Kori Ellis
04-26-2005, 12:22 AM
Moe provides aid to Karl, Denver
Web Posted: 04/26/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA042605.1D.moe.21393ea42.html
It is next to impossible to stump Doug Moe.
Moe regards himself as an expert on nearly every topic, from movies and music to baseball and football. If he doesn't know the answer to a question, he will make one up and convince you of its authenticity.
But Moe, special assistant to Nuggets coach George Karl, was dumbfounded when asked to define his citizenship status.
Does Moe, who has a home in The Dominion not far from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's home, consider himself a San Antonian who works in Denver? Or does he think of himself as a Denverite who "summers" in San Antonio?
"I feel very strongly both ways," Moe said.
This much is true: With the Nuggets, a team he coached from 1980 to '90, competing against the Spurs in a Western Conference playoff series, you need not wonder where his allegiance is. As competitive a personality as basketball has seen, Moe is fully engaged in his role as Karl's most trusted aide.
Many Spurs fans remember a feisty, often foulmouthed Moe who, in 1976, was tapped to coach the Spurs in their first NBA season. Moe, then 39, took George Gervin, James Silas, Larry Kenon, Allan Bristow, Billy Paultz, Mike Gale and Coby Dietrick and had them play the up-tempo game that characterized the ABA.
Moe fondly recalls his four years as the Spurs coach.
"My time coaching here? That's too long ago to remember," Moe said Sunday before the Nuggets' 93-87 victory. "But my memories are all good, because I always had good teams here.
"I'm afraid, though, that my strongest memory is still the disappointment of losing in the (1979 Eastern Conference finals) to Washington."
In 1979, the Spurs led the Bullets 3-1 in the series before losing three straight. Many Spurs fans remain convinced the NBA "stole" Game 7, not wanting a team from the old ABA to have a shot at the championship so soon after the leagues merged.
"You could talk me into that," Moe said Sunday morning, punctuating his answer with a hearty laugh.
Popovich remembers his first experience with Moe. He had just finished the five-year commitment in the Air Force that followed his graduation from the Air Force Academy. He believed he had a shot to make the Nuggets' roster in 1975 but was cut during training camp by Nuggets coach Larry Brown, who was assisted then by Moe.
"So our relationship started with him calling me a stiff behind my back," Popovich said.
Brown later played a critical role in getting Popovich involved in coaching in the NBA.
"I knew Doug before he knew me," Popovich said, "because I'd watched him coach in Denver, in San Antonio, in Philadelphia. I had respect for him. Everybody does things differently, and he did things different than most. It was fun to watch what he did and what his philosophy of basketball was.
"Then, just through my relationship through Larry, I would see Doug now and then, got to meet his wife, and we have become friends over the years."
Now the two live in the same Dominion neighborhood, acquaintances more than close friends.
"Pop's like a good friend that I rarely see," Moe said. "It's kind of like not seeing someone for a long time, and then when you see him it's like you just saw him yesterday."
* * *
Moe's return to the Denver bench in February came at Karl's insistence but over the objections of his wife, Jane.
Karl, who took over the team in January, knew he needed a veteran on whom he could lean. Jane believed the stress of the bench was too much for a man who recently had undergone quintuple-bypass heart surgery.
"My heart is good," said Moe, who suffered a heart attack in June and had the bypass in September. "My cardiologist here in San Antonio is thrilled I'm back coaching. He thinks being sedentary is the worst thing you can do: sit around and do nothing, mope and feel sorry for yourself."
The cardiologist, however, hadn't seen how fiery Moe could be during games.
"You know how Doug was on the bench," Jane said, recalling when Moe would rage on the sidelines and referees, players and fate. "But he kept insisting that once he got on the bench he was less nervous than he was sitting in the stands.
"Now, I know it's really been good for him."
It also has been good for the Nuggets.
"I'd say it's one of the top five reasons things have come together so quickly," Karl said.
Moe, though, insists he does little actual coaching.
"It's been 100 percent different than I thought it would be," Moe said. "George has done such a good job, I really don't have to do anything. My job is basically to hang out and just sit around and shoot the bull with George."
Jane says that even though she and Doug lived in Denver for some 25 years, they will remain San Antonians for the rest of their lives.
"When we first moved here in 1976, the people here made us feel so right at home," she said. "Probably the thing I remember is we had a great team that was fun to watch, and then the Baseline Bums. We were friends with all of them, too. It was a great time of our life.
"And now, of course, the grandkids are here. I had them with me at the game on Sunday — cheering for the Nuggets, of course."
Should the Spurs defeat the Nuggets, Jane said she and Doug and the grandchildren immediately would switch allegiances to the Spurs.
Popovich, who has let Jane and the Moes' granddaughters hitch rides on the Spurs' charter plane when it was bound for Denver for some games, welcomes their support.
"I got home the other day and there was the nicest message from Pop on the answering machine," Jane said. "He said he was holding a spot for me on the plane if I needed a ride to Denver. I could hardly believe it."
Web Posted: 04/26/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA042605.1D.moe.21393ea42.html
It is next to impossible to stump Doug Moe.
Moe regards himself as an expert on nearly every topic, from movies and music to baseball and football. If he doesn't know the answer to a question, he will make one up and convince you of its authenticity.
But Moe, special assistant to Nuggets coach George Karl, was dumbfounded when asked to define his citizenship status.
Does Moe, who has a home in The Dominion not far from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's home, consider himself a San Antonian who works in Denver? Or does he think of himself as a Denverite who "summers" in San Antonio?
"I feel very strongly both ways," Moe said.
This much is true: With the Nuggets, a team he coached from 1980 to '90, competing against the Spurs in a Western Conference playoff series, you need not wonder where his allegiance is. As competitive a personality as basketball has seen, Moe is fully engaged in his role as Karl's most trusted aide.
Many Spurs fans remember a feisty, often foulmouthed Moe who, in 1976, was tapped to coach the Spurs in their first NBA season. Moe, then 39, took George Gervin, James Silas, Larry Kenon, Allan Bristow, Billy Paultz, Mike Gale and Coby Dietrick and had them play the up-tempo game that characterized the ABA.
Moe fondly recalls his four years as the Spurs coach.
"My time coaching here? That's too long ago to remember," Moe said Sunday before the Nuggets' 93-87 victory. "But my memories are all good, because I always had good teams here.
"I'm afraid, though, that my strongest memory is still the disappointment of losing in the (1979 Eastern Conference finals) to Washington."
In 1979, the Spurs led the Bullets 3-1 in the series before losing three straight. Many Spurs fans remain convinced the NBA "stole" Game 7, not wanting a team from the old ABA to have a shot at the championship so soon after the leagues merged.
"You could talk me into that," Moe said Sunday morning, punctuating his answer with a hearty laugh.
Popovich remembers his first experience with Moe. He had just finished the five-year commitment in the Air Force that followed his graduation from the Air Force Academy. He believed he had a shot to make the Nuggets' roster in 1975 but was cut during training camp by Nuggets coach Larry Brown, who was assisted then by Moe.
"So our relationship started with him calling me a stiff behind my back," Popovich said.
Brown later played a critical role in getting Popovich involved in coaching in the NBA.
"I knew Doug before he knew me," Popovich said, "because I'd watched him coach in Denver, in San Antonio, in Philadelphia. I had respect for him. Everybody does things differently, and he did things different than most. It was fun to watch what he did and what his philosophy of basketball was.
"Then, just through my relationship through Larry, I would see Doug now and then, got to meet his wife, and we have become friends over the years."
Now the two live in the same Dominion neighborhood, acquaintances more than close friends.
"Pop's like a good friend that I rarely see," Moe said. "It's kind of like not seeing someone for a long time, and then when you see him it's like you just saw him yesterday."
* * *
Moe's return to the Denver bench in February came at Karl's insistence but over the objections of his wife, Jane.
Karl, who took over the team in January, knew he needed a veteran on whom he could lean. Jane believed the stress of the bench was too much for a man who recently had undergone quintuple-bypass heart surgery.
"My heart is good," said Moe, who suffered a heart attack in June and had the bypass in September. "My cardiologist here in San Antonio is thrilled I'm back coaching. He thinks being sedentary is the worst thing you can do: sit around and do nothing, mope and feel sorry for yourself."
The cardiologist, however, hadn't seen how fiery Moe could be during games.
"You know how Doug was on the bench," Jane said, recalling when Moe would rage on the sidelines and referees, players and fate. "But he kept insisting that once he got on the bench he was less nervous than he was sitting in the stands.
"Now, I know it's really been good for him."
It also has been good for the Nuggets.
"I'd say it's one of the top five reasons things have come together so quickly," Karl said.
Moe, though, insists he does little actual coaching.
"It's been 100 percent different than I thought it would be," Moe said. "George has done such a good job, I really don't have to do anything. My job is basically to hang out and just sit around and shoot the bull with George."
Jane says that even though she and Doug lived in Denver for some 25 years, they will remain San Antonians for the rest of their lives.
"When we first moved here in 1976, the people here made us feel so right at home," she said. "Probably the thing I remember is we had a great team that was fun to watch, and then the Baseline Bums. We were friends with all of them, too. It was a great time of our life.
"And now, of course, the grandkids are here. I had them with me at the game on Sunday — cheering for the Nuggets, of course."
Should the Spurs defeat the Nuggets, Jane said she and Doug and the grandchildren immediately would switch allegiances to the Spurs.
Popovich, who has let Jane and the Moes' granddaughters hitch rides on the Spurs' charter plane when it was bound for Denver for some games, welcomes their support.
"I got home the other day and there was the nicest message from Pop on the answering machine," Jane said. "He said he was holding a spot for me on the plane if I needed a ride to Denver. I could hardly believe it."