Mitch "Silky" Johnson - Appreciation Thread

[baseline bum]

JFC that third quarter was some of the most piss poor coaching I have ever seen in my life. When the opponent is the best transition team in the league and they're red hot playing like it's 2k running down the floor and burying threes five seconds into the shot clock maybe you shouldn't keep fucking running with them and I don't know, mix a half court set in to slow things down instead of letting them run 16 straight off on you in the time it takes a rabbit to get fucked. Can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss the TOSB version of Pop. And Wemby gotta get his ass to Hakeem's camp this summer. Not saying he needs to be a low post player but it would help to make it some kind of weapon when you need to slow the game down.

[John B]

JFC that third quarter was some of the most piss poor coaching I have ever seen in my life. When the opponent is the best transition team in the league and they're red hot playing like it's 2k running down the floor and burying threes five seconds into the shot clock maybe you shouldn't keep fucking running with them and I don't know, mix a half court set in to slow things down instead of letting them run 16 straight off on you in the time it takes a rabbit to get fucked. Can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss the TOSB version of Pop. And Wemby gotta get his ass to Hakeem's camp this summer. Not saying he needs to be a low post player but it would help to make it some kind of weapon when you need to slow the game down.

Can’t say it’s a learning curve every time.

[RC_Drunkford]

Game #40 - When Mitch's long term prospects as a head coach died.

Giving up a 16-0 run to end the 3rd Quarter against a Ja-less Grizzlies team while looking absolutely shell shocked on the sideline.

I don't know if he was trying to pull some Phil Jackson "let them figure it out" bullshit but that was absolutely embarrassing.

Spurs need to find a real coach this offseason. It should absolutely be an outside hire but we all know how this bullshit organization operates :lol

gotta keep those timeouts for the 4th quarter when we're down 20 :lol

[John B]

Dumb coach

[z0sa]

No timeout, no challenge, let's the team get down by 20 before deciding "Hey, maybe I should, I don't know, do some coaching?"

[Ice009]

He left, got a ring in Milwaukee, re-signed here for the purpose of being traded, was and got us a SRP, played one more year, then strong armed a ho at the Hyatt Hill Country resort, and dropped out of sight.

Thanks for the quick summary. I just looked it up and seems like he really beat up on that woman. Not good at all.

What did you mean about re-signed to be traded? Was that a prearranged agreement, or is that just what ended up happening?


Pop was afraid that Bryn was about to get a giant contract the Spurs wouldn't be able to match. I think he even sat out the bubble to protect his value, either by him and/or his agent or Pop thinking he was doing him a favor.

What happened was nobody cared and he signed for less money than his previous in SA on a mini-mle 1 year deal with Milwaukee. Where he was up and down but won a ring and interestingly, had a very good scoring first round scoring against Miami with 15 points a game, but averaged 18+ over games 2-4 in the sweep and had more total points than Jimmy Butler.

But then the 2nd round started and he had a minutes collapse for the rest of the playoffs, only getting 5 minutes in the closeout of the second round, that had him finishing with 3 DNP-CDs in the last 3 games of the finals and under 10mpg in rounds 3 & 4.

Basically what became obvious after the first round sweep of a broken Miami team was this: Forbes was SO awful on defense, that even surrounding him with prime dpoy and all-defense players like Giannis, Brook Lopez, Jrue and a sound defender in Middleton wasn't enough to cover for his apocalyptic negative impact. Even if was making shots, his defensive anti-gravity was shredding the defense of Giannis, Lopez, and Jrue, finest defenders of their generation, at the sub-atomic level.

Bryn was the Elephant's Foot with a DeBarge mustache and constant shoe-wipes. 90 seconds of exposure with Bryn defending in the half court was certain death.

He never took a single charge in his whole career. Always last in deflections. Ran away from players defending in transition. This was the guy Pop was crying over.

So he gets his ring, can point to the first round against Miami ... Time to get paid! Except ... Everyone saw how terrible he was. Nobody wanted him. Pop gave him a charity raise in his 1 year deal and they were able to trade him out, probably for some second rounder that if ever conveyed high enough was probably sold for cash anyway.

And he was done. He later would be accused of doing things off the court that were most unpleasant. Pop really had a way of bonding with good character guys like Bryn and Josh.

NBA had moved on from paying anything big to no defense shooters, and Bryn wasn't good enough to even be of the Malik Beasley variety, another guy who had to take a minimum before getting an under-mle deal.

But Bryn's radioactive spirit lives on in San Antonio where Malaki Branham had his 4th year option picked up for nebulous reasons. He'll make more than Bryn ever did in a single year without ever even doing the occasional shot making part.

Wow. Crazy how his career went and where he's at now. I wonder what he's doing now.

I looked up the incident with the girl that exstatic mentioned and it seems like he's done it more than once now. He's beat up on two separate women. Says he tried choking one of them out. That is shocking/crazy. I never would have thought Bryn would do something like that. What a piece of shit. And what is it with these bullshit players the Spurs supposedly signed due to their high character. Yet another one that turned out to not be a good guy. Stephen Jackson was no choir boy, but I don't think he's ever done something like what Bryn or to a lesser extent Josh Primo has done. Their evaluation of some of these guys is way, way off. Having said that, people can change and do stuff later to ruin their good guy reputation/s, so I guess you can't fault them in some of these cases.

I should also say, Mitch gets an "F" for this game. Absolutely terrible game management and coaching. Fucking terrible.

[CorrectCrusader]

This guy is fucking rancid lmao. That third quarter against the pacers was a disasterclass in coaching

[Tyronn Lue]

For the first time in forever, the Spurs have themselves a real coach. :toast
This hasn't aged well :lol

[Raven]

legitimately world worst coaching from mitch, he's single handedly keeping the spurs tanking... who the fuck thinks castle should be shooting 20 a game and vassell 8.. not to mention the genius ingenuity of sochan as a center and the jones paul combo... so much badness one can't even keep track of all the nonsense

[AusSpur]

Looked lost when Miami brought out the zone and looked lost when Pacers played full-court D.

I have yet to see any form of counter-move coaching from Mitch.

[Raven]

Looked lost when Miami brought out the zone and looked lost when Pacers played full-court D.

I have yet to see any form of counter-move coaching from Mitch.

i also believe he is yet to call a play ... like at all

[Spurs Brazil]

Playing Sochan at center is so stupid. Best thing Sochan does is playing great D on the perimeter. As a center he's smaller and weaker that the majority of the centers and lost all his value.

Today he should be on Haliburton, instead he was getting killed inside by Bryant and Haliburton was killing the terrible Jones/Johnson combo.

[z0sa]

Mitch Johnson is a fucking idiot. Pop needs to officially retire, and Mitch should NEVER see the HC position again in his career.

[GAustex]

It’s like the brain trust is in ashes

[Mugen]

This hasn't aged well :lol

As horrible has Mitch has been this month, it's nowhere near as bad as it would be if the old man was still coaching tbh :lol

[timtonymanu]

As horrible has Mitch has been this month, it's nowhere near as bad as it would be if the old man was still coaching tbh :lol

People on Reddit are actually thinking pop would do better with this team when he comes back. :lol the same old man that got this team 44 wins in two seasons.

[Pauleta14]

If you need a laugh (or to humble yourselves for some) go back take a reading of the first pages of this thread... :lmao

[Pauleta14]

https://youtu.be/PWeNYDgAIoo?si=eOtNaHdRgPegKUlf

[Tyronn Lue]

As horrible has Mitch has been this month, it's nowhere near as bad as it would be if the old man was still coaching tbh :lol
Come on man, Mitch is only currently right for most of this team because, like him, they are G league. I wouldn't say this team has overachieved, but they are about as expected. It's odd how average most of the West is this season.

[Mugen]

Come on man, Mitch is only currently right for most of this team because, like him, they are G league. I wouldn't say this team has overachieved, but they are about as expected. It's odd how average most of the West is this season.

If the old man were still coaching, their record would be significantly worse and Castle would be absolutely neutered.

If you're in the tank forever crew, that might be a positive. But if you're talking strictly coaching ability then even shit ass Mitch clears the old man.

Pop has been a bottom 3 coach in the league for several years now. Sniffers thinking a post-stroke Pop (who probably isn't much worse than pre-stroke Pop) is somehow going to right the ship are dumb AF tbh :lol

[LeBowen]

Pop has been a bottom 3 coach in the league for several years now. Sniffers thinking a post-stroke Pop (who probably isn't much worse than pre-stroke Pop) is somehow going to right the ship are dumb AF tbh :lol

Maybe he's got amnesia after the stroke and he forgot all about the past decade?
Our scrubs aren't ready for 2014 Pop to walk through that door.:lol

[ambchang]

Lost quite a bit of faith to the coaching staff this year. I admit I thought they were playing some 4D chess but this year really showed the absolute lack of development and game plans. This team would be a 6th to 8th seed in the west with a strong coaching staff and proper development. I don’t buy the players being a bunch of g leaguers (yet), as there were flashes of strong potential and skills, just that all of them just somehow got worse the last few years.

[RC_Drunkford]

If the old man were still coaching, their record would be significantly worse and Castle would be absolutely neutered.

If you're in the tank forever crew, that might be a positive. But if you're talking strictly coaching ability then even shit ass Mitch clears the old man.

Pop has been a bottom 3 coach in the league for several years now. Sniffers thinking a post-stroke Pop (who probably isn't much worse than pre-stroke Pop) is somehow going to right the ship are dumb AF tbh :lol

Pop would 100% still play Zach Collins. Mitch is bad, but not as bad as Pop. I‘m wondering if they ever taught our players to box out properly or inbound the ball, which is basic fundamentals.

[Raven]

Pop would 100% still play Zach Collins. Mitch is bad, but not as bad as Pop. I‘m wondering if they ever taught our players to box out properly or inbound the ball, which is basic fundamentals.

yeah, so glad we can watch sochan and bassey playing center instead..

[Tyronn Lue]

If the old man were still coaching, their record would be significantly worse and Castle would be absolutely neutered.

If you're in the tank forever crew, that might be a positive. But if you're talking strictly coaching ability then even shit ass Mitch clears the old man.

Pop has been a bottom 3 coach in the league for several years now. Sniffers thinking a post-stroke Pop (who probably isn't much worse than pre-stroke Pop) is somehow going to right the ship are dumb AF tbh :lol
I agree Pop has been on fumes since the 5th ring, but that doesn't make Mitch a real coach. He reminds me of a young me.

[Russ]

People on Reddit are actually thinking pop would do better with this team when he comes back. :lol the same old man that got this team 44 wins in two seasons.

It will be Steve Kerr. :toast

[The Truth #6]

With Fox on the team, I'd say the chances of Pop returning to the sideline have increased significantly.

[spursistan]

Mitch is on the spot. If Chauncey Billups can win 5 straight games with that mediocre roster to get to 22 wins béfore we do and he can't do shit with Wemby-Fox combo, then might as well bring the corpse of Pop back after the all-star break.

[RC_Drunkford]

Mitch is on the spot. If Chauncey Billups can win 5 straight games with that mediocre roster to get to 22 wins béfore we do and he can't do shit with Wemby-Fox combo, then might as well bring the corpse of Pop back after the all-star break.

the corpse of Pop is the one who wasn't able to do it for 5 years straight. We need somebody else.

[spursistan]

the corpse of Pop is the one who wasn't able to do it for 5 years straight. We need somebody else.
Obviously not saying, post-stroke Pop is the solution, but i think this team is too talented now to go 2-8 on the month majority of it were gutless blowouts. Need to put together few mini 4-5 games winning streak even if they miss the play-in.

[RC_Drunkford]

with Fox we should break that streak soon. But it's quite impressive that a coach can't win 5 games in a row in 5 years.

[The Truth #6]

With Fox on the team, I'd say the chances of Pop returning to the sideline have increased significantly.

Otoh, all of Silky's wins go to Pop so he might like this Svengali dynamic.

[cutewizard]

Lucky Coach


https://youtu.be/wU5pHsZ9-94?si=80C_6Apb_I4hO_dZ

[John B]

the corpse of Pop is the one who wasn't able to do it for 5 years straight. We need somebody else.

If anything, Pop would have the balls to sit CP3 and Vassell for Castle and Champ.

Pop remains as one of the best X and O coach imo. The problem with the current team is, it’s not seasoned enough to handle the intricate details of Pop’s offense. The Beautiful Game was not an overnight product, but it took years of stock knowledge, practices and repetitions. Timmy, Manu, TP, Diaw, Tiago, Mills, Belli.. all seasoned, high bball IQ. It took experience to develop patience, to trust that the system would eventually win games if they just stick to it. This current team easily gets rattled because of inexperience, and not surprisingly, would easily abandon the system, and play hero-ball instead. It takes high bball IQ to run Pop’s offense, unfortunately which a lot of our current players don’t have.

[RC_Drunkford]

No he wouldn‘t. Just like he wouldn‘t stagger Duncan/Aldridge against OKC and played a West/Diaw pairing off the bench

[spursistan]

The worst thing to happen for Mitch was Wemby getting shutdown down for the year. Losses like this one -- to a JV league team-- exposes the total lack of structure and identity of the team.

They would be kidding themselves if they think he can step in Pop's shoes on permanent basis. Nobody has had the golden opportunity to audition for perhaps the most appealing coaching job in a decade, and he blew it..

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Great tank coach

[spursistan]

With the Fox addition, it really boils down to this:


The type of game that shows you again this team is less than the sum of its parts. And that's a coaching issue-- simple as that..


Mitch Johnson should not get a sniff at the job.