Mel_13
01-26-2013, 10:37 AM
To clinch the position of Western Conference All Star Head Coach:
http://www.nba.com/media/dleague/m_hairston_300_081223.jpg
The coach of the team with best winning percentage at the close of action on Jan 30th is named the conference HC. Last year's coaches, Brooks and Thibodeau, are not eligible. The Spurs are 35-11 with two game remaining and the Clippers are 32-12 with three games remaining. Pop will go to Houston unless the Spurs lose to both Phoenix and Charlotte at home while the Clippers win all three of their remaining games. So, it's a pretty safe bet that Pop will join Tim and Tony.
This will be Pop's third stint as All Star HC, but the first that would coincide with an appearance by Tony. Pop's previous All Star appearances coincided with Manu's two trips in 2005 and 2011.
One other possible coaching position that Pop may fill is as coach of Team USA. Marc Stein wrote this after restgate:
the sheer giddiness you see from Kobe Bryant and other Western Conference All-Stars when they get the chance to spend a weekend in February playing for Pop suggests that hiring San Antonio's hoops patriarch would hold great appeal to a certain Finals MVP down in Miami who, after three straight Olympics, isn't sure he wants to commit to a fourth.
My suspicion is that LeBron James, Kevin Durant and any other Team USA mainstay that Colangelo wants to survey for input would nominate Pop as their top candidate to take over. Such is the reverence around the league for how he has always put his players first, which has never been more evident than it is now through this very public fight with Stern in the name of keeping his stars fresh.
http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-121130-1201/nba-gregg-popovich-shot-team-usa-coaching-gig
http://www.nba.com/media/dleague/m_hairston_300_081223.jpg
The coach of the team with best winning percentage at the close of action on Jan 30th is named the conference HC. Last year's coaches, Brooks and Thibodeau, are not eligible. The Spurs are 35-11 with two game remaining and the Clippers are 32-12 with three games remaining. Pop will go to Houston unless the Spurs lose to both Phoenix and Charlotte at home while the Clippers win all three of their remaining games. So, it's a pretty safe bet that Pop will join Tim and Tony.
This will be Pop's third stint as All Star HC, but the first that would coincide with an appearance by Tony. Pop's previous All Star appearances coincided with Manu's two trips in 2005 and 2011.
One other possible coaching position that Pop may fill is as coach of Team USA. Marc Stein wrote this after restgate:
the sheer giddiness you see from Kobe Bryant and other Western Conference All-Stars when they get the chance to spend a weekend in February playing for Pop suggests that hiring San Antonio's hoops patriarch would hold great appeal to a certain Finals MVP down in Miami who, after three straight Olympics, isn't sure he wants to commit to a fourth.
My suspicion is that LeBron James, Kevin Durant and any other Team USA mainstay that Colangelo wants to survey for input would nominate Pop as their top candidate to take over. Such is the reverence around the league for how he has always put his players first, which has never been more evident than it is now through this very public fight with Stern in the name of keeping his stars fresh.
http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-121130-1201/nba-gregg-popovich-shot-team-usa-coaching-gig