duncan228
03-10-2011, 03:37 PM
Gregg Popovich's stealth campaign (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6202101)
By Johnette Howard
ESPN.com
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is not just a crank. He's a majestic crank even in good times like these. If stats were kept on press conferences, Popovich would lead the league in sarcasm. Then again, it takes dedication to maintain the deep cover that Popovich has expertly cultivated in small-market San Antonio. It's not easy to have your supposedly too-old Spurs team suddenly gunning for the fifth NBA title of your tenure -- a look-at-me! accomplishment, if ever there was one -- and still have people remarking on how you've somehow remained Mr. Invisible because that's folks' only impression of you even after 15 years on the Spurs' bench.
Popovich is the NBA's man of mystery, all right. He's the coach with no fingerprints. He's anti-self promotion, anti-celebrity, even anti-Twitter, once grousing, "If you tweet, you talk too much."
As a young man, Popovich majored in Soviet studies at the Air Force Academy before undergoing spy training and serving a five-year hitch in the Army. In some ways he's never stopped being a spook. He likes working in the shadows. And this season's surprise run by the Spurs may be Popovich's best black bag job yet.
The Spurs' 52-12 record was the NBA's best by six wins as of Thursday. And yet at the start of this week San Antonio slipped from first to third or fourth on many experts' NBA power rankings for the apparent "sin" of splitting two games against other top teams. The Spurs trounced the Miami Heat 125-95 last Friday, but then got clipped by the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers, 99-83, on Sunday.
The dip in respect in the midst of a 7-3 Spurs run was yet another reminder how the skeptics have been waiting for the Spurs to fall back to earth since their scorching 12-1 start this season.
It just hasn't happened yet.
The doubters insist the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks are more likely to come out of the Western Conference because both have the size to trouble the Spurs' smaller front line. They also argue San Antonio's Hall of Fame-bound power forward Tim Duncan ain't what he used to be.
But if Popovich is right -- not just about some shrewd strategic shifts he made at the start of this season to reduce 34-year-old Duncan's role, but also about his opinion that the Spurs' chance to win the 2011 title will come down to "how hungry this group is" -- then the Spurs have the right man to keep whipcracking the team along.
Keep reading... (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6202101)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6202101
By Johnette Howard
ESPN.com
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is not just a crank. He's a majestic crank even in good times like these. If stats were kept on press conferences, Popovich would lead the league in sarcasm. Then again, it takes dedication to maintain the deep cover that Popovich has expertly cultivated in small-market San Antonio. It's not easy to have your supposedly too-old Spurs team suddenly gunning for the fifth NBA title of your tenure -- a look-at-me! accomplishment, if ever there was one -- and still have people remarking on how you've somehow remained Mr. Invisible because that's folks' only impression of you even after 15 years on the Spurs' bench.
Popovich is the NBA's man of mystery, all right. He's the coach with no fingerprints. He's anti-self promotion, anti-celebrity, even anti-Twitter, once grousing, "If you tweet, you talk too much."
As a young man, Popovich majored in Soviet studies at the Air Force Academy before undergoing spy training and serving a five-year hitch in the Army. In some ways he's never stopped being a spook. He likes working in the shadows. And this season's surprise run by the Spurs may be Popovich's best black bag job yet.
The Spurs' 52-12 record was the NBA's best by six wins as of Thursday. And yet at the start of this week San Antonio slipped from first to third or fourth on many experts' NBA power rankings for the apparent "sin" of splitting two games against other top teams. The Spurs trounced the Miami Heat 125-95 last Friday, but then got clipped by the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers, 99-83, on Sunday.
The dip in respect in the midst of a 7-3 Spurs run was yet another reminder how the skeptics have been waiting for the Spurs to fall back to earth since their scorching 12-1 start this season.
It just hasn't happened yet.
The doubters insist the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks are more likely to come out of the Western Conference because both have the size to trouble the Spurs' smaller front line. They also argue San Antonio's Hall of Fame-bound power forward Tim Duncan ain't what he used to be.
But if Popovich is right -- not just about some shrewd strategic shifts he made at the start of this season to reduce 34-year-old Duncan's role, but also about his opinion that the Spurs' chance to win the 2011 title will come down to "how hungry this group is" -- then the Spurs have the right man to keep whipcracking the team along.
Keep reading... (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6202101)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=6202101