This season is on Pop mostly!

[redskinfan]

1.By changing the starting line up after that great start for no apparent reason.
2. Failing to integrate Splitter earlier in season.
3.Trotting out the same bs Blair/Bonner combo.
4.Letting Ginobili throw shitty pass after shitty pass with no consequences
5. I am too pissed to go on but I am sure you guys can add to this.

[MannyIsGod]

The season is on the Spurs getting old.

[Obstructed_View]

Bonner deal
RJ restructure
Drafting Hill over Arthur
No backup point guard
Leaving Dice in the game
Run and gun over defense
Smallball

[mexicanjunior]

Pop playing the starters in a meaningless game and handicapping the Spurs with Manu's injury...reason #1 why we lost this series.

[Obstructed_View]

Limiting minutes of his best players in favor of ineffective backups.
Having George Hill running point for three quarters of game 1
Pretending to be Phil Jackson and refusing to call timeouts during the third quarter meltdown.

[JohnnySixString]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/reaper_chevelle/popashit.jpg

[Crookshanks]

Pop's "D'Antoni Experiment" was a colossal failure! I have no idea why he decided to go away from what made the Spurs a powerhouse for over 10 years - defense. He let them be a run-and-gun team and look where it got them. Just like the Phoenix Suns - a great regular season record but a huge failure in the playoffs.

If the Spurs had been able to play lock-down defense against the Grizzlies like they had in seasons past, this series would've turned out far differently. Spurs would work hard to get a lead, but they could never get stops when they needed them.

Spurs are also much too soft of a team. We need some tough guys like Mario Elie, Kevin Willis, Danny Ferry and SJax. Duncan looked like a wuss for most of this series. He was waaaaay too passive and allowed himself to get pushed around. Not once did I see any anger or fire in his eyes.

[redskinfan]

Pop playing the starters in a meaningless game and handicapping the Spurs with Manu's injury...reason #1 why we lost this series.

That was probably the dumbest move by the genius!

[DesignatedT]

This team was going nowhere with the guys they had on the roster. No matter who played. The playoffs are just a totally different game then the regular season it's insane.

Spurs can keep the big 3, george, neal, tiago. Move RJ and get some size and wing defenders and this team can still be good enough to make a run.

The whole run n gun shit is hopefully over after this ass-beating. Can't say I blame him for trying it out but clearly he doesn't stick with it-- I hope.

[J_Paco]

This season's collapse falls on the shoulders of Popovich and the front-office. For giving Jefferson and Bonner a combined $50 million, signing Splitter and not playing/developing him, not bringing in a defensive-minded wing and most of all not preaching defense. Playing an offensive-style allowed guys like Bonner, Hill, Jefferson, Blair and (to a lesser extent) Neal to succeed, but obviously didn't work come playoff time. Sad to see Timmy, Manu and Tony go out like chumps for the third year in a row......

:depressed:depressed:depressed

[MannyIsGod]

Tim Duncan being old and no longer being a franchise player is the #1 reason the Spurs lost. Not anyone's fault.

[4down]

I wonder if any sportswriters will be writing "Pop screwed the pooch" articles... the guy doesn't get much media love, but he doesn't seem to get called out much by the writers, either.

I love Pop for what he accomplished, but those who stated that he changed and deviated from what brought him success were right. It started IMO with 2006 and trying to outdallas dallas by going small. Interestingly enough, I think this season we did just that.

[redskinfan]

Tim Duncan being old and no longer being a franchise player is the #1 reason the Spurs lost. Not anyone's fault.

No doubt that Timmy is an elder basketball statesman but if he had some adequate help (Splitter) we might have had a nice presence inside defensively but instead another year wasted and Splitter proved to be ok considering he didnt see the floor hardly. It was a nice run the last 12 years and we should consider ourselves lucky to have witnessed one of the greatest players of all time kick some ass...Thanks Timmy for the mammary's!!!

[mexicanjunior]

Tim Duncan being old and no longer being a franchise player is the #1 reason the Spurs lost. Not anyone's fault.

Manu plays game 1...we are getting ready for game 7...old Duncan or not.

[ElNono]

This team was going nowhere with the guys they had on the roster. No matter who played. The playoffs are just a totally different game then the regular season it's insane.

Spurs can keep the big 3, george, neal, tiago. Move RJ and get some size and wing defenders and this team can still be good enough to make a run.

The whole run n gun shit is hopefully over after this ass-beating. Can't say I blame him for trying it out but clearly he doesn't stick with it-- I hope.

Welcome to the boat... you're late... we're kinda packed right now, but you should find some room on the back. :lol

[Danny.Zhu]

You are right. This is totally on Pop.

[MannyIsGod]

You guys thinking Splitter was enough to counteract Duncan getting old simply don't understand what Duncan did during his prime.

[redskinfan]

You guys thinking Splitter was enough to counteract Duncan getting old simply don't understand what Duncan did during his prime.

Splitter played better than we thought he could considering he didnt smell the floor hardly at all..Imagine if he would have had a chance to grow during the season maybe Timmy would not e had to do so much!

[SnakeBoy]

I have no idea why he decided to go away from what made the Spurs a powerhouse for over 10 years - defense.

Are you serious? You just saw why he went away from that model. We don't have the players to play that type of game.

[DesignatedT]

Welcome to the boat... you're late... we're kinda packed right now, but you should find some room on the back. :lol

I'm not jumping on any boat. I still like Pop and think he's an excellent coach, I just hope this experiment is finally over now.

[redskinfan]

We all knew Pop lost it when he resorted to the Don Nelson "Hack A Shaq" and this was maybe 3 or 4 years ago!

[J_Paco]

Tim Duncan being old and no longer being a franchise player is the #1 reason the Spurs lost. Not anyone's fault.

Bullshit, Garnett is just as old but can still deliver. The main reason being that he isn't the only interior presence on defense, plus they don't overly rely on his offense to win games. Pop has never developed a young player that Timmy can lean on just a little on offense or defense.

Instead, he plays fucking Matt Bonner 20 minutes of piss-poor rebounding and defense a night. What difference did Bonner's three-point ability make in this series?? Yet, he still got minutes even though he gave the team nothing on offense and was constantly abused on defense by whomever he was matched up with.

Popovich and R.C. were to blame the moment the resigned Bonner and Jefferson. Fucking idiot needs to finally be held accountable for his failures. He doesn't have a prime Duncan, young Parker/Ginobili or lock-down defender in Bowen to hide his flaws. His stubbornness and over-relying on offense cost his team a possibly 5th title. FU POP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


You guys thinking Splitter was enough to counteract Duncan getting old simply don't understand what Duncan did during his prime.

No one undervalues who and what Timmy has done for the Spurs franchise. He's a top 10 all-time great, but the front-office/coaching staff believed it would be okay to over rely on him even into his mid-30's. They have gotten young big men and either traded them (Scola), let them walk with no real chance (Ian) or let them rot on the bench until they "get over them self" (Splitter).

[HarlemHeat37]

All "great" coaches are overrated, to an extent..

Pop was a great coach..he brought a new look to the NBA..he brought a new approach..he has always been a great x's and o's coach..he brought some European flavor to this era, he helped bring a different method of drafting, he brought specialists that played a different role than what you usually saw in this era..

However, the game has passed him by..his success has inflated his ego, which leads to overthinking and overanalyzing his moves..he abandoned his principles to focus on offense, as if it was a challenge to his himself, with his ego, to win with an offensive focus..

His approach towards rookies and his loyalty to certain, inept players, was arguably his downfall as a coach..small ball over the bigs in 2006, Finley over Bowen, Bogans over Hairston, Vaughn over Hill, the love for Bonner, not giving Splitter a chance..he looks tired of this shit, he needs to retire..

[peskypesky]

1.By changing the starting line up after that great start for no apparent reason.
2. Failing to integrate Splitter earlier in season.
3.Trotting out the same bs Blair/Bonner combo.
4.Letting Ginobili throw shitty pass after shitty pass with no consequences
5. I am too pissed to go on but I am sure you guys can add to this.

i agree with you on all points. did anyone ever hear an explanation for why Blair was taken out of the starting line-up?

[J_Paco]

All "great" coaches are overrated, to an extent..

Pop was a great coach..he brought a new look to the NBA..he brought a new approach..he has always been a great x's and o's coach..he brought some European flavor to this era, he helped bring a different method of drafting, he brought specialists that played a different role than what you usually saw in this era..

However, the game has passed him by..his success has inflated his ego, which leads to overthinking and overanalyzing his moves..he abandoned his principles to focus on offense, as if it was a challenge to his himself, with his ego, to win with an offensive focus..

His approach towards rookies and his loyalty to certain, inept players, was arguably his downfall as a coach..small ball over the bigs in 2006, Finley over Bowen, Bogans over Hairston, Vaughn over Hill, the love for Bonner, not giving Splitter a chance..he looks tired of this shit, he needs to retire..

:clap:clap:clap:clap

He also doesn't have the greatness of Tim Duncan to fall back on. If Timmy's decline as a player has shown anything, it's that Popovich was in the right situation with the right scheme at the right time. The same can be said of Phil Jackson, but Jackson has proven overtime that he can work with different talent and still make it work.

[peskypesky]

he looks tired of this shit, he needs to retire..

this.

[mexicanjunior]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6547250/Pics/hang_pop.jpg

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?

Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth :td

And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after fucking trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of shit out of the game after he got his fifth foul. :pctoss

[Strike]

So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?

Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth :td

And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after fucking trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of shit out of the game after he got his fifth foul. :pctoss

I was thanking Christ when Boner picked up number 5! I thought he might play the rest of the god damn game!

:pop::pctoss

[Obstructed_View]

So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?

Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth :td

And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after fucking trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of shit out of the game after he got his fifth foul. :pctoss

The rotting corpse that replaced him wasn't much better.

[TJastal]

The rotting corpse that replaced him wasn't much better.

McDyess did a helluva lot better job at defending Zbo, IMO. At least made him take tough contested shots.

Problem was, by the time Zbo was done with Bonner, his confidence level was floating above the atmosphere and he was in a zone.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The rotting corpse that replaced him wasn't much better.

I'm not sure I agree. Dice was playing some great D, Zach was just in a freakin' zone after he got through owning Bonner's ass for six straight minutes.

[pjjrfan]

Pop playing the starters in a meaningless game and handicapping the Spurs with Manu's injury...reason #1 why we lost this series.

This and not getting Splitter involved in the rotation. But can someone explain POp's logic for sitting them down against the lakers and then bringing them in for that last game? Any other coach and we'd be talking about getting a replacement.

[pjjrfan]

You guys thinking Splitter was enough to counteract Duncan getting old simply don't understand what Duncan did during his prime.

that Duncan is never going to come back, but having a solid defender besides Tim would have helped the team.

[bluefoot]

You guys sitting here arguing over Splitter and all the little details are missing the big picture. Manny's the only one I see that gets it. The Spurs weren't just a tweak, flip, skip, hop, and a jump away from a championship. The Spurs were looking at a championship from the distance, the way you look into the downtown haze from the 410 and I-10 intersection.

Translation: They had no shot.

Pop was trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit. Yeah he fucked up on Splitter but that isn't what changed the series. The Spurs not having any prime talent changed the series.

The run and score gimmick was because he knew he was fucked on the defensive end. What was he going to do, pretend that was an albino David Robinson with red hair back there?

Splitter looks like a decent backup big man, but he's not the answer. If the Spurs want to contend next season, the patchwork has got to stop and the Spurs have to acquire some serious talent and that just isn't very likely.

The Spurs are far, far, far away from a championship. It's going to take a lot more than 1-2 veteran role players. Like Manny said, Tim Duncan is no longer Tim. He's more like a HIGH IQ, decent big man that can only play limited minutes.

It's not really anybody's fault the Spurs are done. It happens - especially if you're a small market team. Pretty hard to be a true contender year in and year out.

[Obstructed_View]

And the justifications from the Pop suckers continue. Is TPark lurking? Suddenly a 61 win team is chicken shit, but nobody could have expected that you need size to counter size in the western conference. :lol

[Russ]

Pop did a great job of managing the team's minutes all season, but two criticisms on that score:

1. The decision not to suit up Manu for Game 1 may have cost the series (it looks especially suspect when we saw how well Manu played the rest of the series).

2. Keeping players out of games completely toward the end of the season (rather than just limiting minutes) may have backfired.

Both Tim's ankle injury and Manu's arm injury came the next game back after sitting out a game. Maybe that's just coincidence, but it also may be that keeping older players loose and in rhythm (even for only 10-12 minutes/game) may be better than sitting them out completely and then bringing 'em back. Also, both Tim's and Manu's injuries came in the first couple of minutes of the return game after sitting the game before (as I recall).

[TJastal]

And the justifications from the Pop suckers continue. Is TPark lurking? Suddenly a 61 win team is chicken shit, but nobody could have expected that you need size to counter size in the western conference. :lol

Splitter wasn't the answer, either. Maybe this is KBP in a new troll disguise?

[Obstructed_View]

Splitter wasn't the answer, either. Maybe this is KBP in a new troll disguise?

Splitter came in with no minutes, no time with Duncan and no rhythm with the team and was great on both ends, yet Pop still refused to play him in the second half of games where the Spurs continued to lose due to an inability to stop Randolph or Gasol. Sorry, but if you're too stupid to do that math, then maybe you're KBP.

If there was an answer to get the Spurs past the Grizzlies, it was Splitter. If Pop developed Splitter over the season and put him in the starting lineup instead of Dice, the Spurs are playing game one against OKC today.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

He better play Tiago more minutes next year......

[kuato]

Bad for the Spurs but great for the Argentina NT, Manu will be mad about this loss and will eat alive every team on the preolimpics.

[DarrinS]

You guys thinking Splitter was enough to counteract Duncan getting old simply don't understand what Duncan did during his prime.


Playing Splitter was a total act of desperation. It was too late in the season to all of a sudden throw him into the rotation. Bottom line: Tim is past his prime, George Hill never became Bruce Bowen ver 2.0, Dice is too old, and the rest of the team is undersized.

Is anyone really so shocked that we were beaten by Memphis? They just exposed this team for what it is, that's all.

[wildbill2u]

Richard Jefferson was blanked for the second time in the last three games when he failed to score in the Spurs’ season-ending loss to Memphis Friday night.
He was also shut out in Game 4, notching two of his seven lowest scoring games of his career in his last three games.

Now we are stuck with him. I don't think he has any intrinsic trade value at all.

[DarrinS]

Richard Jefferson was blanked for the second time in the last three games when he failed to score in the Spurs’ season-ending loss to Memphis Friday night.
He was also shut out in Game 4, notching two of his seven lowest scoring games of his career in his last three games.

Now we are stuck with him. I don't think he has any intrinsic trade value at all.


RJ was a bust for the Spurs. Just add him to the list of MANY busts for the Spurs.

[Spurtacus]

-Pop & Co. should have gone after a big in the 2010 offseason or before the trade deadline.
-Splitter should have played more this season.
-James Anderson should have seen more minutes even after his injury.
-Blair/Bonner combo...yuck

[wildbill2u]

In the final analysis, good big men beat good little men in basketball.

We have developed no interior components to offset the decline of Duncan. They got 62 of their points in the paint. We got 38. Dice tried but how much can you expect of him at this stage of his career?

It is a mystery why Pop took Tiago out of the few games where he played. He was doing OK on offense and playing decent defense--something that neither Bonner nor Jefferson nor Blair was able to accomplish.

[DarrinS]

Can you imagine Dwight Howard next to Duncan?


Oh well, that's never going to happen.