of this season and start of the playoffs, he keeps on playing awful players more, matt bonner over gooden, bowen not getting more mins (i feel he can defend better than other perimeter players), and not giving hill a lil chance.

[Baseline]

Popovich is the most overrated coach in the league.

What he has done this year as a coach is embarrassing. What the Spurs players have done this year in spite of his stubbornness and idiocy is truly remarkable.

What other NBA coach would start Matt Bonner? What other NBA coach would bench Bowen all year long? What other NBA coach would not play George Hill when there's a guy like Barea running around making us look silly? What other NBA coach would seriously consider Mike Finley a "good" defensive 2 who can guard the best scorer on opposing teams?

Here's another question...don't you think your grandmother could coach a Tim Duncan team to 4 titles? I know mine could.

Popovich can take the back exit any 'ole time if you ask me. if had enough of his totalitarian schtick.

[mexicanjunior]

popovich is the most overrated coach in the league.

What he has done this year as a coach is embarrassing. What the spurs players have done this year in spite of his stubbornness and idiocy is truly remarkable.

What other nba coach would start matt bonner? What other nba coach would bench bowen all year long? What other nba coach would not play george hill when there's a guy like barea running around making us look silly? What other nba coach would seriously consider mike finley a "good" defensive 2 who can guard the best scorer on opposing teams?

Here's another question...don't you think your grandmother could coach a tim duncan team to 4 titles? I know mine could.

Popovich can take the back exit any 'ole time if you ask me. If had enough of his totalitarian schtick.

+1

[NewJerSpur]

Popovich is the most overrated coach in the league.

What he has done this year as a coach is embarrassing. What the Spurs players have done this year in spite of his stubbornness and idiocy is truly remarkable.


Now people are going into full-on meltdown mode. Pop led us to over 50 wins in one of the toughest conferences in years to compete with a makeshift, often-injured unit.

[ploto]

I surely could not believe that I was watching an NBA playoff game with 6 minutes to go and the Spurs were playing:

Mason at PG
Udoka
Finley
Bonner

I felt bad for Tim out there.

[peskypesky]

Now people are going into full-on meltdown mode. Pop led us to over 50 wins in one of the toughest conferences in years to compete with a makeshift, often-injured unit.

put the Kool-Aid down!

[NewJerSpur]

I surely could not believe that I was watching an NBA playoff game with 6 minutes to go and the Spurs were playing:

Mason at PG
Udoka
Finley
Bonner

I felt bad for Tim out there.

Bonner was the biggest let down. The rest of the puzzle was obviously initially contingent upon Manu playing....without him, it shifts the balance of everything. Nevertheless, it's one game.

[mexicanjunior]

I surely could not believe that I was watching an NBA playoff game with 6 minutes to go and the Spurs were playing:

Mason at PG
Udoka
Finley
Bonner

I felt bad for Tim out there.

Udoka wasn't a negative...he played about as well as possible considering his talent level.

[NewJerSpur]

put the Kool-Aid down!

It's not kool-aid, it's truth serum(sp?). We wouldn't even be here given the tumultuous season we had had it not been for the man. He's not perfect by any stretch, but let's not go overboard on the roasting.

[peskypesky]

It's not kool-aid, it's truth serum(sp?). We wouldn't even be here given the tumultuous season we had had it not been for the man. He's not perfect by any stretch, but let's not go overboard on the roasting.

He's retarded. Or drunk. Or both.

[NewJerSpur]

He's retarded. Or drunk. Or both.

I know he's not perfect and there were some headscratchers evident once we started to skid in the 2nd quarter, but it's a miracle we're in 3rd place. I have confidence he will make some sort of adjustments whether it's with the personnel or the defensive setup come game 2.

[ploto]

Udoka wasn't a negative...he played about as well as possible considering his talent level.

I was happy with Udoka.

Bowen should have been in there instead of Finley.

Mason should not be playing PG.

Bonner should not be playing period.

[nikegirl]

as i said in another thread, pop's stubborness can really cost us this playoffs. last year, it took him two games to realize that bowen on peja is key, when all of us knew this should've been the case in the first place. our margin for error that year was bigger than this year considering we had manu. now that we dont, we cant afford making errors like this coz it's gonna be costly and we do not have a complete team that has the ability to bounce back from something like this.

i say pop better not let his stubborness and arrogance get in the way this time. to all those going to the game! please make signs directed to pop saying "Play Gooden" or "Cut Bonner" then add some sort of statistic that can prove your statement, thats the only way :lol

[CubanSucks]

NewJerSpur is the only one in here making any fucking sense. The rest of you sound like a bunch of pissy spoiled fans speaking your AMETURE coaching tactics

[NewJerSpur]

NewJerSpur is the only one in here making any fucking sense. The rest of you sound like a bunch of pissy spoiled fans speaking your AMETURE coaching tactics

Why thank you my good sir. I try my best to keep a balance so as not to tip over the edge. Keep up the good fight. :toast

[sabar]

lol @ meltdown fans

Is Pop not focusing on defense, or is it that we have crappy defensive players?
Is Pop stubborn, or is it that we have a bunch of people new to the Spurs system and playoffs?

Maybe you don't win games starting Bonner, but you sure don't win them relying on a 200 year old Bowen and a person that has worn a Spurs jersey for 20 games either.

Guess what Spurs fans, this is crunch time and if we need to rely on Drew "Journeyman" Gooden, rookie point guard George Hill or obviously lost-a-step Bowen, then we aren't getting to the Finals with or without a crazy coach.

Fact is, our bigs outside of Duncan comprise one of the weakest line-ups of any team in the league and the fact that we have the 3rd seed in lieu of that is nothing short of a miracle, mostly thanks to Parker playing at a very elevated level.

Pop plays stange lineups because he has either crappy players or poor matchups.

What is your amazing idea to win the series, SpursTalk coaches?

1. Bowen clearly stagnates the offense and cannot lock-down a player
2. Kurt Thomas was invisible
3. Gooden was invisible
4. Oberto isn't an option
5. Duncan can't guard Dirk and Damp at once

When you have players that are clearly doing nothing, you have to resort to small ball, double teams, sending help, and so forth. All our "defensive" lineup is capable of doing is stagnating the offense while allowing the other team to burn us.

I've been a bit frustrated with Pops rotations at times, but he clearly has been using the regular season to see what he can do when players like KT do nothing for us. Hence all the small ball and weird lineups. His experimentation in the regular season lets us be prepared when we enter the playoffs.

Fans of the regular season championship and 7-man rotations can go cheer for the 2007 Phoenix Suns. Their bandwagon is quite empty I hear.

[CubanSucks]

lol @ meltdown fans

Is Pop not focusing on defense, or is it that we have crappy defensive players?
Is Pop stubborn, or is it that we have a bunch of people new to the Spurs system and playoffs?

Maybe you don't win games starting Bonner, but you sure don't win them relying on a 200 year old Bowen and a person that has worn a Spurs jersey for 20 games either.

Guess what Spurs fans, this is crunch time and if we need to rely on Drew "Journeyman" Gooden, rookie point guard George Hill or obviously lost-a-step Bowen, then we aren't getting to the Finals with or without a crazy coach.

Fact is, our bigs outside of Duncan comprise one of the weakest line-ups of any team in the league and the fact that we have the 3rd seed in lieu of that is nothing short of a miracle, mostly thanks to Parker playing at a very elevated level.

Pop plays stange lineups because he has either crappy players or poor matchups.

What is your amazing idea to win the series, SpursTalk coaches?

1. Bowen clearly stagnates the offense and cannot lock-down a player
2. Kurt Thomas was invisible
3. Gooden was invisible
4. Oberto isn't an option
5. Duncan can't guard Dirk and Damp at once

When you have players that are clearly doing nothing, you have to resort to small ball, double teams, sending help, and so forth. All our "defensive" lineup is capable of doing is stagnating the offense while allowing the other team to burn us.

I've been a bit frustrated with Pops rotations at times, but he clearly has been using the regular season to see what he can do when players like KT do nothing for us. Hence all the small ball and weird lineups. His experimentation in the regular season lets us be prepared when we enter the playoffs.

Fans of the regular season championship and 7-man rotations can go cheer for the 2007 Phoenix Suns. Their bandwagon is quite empty I hear.

Finally, the logical ones decide to join in this thread.