Incompetence at tanking or winning?

[sasaint]

I have been going back and forth in my own mind for most of the season: is Pop really trying to win or is he tanking? Can he really be doing the same thing (starting the same lineup, playing the same terrible defenders and using the same rotations) expecting different results? Can he honestly expect poor defenders to improve, for guys to execute better, play smarter, pound the rock harder and somehow be transformed into players they simple are not? Or is he doing the same things expecting the same results and simply giving a smoke screen to the media in his post-game pressers?

We have a few impressive games (even in a few losses) and a handful of impressive wins. Then we have some stunningly poor performances and tough losses - not to mention the blowouts. We have some indications that the team could be pretty decent and have a better record if the Old Asshole weren’t sabotaging them with poor personnel decisions. On the other hand, I have questioned the talent level of the team. Are the young guys just too inexperienced or do they lack the talent to compete? Are the old guys contributors to the failure or causing it?

[SAGirl]

IMO, they have tried to win all season with Pop scrambling and doing some adjustments like that time he benched Murray and started White, Poltl getting more minutes, benching Lyles. He has gone back in the end to his favorites. Forbes has had games at 20 minutes (but he still starts)…

I think giving credit for a stealth tank is too much credit. They would rather be winning and there is no obvious talent in this draft. Like if they were to have stealth tanked, there were prior drafts that were more obvious.

At this point, as Chinook said elsewhere (and he's been a long supporter of the staying competitive crew/current status quo), but at this point, if playoffs are out of the picture, one would rather see them lose every game from here on out and get the highest possible draft slot they can at this point, just for the chance to really select a player they want and not just whoever fell to their spot. So maybe they have changed their goals stealthily, one could hope.
What do you make of this:

1226970154854207488

Maybe pimping Demar out to some other team blaming his help.

[UZER]

IMO, they have tried to win all season with Pop scrambling and doing some adjustments like that time he benched Murray and started White, Poltl getting more minutes, benching Lyles. He has gone back in the end to his favorites. Forbes has had games at 20 minutes (but he still starts)…

I think giving credit for a stealth tank is too much credit. They would rather be winning and there is no obvious talent in this draft. Like if they were to have stealth tanked, there were prior drafts that were more obvious.

At this point, as Chinook said elsewhere (and he's been a long supporter of the staying competitive crew/current status quo), but at this point, if playoffs are out of the picture, one would rather see them lose every game from here on out and get the highest possible draft slot they can at this point, just for the chance to really select a player they want and not just whoever fell to their spot. So maybe they have changed their goals stealthily, one could hope.
What do you make of this:

1226970154854207488

Nobody cares. Just go away already Pop.

[NASpurs]

What about being delusional and senile while having no one question you?

[MultiTroll]

^ the b.s. that Demar and LMA are blameless in this.
FOH.

[RC_Drunkford]

Flopovich definitelty tried to win all season. I think after the trade deadline he's now tanking. I don't even think DeRozan is injured. Not sure though, you know Flopovich is garbage and could still think the players just need to play harder. Who knows if he even knows what the Spurs record is

[Atl Spur]

They are tanking for a point guard.......hopefully!

[Darius Bieber]

Both. Wouldn't trust this front office to do anything right tbh

[Chomag]

Just maybe Pop and FO really are not that good...

[cd98]

The team has a roster that should fight for the playoffs. Unfortunately, the West is a tough conference and there are going to be teams that miss out that have rosters that appear to be playoff worthy.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Pop put a couple of years' salary on the 'under' for Spurs wins this year and is just waiting to collect that check so he can buy that French vineyard he's had his eye on.

Always CIA until the end.

[Down Under]

They were trying until the RRT IMO. If they could pull something out against one or both LA teams they'd keep going, but it's been more obvious since then.

[TimDunkem]

They are tanking for a point guard.......hopefully!


They have 3. What's the problem? :lmao

[ceperez]

They are trying but the team and the coach both suck.

[acoelho1]

Pop is no dummy and his rotations make no sense so I guess this is his way of tanking.

[nyspurguy]

How many games Spurs gonna lose while being up 15+ in the third quarter?
I’ve watched my spurs lose at least 20 games after being up 15 or 20 points, what’s up with that?

We have the talent to compete with any team in the league. We just can’t close the deal, what’s up with that?
This Spurs team can beat any team and could also lose to any team any given night. I get it, that’s the nature of the NBA. Just think we left a whole lotta games out there this year.

Can somebody let me know the Spurs record when up 15+ in the third quarter.

I don’t wanna see my Spurs not make the playoffs.

[KimmyGib]

Sad thing is, Pop's really been trying imo. I don't buy the theory that he simply doesn't care anymore and is now just doing what he wants for his own amusement, or that he's low-key tanking. Since the end of the big 3 and the Kawhi exit, Pop hasn't looked good. The relentless overplaying of Mills and Belinelli in the Denver series which absolutely doomed the Spurs, the shocking team USA failure, and this whole shitty season and the ending of the playoff streak... Do you really think this is how Pop wanted to end his career? Not Gregg, not with his ego. Reports were that Spurs were "obsessed" with making the playoffs, and I think it was all about Pop trying to save face, because frankly he looks bad right now, and missing the playoffs is going to amplify it. I think he's very frustrated, despite the "it's just game" facade he's putting on to the media. He's finished, and coming to grips with that is a difficult thing for a man like Pop to do.

We have had a few impressive games this season, because the team is actually not as bad as its record. They've literally been underachieving because of Gregg Popavich, which is something I never thought I'd see. Yeah, it's pretty sad.

[TD 21]

Obviously he's trying to win. As evidenced by the infamous "trade", he's too old, stubborn, arrogant and selfish for anything else. Also apparent from said heist, was that he's delusional, senile and archaic. That along with his usual politics are what's driving his absurdly poor attempt at coaching this mismatched outfit.

[Chinook]

They were and are trying to win. They are just incompetent at it. They aren't trying to "win now" as someone like DPG21920 might argue. They aren't going into this thinking it's championship or bust. They are treading water hoping to buy enough time to develop depth to supplement then supplant LMA and DMDR. It's the same idea behind 2008-2012 except with the glaring difference in a lack of HOF-caliber players. Beyond that talent gap, though, Pop hasn't yet completely pivoted away from old players. He had the same issue during the pre-Medium Three years. He signed guys like Ratliff, Bogans and McDyess. He traded a draft pick for Kurt Thomas only to not re-sign him in the off-season. It wasn't until after the 2011 playoffs that Pop was willing to change his mind.

I don't know that they have a Splitter or a Green on the roster -- let alone a Leonard. But Pop's still at the point where he thinks he just needs to wait it out. Of course, it doesn't help that he's been awful this year at pretty much everything. I'll blame the summer again. But he also doesn't have good in-game adjustments and doesn't seem to have an emotional handle on the ball club at all. Pop's horrible coaching is the main difference between this season and last, with Gay's decline being the only thing close. I think he made a really poor decision when he opted to forego growing pains from giving Walker the starting-SG job. I can't imagine it costing them more games at this point than the status quo. It doesn't really help that he did that while forcing Murray back into the first unit and starting Lyles over Carroll.

[DPG21920]

https://media.giphy.com/media/aZ3LDBs1ExsE8/giphy.gif

[RC_Drunkford]

Obviously he's trying to win. As evidenced by the infamous "trade", he's too old, stubborn, arrogant and selfish for anything else. Also apparent from said heist, was that he's delusional, senile and archaic. That along with his usual politics are what's driving his absurdly poor attempt at coaching this mismatched outfit.

:bobo

[ZeusWillJudge]

I have been going back and forth in my own mind for most of the season: is Pop really trying to win or is he tanking? Can he really be doing the same thing (starting the same lineup, playing the same terrible defenders and using the same rotations) expecting different results? Can he honestly expect poor defenders to improve, for guys to execute better, play smarter, pound the rock harder and somehow be transformed into players they simple are not? Or is he doing the same things expecting the same results and simply giving a smoke screen to the media in his post-game pressers?

We have a few impressive games (even in a few losses) and a handful of impressive wins. Then we have some stunningly poor performances and tough losses - not to mention the blowouts. We have some indications that the team could be pretty decent and have a better record if the Old Asshole weren’t sabotaging them with poor personnel decisions. On the other hand, I have questioned the talent level of the team. Are the young guys just too inexperienced or do they lack the talent to compete? Are the old guys contributors to the failure or causing it?


The one question you have to ask yourself: Was Pop tanking with the NT, or trying to win?

Then vote your conscience.

[sasaint]

The one question you have to ask yourself: Was Pop tanking with the NT, or trying to win?

Then vote your conscience.

That is, indeed, a powerful piece of evidence. I think I have been considering the Spurs evidence in isolation. It may make up my mind, but it doesn't change my vote. I continue to vote to remove the Old Asshole.

[Arcadian]

No, Pop is really trying to win. Don't ever give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's tanking. Any time he does something stupid or the team blows a big lead, that's because they were trying their hardest and doing what they really believed was the right thing - and they were just dead wrong, and they were just that bad.

[superbigtime]

Legendary talents have concealed PATFOs incompetence. Now that the talent has plummeted their inadequacies are completely exposed. Pop has made plenty of blunders in the past but these days it seems his coaching is at its absolute worst.