If Pop had the thunder's roster...

[duncan2k5]

We would have been worse than we are right now, but ppl would have been expecting it after trading off Russ and George...

We would have been complaining about how old and washed cp3 is... How Gallo plays zero defense (like we did with Bertans)...How Aquaman doesn't space the floor since he is an old school center... And how it would be a coaching feat for pop to even win 40 games with that shit roster...

I say all that to say Pop is washed as a coach... And maybe he has always been a bad coach, but his incompetence was masked by the greatness of the big 3... Have we ever won a playoff series as the underdog? But there are TONS of times we were the favorite and lost... Including at least once (I think twice... Mavs and Grizzlies) as the number 1 seed to an 8th seed... with a different coach, who knows? We may have threepeated... And won much more rings than we did...

I know it sounds silly since we won 5 rings... But if Pop was coaching those bill Russel Celtics, maybe bill Russel only ends up with 5, and while we would still think that's amazing, we would have been missing out on how great they could have been...

We can point out many bad coaching decisions he has had, but can't point out many that he was responsible for... A lot of the good coaching practices were attributed to the assistant coaches...

And I have to repeat... we have never won a playoff series as the underdog...and lost many times as the favorite...Let that sink in

[Ibleedslvrnblk]

Murray goes off against Jazz...Win...All posts are how Murray is the next coming of Wilt...

Murray scores zero..loss..posts come again about how Pop is done

Yawn...it's early in the day, whatelse do we got? We all know Pop is old, and done.

L

[Prime BEEF]

It is clearly obvious right now that we have poor coaching, a bad roster and a bad FO. We still have fan support but I doubt that survives after a few more seasons of this.

We could easily bounce back if they let pop go, do a s/t with DDR, trade LMA, trade Mills/Gay, and let Forbes and Marco walk after the season. But I’m not optimistic that any of those things will happen.

[EasyMoney]

If pop had that roster then SGA would still have "earn" minutes and be benched for every little thing he does wrong

[Genovaswitness]

he's washed but he's an all-timer. 2000s and early 2010s pop was ruthless. benching tony for speedy claxton, trying to trade tony for j kidd etc

after 2014 he got soft and started falling in love with his players. we've been rotting for 6 years

[Collins21]

he's washed but he's an all-timer. 2000s and early 2010s pop was ruthless. benching tony for speedy claxton, trying to trade tony for j kidd etc

after 2014 he got soft and started falling in love with his players. we've been rotting for 6 years

I can agree with this. I think on this site people go too far to the extreme one way or the other. Pop is one of the best coaches I've ever seen however since that last titles dude as become soft as shit. Pop is not as good as people make him out to be and he's not as bad people make him out to be. If he were to retire today that would be fine with me because I don't think his heart is in it. However people like the OP worry me because they act like the guy was never good which is false.

[UZER]

There are so many more important things in life than basketball that Pop will easily walk away at the right time.

Oh wait...

[MultiTroll]

Popped said he had to "go talk to his Boss" in cutting the OKC post game q's short.

His boss? Or is this CIA Pop thinking he's giving a witty response again?

[Kobe'sAchilles]

The plus side is we wouldn't have Forbes on our team so Pop wouldn't start him :lol

It's fair to say that Pop has failed this year as a coach (and last year too in some aspects). But Pop was once a hardass who did whatever it took to win. he's made mistakes is nowhere near perfect and has cost us some series in my book, but at the end of the day he won a hell of a lot more than he lost for us and that's all I ask for from my coach. I mean year by year for the Spurs and I can't fault Pop for too many losses.

98 we lost to a better Jazz team.
99 we won the title.
00 we lost Duncan
01 Lakers were amazing (we lost Anderson)
02 Lakers were amazing
03 won title
04 Horry and Turk shriveled up like pussys in the PO as well as Fisher hitting a shot that literally wasn't legal to do at the time. Official rule said a player could catch and shoot in only.4 seconds but Fisher was allowed to TURN catch and shoot. Ridiculous ruling that Stern had no problem overturning to save the Lakers
05 won title
06 Manu's fault (though as far as I'm concerned only Pop and Tim can say anything to Manu about that since everyone else played like shit)
07 won title
08 Manu hurt
09 Manu hurt again
10 Pops fault for thinking Hill was any good but we were the inferior team
11 Manu broke his arm and Duncan sprained his ankle the last game of the season. Fluke injury but you could put them on Pop. Also playing Dice and Bonner on Randolph/Gasol was beyond stupid. So I can blame Pop
12 refs beat us
13 So may people's fault that it's hard to put assign blame. Manu missed FT. Kawhi missed Ft. Danny strayed off of Ray Allen after given specific instructions not to leave his side and not to go for the rebound. Boris not boxing out. Pop benching Duncan. Joey Crawford not letting Manu and tony execute maybe the most memorable Finals play in NBA history which would've fixed everything. Manu grabbed the ball to inbound and Tony took off wide open for a lay up bc the entire Heat team was too busy celebrating, but Joey wouldn't let Manu inbound the ball and called for the play to be reviewed even though his counterpart was literally right next to Ray Allen looking at his feet and giving the signal that it was a 3. If you replay the game you can still hear on National TV mind you Pop cussing out Crawford telling him that he can't fucking do that and calling him a motherfucker for refusing the Spurs to inbound the ball.
14 won title
15 Pop lost it for us by not countering literally the same move run y the Clippers 100 times a game the whole series, but Tony, Danny, and Kawhi all shrunk
16 Refs screwed us out of 2 games. You can say Turd Towers for sure but end of the day Refs SCREWED us
17 Kawhi got injured but Pop coached brilliantly
18 lost to the better team
19 Pop screwed us over by playing Forbes and Beli

By my count Pop has only lost us 3 series and was a part of us losing like 2 other times, but not the main reason we lost. Pretty damn good results tbh

[duncan2k5]

I can agree with this. I think on this site people go too far to the extreme one way or the other. Pop is one of the best coaches I've ever seen however since that last titles dude as become soft as shit. Pop is not as good as people make him out to be and he's not as bad people make him out to be. If he were to retire today that would be fine with me because I don't think his heart is in it. However people like the OP worry me because they act like the guy was never good which is false.

Tell me the great coaching runs and decisions he had? We shit on like Walton for going 73-9 9n a team and say anyone could have coached them, but ignore we had 3 hall of famers and the greatest PF of all time and underperformed in the playoffs numerous times...and almost all those times were because of coaching decisions...I can't think of one coaching decision that won us a series outside of the obvious "play Tim Duncan"

[duncan2k5]

The plus side is we wouldn't have Forbes on our team so Pop wouldn't start him :lol

It's fair to say that Pop has failed this year as a coach (and last year too in some aspects). But Pop was once a hardass who did whatever it took to win. he's made mistakes is nowhere near perfect and has cost us some series in my book, but at the end of the day he won a hell of a lot more than he lost for us and that's all I ask for from my coach. I mean year by year for the Spurs and I can't fault Pop for too many losses.

98 we lost to a better Jazz team.
99 we won the title.
00 we lost Duncan
01 Lakers were amazing (we lost Anderson)
02 Lakers were amazing
03 won title
04 Horry and Turk shriveled up like pussys in the PO as well as Fisher hitting a shot that literally wasn't legal to do at the time. Official rule said a player could catch and shoot in only.4 seconds but Fisher was allowed to TURN catch and shoot. Ridiculous ruling that Stern had no problem overturning to save the Lakers
05 won title
06 Manu's fault (though as far as I'm concerned only Pop and Tim can say anything to Manu about that since everyone else played like shit)
07 won title
08 Manu hurt
09 Manu hurt again
10 Pops fault for thinking Hill was any good but we were the inferior team
11 Manu broke his arm and Duncan sprained his ankle the last game of the season. Fluke injury but you could put them on Pop. Also playing Dice and Bonner on Randolph/Gasol was beyond stupid. So I can blame Pop
12 refs beat us
13 So may people's fault that it's hard to put assign blame. Manu missed FT. Kawhi missed Ft. Danny strayed off of Ray Allen after given specific instructions not to leave his side and not to go for the rebound. Boris not boxing out. Pop benching Duncan. Joey Crawford not letting Manu and tony execute maybe the most memorable Finals play in NBA history which would've fixed everything. Manu grabbed the ball to inbound and Tony took off wide open for a lay up bc the entire Heat team was too busy celebrating, but Joey wouldn't let Manu inbound the ball and called for the play to be reviewed even though his counterpart was literally right next to Ray Allen looking at his feet and giving the signal that it was a 3. If you replay the game you can still hear on National TV mind you Pop cussing out Crawford telling him that he can't fucking do that and calling him a motherfucker for refusing the Spurs to inbound the ball.
14 won title
15 Pop lost it for us by not countering literally the same move run y the Clippers 100 times a game the whole series, but Tony, Danny, and Kawhi all shrunk
16 Refs screwed us out of 2 games. You can say Turd Towers for sure but end of the day Refs SCREWED us
17 Kawhi got injured but Pop coached brilliantly
18 lost to the better team
19 Pop screwed us over by playing Forbes and Beli

By my count Pop has only lost us 3 series and was a part of us losing like 2 other times, but not the main reason we lost. Pretty damn good results tbh

We couldn't beat the shit ass grizzlies and Mavs as the 1 seed because Manu had a boo boo? Gtfoh...pop was outcoached

[duncan2k5]

He never won a series vs a better team... That should speak for itself... Every series won was won as the favorite... And lost multiple series as the overwhelming favorite

[Collins21]

Tell me the great coaching runs and decisions he had? We shit on like Walton for going 73-9 9n a team and say anyone could have coached them, but ignore we had 3 hall of famers and the greatest PF of all time and underperformed in the playoffs numerous times...and almost all those times were because of coaching decisions...I can't think of one coaching decision that won us a series outside of the obvious "play Tim Duncan"

This is too easy but off the top of my head I would say not playing Duncan and Spitter together against OKC. starting Diaw/Bonner to space the floor and draw Serge IBaka away from the basket is the main reason why we won that series.

[Collins21]

He never won a series vs a better team... That should speak for itself... Every series won was won as the favorite... And lost multiple series as the overwhelming favorite

All you do is spew bullshit because in 2010 that 2nd seeded Mavs team was the favorite and the Spurs beat them easily.

[Kobe'sAchilles]

We couldn't beat the shit ass grizzlies and Mavs as the 1 seed because Manu had a boo boo? Gtfoh...pop was outcoached
I blamed Pop for 2011.

In 06 those shitty ass Mavs had the exact same record as us which was tied for best in the league. I don't understand your comment. Unless you mean 2009 when we were the 3rd seed and lost to the 6th seed Mavs. But Manu was clearly our best player that year and he was out of the playoffs. When a team loses their best player it isn't that unreasonable for them to lose. Duncan and Parker had no help that year as well as Mason Jr shot something like 12% from 3 that series after leading the league in 3 point % that year in the regular season. I'm not exactly sure what coaching Pop could've done to change the result.

[DMC]

Thunder a better team without Westbrook.

<-------- This guy

[RC_Drunkford]

The plus side is we wouldn't have Forbes on our team so Pop wouldn't start him :lol

It's fair to say that Pop has failed this year as a coach (and last year too in some aspects). But Pop was once a hardass who did whatever it took to win. he's made mistakes is nowhere near perfect and has cost us some series in my book, but at the end of the day he won a hell of a lot more than he lost for us and that's all I ask for from my coach. I mean year by year for the Spurs and I can't fault Pop for too many losses.

98 we lost to a better Jazz team.
99 we won the title.
00 we lost Duncan
01 Lakers were amazing (we lost Anderson)
02 Lakers were amazing
03 won title
04 Horry and Turk shriveled up like pussys in the PO as well as Fisher hitting a shot that literally wasn't legal to do at the time. Official rule said a player could catch and shoot in only.4 seconds but Fisher was allowed to TURN catch and shoot. Ridiculous ruling that Stern had no problem overturning to save the Lakers
05 won title
06 Manu's fault (though as far as I'm concerned only Pop and Tim can say anything to Manu about that since everyone else played like shit)
07 won title
08 Manu hurt
09 Manu hurt again
10 Pops fault for thinking Hill was any good but we were the inferior team
11 Manu broke his arm and Duncan sprained his ankle the last game of the season. Fluke injury but you could put them on Pop. Also playing Dice and Bonner on Randolph/Gasol was beyond stupid. So I can blame Pop
12 refs beat us
13 So may people's fault that it's hard to put assign blame. Manu missed FT. Kawhi missed Ft. Danny strayed off of Ray Allen after given specific instructions not to leave his side and not to go for the rebound. Boris not boxing out. Pop benching Duncan. Joey Crawford not letting Manu and tony execute maybe the most memorable Finals play in NBA history which would've fixed everything. Manu grabbed the ball to inbound and Tony took off wide open for a lay up bc the entire Heat team was too busy celebrating, but Joey wouldn't let Manu inbound the ball and called for the play to be reviewed even though his counterpart was literally right next to Ray Allen looking at his feet and giving the signal that it was a 3. If you replay the game you can still hear on National TV mind you Pop cussing out Crawford telling him that he can't fucking do that and calling him a motherfucker for refusing the Spurs to inbound the ball.
14 won title
15 Pop lost it for us by not countering literally the same move run y the Clippers 100 times a game the whole series, but Tony, Danny, and Kawhi all shrunk
16 Refs screwed us out of 2 games. You can say Turd Towers for sure but end of the day Refs SCREWED us
17 Kawhi got injured but Pop coached brilliantly
18 lost to the better team
19 Pop screwed us over by playing Forbes and Beli

By my count Pop has only lost us 3 series and was a part of us losing like 2 other times, but not the main reason we lost. Pretty damn good results tbh

you're one of the best posters on this site. Pretty much agree with all of this.

[RC_Drunkford]

He never won a series vs a better team... That should speak for itself... Every series won was won as the favorite... And lost multiple series as the overwhelming favorite

That's such a stupid take. Lakers were always the favorites, even when we beat them. Heat were always the favorite as well. Spurs won a lot of series being the underdog

[Collins21]

That's such a stupid take. Lakers were always the favorites, even when we beat them. Heat were always the favorite as well. Spurs won a lot of series being the underdog

He's weird all his pop hate centers around Kawhi. I don't know if realizes how sick it makes him look but when you call him on it all he will say "Is you guys just don't like me"

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I blamed Pop for 2011.

In 06 those shitty ass Mavs had the exact same record as us which was tied for best in the league. I don't understand your comment. Unless you mean 2009 when we were the 3rd seed and lost to the 6th seed Mavs. But Manu was clearly our best player that year and he was out of the playoffs. When a team loses their best player it isn't that unreasonable for them to lose. Duncan and Parker had no help that year as well as Mason Jr shot something like 12% from 3 that series after leading the league in 3 point % that year in the regular season. I'm not exactly sure what coaching Pop could've done to change the result.

I liked your annual assessment. duncan2k5 is just a clueless dumbass. I remember those seasons when Manu was hurt, and the entire complexity of the team changed when he went down.

You have to be pretty damn charmed to win a title, much less 5. I've been pissed at Pop's lethargy this season, but he's cemented his legacy. No other coach will achieve what he has in a small market.

[slick'81]

He never won a series vs a better team... That should speak for itself... Every series won was won as the favorite... And lost multiple series as the overwhelming favorite


:lol:lmao Ok

[duncan2k5]

All you do is spew bullshit because in 2010 that 2nd seeded Mavs team was the favorite and the Spurs beat them easily.

LMFAO! The ONE time he upset a better team vs all the times he lost as the favorite? GTFOH

[duncan2k5]

That's such a stupid take. Lakers were always the favorites, even when we beat them. Heat were always the favorite as well. Spurs won a lot of series being the underdog

No...we were the favorites...we had homecourt vs both

[duncan2k5]

I liked your annual assessment. duncan2k5 is just a clueless dumbass. I remember those seasons when Manu was hurt, and the entire complexity of the team changed when he went down.

You have to be pretty damn charmed to win a title, much less 5. I've been pissed at Pop's lethargy this season, but he's cemented his legacy. No other coach will achieve what he has in a small market.

U keep harping on the fact that he won 5...that's not an accomplishment I'm giving u props for with a team that should have won ten

[duncan2k5]

you're one of the best posters on this site. Pretty much agree with all of this.

How does that refute what I said...he pointed out multiple seasons where pop didn't win...Lakers being amazing isn't an excuse...good teams get upset by other good teams all the time due to coaching...

[Kobe'sAchilles]

How does that refute what I said...he pointed out multiple seasons where pop didn't win...Lakers being amazing isn't an excuse...good teams get upset by other good teams all the time due to coaching...
Lol since you didn't watch the Spurs during that era let me fill you in on something. We just didn't have the horses in 01. And even then we made the Conference Finals in 2001 which goes to show how amazing Duncan was at the time. We lost our starting SG, literally the only player on the team who could score by himself other than Duncan (to a lesser extent Robinson who struggled that year). We had to guard Kobe with Antonio Daniels and 38 year old Terry Porter. Elliott just came back from his kidney operation and was basically useless. Seriously, go look at the team and then come back to me with the shitty " well Pop didn't beat arguably the greatest team of all time" :cry

So you want a team with Duncan, injured Robinson, Antonio Daniels, Terry Porter, and Danny Ferry to beat the Lakers in 01? Did you even watch basketball then? They went 16-1 in the playoffs ffs. And on top of that, you're saying that Pop was at fault for us losing to them bc of his coaching?

Also in 2002 we lost Robinson due to injury that year in the playoffs and the games he did playe he really sucked. Like 5 points a game sucked. We had Tony starting and he played well for a rookie, but once again we just didn't have the personal. We were starting Steve Smith and Malik Rose. We once again had to play Danny Ferry and Terry Porter and not bc of the whole veteran bullshit Pop does today but literally bc we had no one else to play. But yeah Pop cost us that series :rolleyes

You can disagree with me and refute what I said, but trying to make your argument by saying Pop should've coached us to beat the 01 Lakers during that era might be the stupidest basketball take of all time and clearly shows you didn't watch bball during that time. Oh and they also had a hall of fame coach who won 11 Rings, maybe you've heard of him... His name is Phil Jackson :lol

[phxspurfan]

Washed up CP3 is still >> our 4 PGs who each produce 1/4 of the production. Plus he can actually run an NBA offense. So they would have more wins than Spurs if Pop was coaching. Plus they have SGA and Schroder, also way better than our PGs.

[RC_Drunkford]

No...we were the favorites...we had homecourt vs both

only a fucking idiot like you could think that home court would make an inferior team the favorites in a playoff series. Look at the damn rosters. 03 Spurs were all Tim Duncan. Rest of the roster was pure garbage, none of Manu, Tony or D-Rob were anything close to their primes. Same with the 14 Spurs. Nobody on that team was in their prime, except for Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Splitter. Meanwhile the Heat had LBJ, Wade and Bosh all in their prime and role players like Ray Allen.

[Collins21]

LMFAO! The ONE time he upset a better team vs all the times he lost as the favorite? GTFOH

Uh ok how about Pheonix in 07 they were the 2nd seed and the Spurs were the 3rd seed and they beat them.

[tbdog]

He never won a series vs a better team... That should speak for itself... Every series won was won as the favorite... And lost multiple series as the overwhelming favorite

Um, probably Lakers 03, Pistons 05, Thunder 14, even Heat 14 would probably be considered better teams. Heck, those Nash Suns teams And I am pretty sure we beat the Mavs as a 7th seed.

[duncan2k5]

Washed up CP3 is still >> our 4 PGs who each produce 1/4 of the production. Plus he can actually run an NBA offense. So they would have more wins than Spurs if Pop was coaching. Plus they have SGA and Schroder, also way better than our PGs.

If Pop was coaching that team they would have a worse record and we would call ALL the players trash and give Pop an out

[duncan2k5]

Um, probably Lakers 03, Pistons 05, Thunder 14, even Heat 14 would probably be considered better teams. Heck, those Nash Suns teams And I am pretty sure we beat the Mavs as a 7th seed.

You wanting them to be better doesn't mean they were ..we had homecourt advantage and the better record...another team simply having more popular players doesn't make them better

[duncan2k5]

So u guys honestly think the thunder would still be as good as they are right now if Pop were coaching them??

[duncan2k5]

only a fucking idiot like you could think that home court would make an inferior team the favorites in a playoff series. Look at the damn rosters. 03 Spurs were all Tim Duncan. Rest of the roster was pure garbage, none of Manu, Tony or D-Rob were anything close to their primes. Same with the 14 Spurs. Nobody on that team was in their prime, except for Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Splitter. Meanwhile the Heat had LBJ, Wade and Bosh all in their prime and role players like Ray Allen.

It was very clear the Spurs were the favorites that series...we had the better record and we're playing better basketball...only idiots like u think having the bigger names means you're a better team... LMFAO... actually watch the games

[duncan2k5]

Uh ok how about Pheonix in 07 they were the 2nd seed and the Spurs were the 3rd seed and they beat them.

Lol...suns would have won if Horry didn't hip check Nash into the announcers table and get Amare suspended

[tbdog]

You wanting them to be better doesn't mean they were ..we had homecourt advantage and the better record...another team simply having more popular players doesn't make them better

Your negating that Pop was the head coach that got them that home court advantage. You forgot that Pop had a say at increasing the longevity of his HOF's. You forgot that 2014 was the greatest coaching job in the NBA, perhaps ever.

[NK123]

Pop is a System’s Coach. He has crafted a great system that can create great results with less talent. But this same system does not work against superior talent. You can watch games Pop have coached since the 90’s and it shows that teams with superior individual talent always created problems for us. The league now is a talent league now and systems no longer can get you over most teams. Even Atlanta won two games against us this year, why? Because of great individual talent. The NBA now is a talent league. Every playoff team has two o more above average players capable to score over 30. Pop is not a good adaptive coach as the younger coaches all over the league. He over trusts his system and his veterans. He doesn’t insert players that doesn’t follow his script. Pop’s career is ending before our eyes. Not because he is a bad coach, but because he is a coach that can’t adapt and over his own vision and creations. He no longer has the top-down talent he used to have. He limitations are clearly exposed and he still can’t accept it. He is done. Even if he coaches for 4 or more years, he will not win unless top talent join the team (will not happen) or the young guns become stars which will not happen because he doesn’t trust them.

[John B]

CP3 would be asking out tbh

[phxspurfan]

Um, probably Lakers 03, Pistons 05, Thunder 14, even Heat 14 would probably be considered better teams. Heck, those Nash Suns teams And I am pretty sure we beat the Mavs as a 7th seed.


You wanting them to be better doesn't mean they were ..we had homecourt advantage and the better record...another team simply having more popular players doesn't make them better

Agree. Our System was well know to be great, i.e. funneling players baseline to get blocked by our bigs, defending without fouling, moving off the ball well, not missing rotations much, PnR perfectly suited to Tony, Manu, Tim and Splitter, and the Beautiful Game based on Euroball. Sure, other teams has athleticism and better top end talent (no one says '03 TD/Parker > Kidd/Shaq/Kobe, '05 Manu > Pistons, '07 Parker > LeBroom, '14 team > Thudnerrefs/Heatles). But everyone incl. players studied the Spurs because they know our system and coaching were top notch and well suited to our players. Also why KD called Kawhi a system player. The system had tons of well-earned respect.

Problem is two-fold these days. 1. we lost all our decent talent to retirement/bone headed deals, 2. the league caught up with us and Pop has yet to evolve to the newest NBA style/arguably doesn't really have the players to do so.

[duncan2k5]

Your negating that Pop was the head coach that got them that home court advantage. You forgot that Pop had a say at increasing the longevity of his HOF's. You forgot that 2014 was the greatest coaching job in the NBA, perhaps ever.

With an offense created by his assistant coach

[duncan2k5]

If this were happening to any other coach, we would have said they were being exposed... But now we wanna make excuses

[tbdog]

With an offense created by his assistant coach

Pop had no say? Pop did not lead the charge? Pop not responsible for all his assistance getting HC jobs?