Shams: Mitch Johnson Named Spurs New Head Coach

[BatManu20]

Fuck. We're cooked.

1918341007717855562

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I'm fine with Mitch, but the assistants situation has to be revamped.

There's no way they've done this without Wemby's input.

[cutewizard]

What the.........

[RC_Drunkford]

This team won‘t go nowhere

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

So Pop will still be running the team from the old folks home. Great.

What a disaster.

[BatManu20]

Can't believe we're actually hiring this chode with so many better options on the market. We lost so many winnable games this season because this idiot's rotations and lack of situational awareness. Not to mention his refusal to call timeouts or challenge wrong calls. Spurs deserve all the unnecessary losses coming our way if they're dumb enough to do this.

[Mal]

Huge L, but I guess noone else wanted to be driven from back seat

[spurraider21]

fucking hell man

[Floyd Pacquiao]

What a fucking joke. Pop just wanted a puppet whose strings he can pull. He’s literally Jerry jones :lol

[spurraider21]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3rjO9bYzo9AkocFGWYa_qhCtkKujXw ze3iw&s

[leo07251413]

Omg....

[emanueldavidginobili]

Ridiculous Spurs aren’t doing their due diligence and opening up interviews to be the next head coach, especially the HC of Victor fucking Wembanyama.

[spurraider21]

im glad we will remain years behind the curve when it comes to defensive schemes. so thrilled i will get to see an entire lineup of 5 collapse in the paint when one of the greatest shotblockers in league history is already in position to make a play so that we can give up wide open 3's

[Chomag]

Seriously? Well I guess this team isn't serious about being competitive for the next couple of years

[cutewizard]

C'mon Becky or Bud would have been.....

[BatManu20]

Of course this clown is represented by Klutch :lol

1918343712213709239

[NASpurs]

Horrible day.

[Bill_Brasky]

Now comes the part where we rationalize that he will do better if we get rid of KJ/Vassell/Branhan, only for all 3 of those guys come back next year and play major minutes.....

[scott]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Getting ready for 6 more seasons of the lottery because we need to “see what we have” in Mitch

[exstatic]

Of course this clown is represented by Klutch :lol

1918343712213709239

Klutch isn’t the bogeyman everyone thinks. They steered Fox here,instrumental in us getting him for a reasonable price, and dropped Marcus Morris like an ugly girl when he pulled that shit on us.

[slick'81]

I mean ,hopefully wemby signed off

[Chomag]

Spurs FO had a huge pool of talented and tested with experience coaches to chose from and they do this....

Gotta keep a yes man for Pop I guess

[thOOdee]

Spoelstra wasn't much his first year. Here's hoping Mitch can turn things around ala miami.

[Leetonidas]

:lmao fucking sad

[Chomag]

Might as well just roll out the same exact team from last season....

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

not a fan of this first move by the new full-time president of basketball operations

[Death In June]

Not even opening up the position to interview other candidates. Reeks of Pops nepotism.

[Spurs Homer]

A clear sign that pops first decision as president…is coming from a cooked brain…

[spursgu]

I'm not too thrilled either but can we wait to see how the offseason plays out before doing our usual pansy ass complaining? Coaching is irrelevant most of the time as long as you have good players to build around.
The Spurs have something special with Castle and got Fox for free. I doubt their approach to this whole process is durr let's see what happens durr. No! They will be making other moves soon starting with the draft.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'm not too thrilled either but can we wait to see how the offseason plays out before doing our usual pansy ass complaining? Coaching is irrelevant most of the time as long as you have good players to build around.
The Spurs have something special with Castle and got Fox for free. I doubt their approach to this whole process is durr let's see what happens durr. No! They will be making other moves soon starting with the draft.


Gosh some of you don't get it. The only reason it's Mitch is because Pop still wants to control from his rocker or wherever the hell he'll be on his IV drip during games. Mitch is the sycophantic hire who will do whatever old man four down wants.

You're gonna have the same batch of shitty assistants as they had this year, the same shitty stupid system, and an emo head coach who couldn't manage rotations this year without stroke patient's approval.

You have one of the most exciting young cores in the NBA and you go Pop nepotism hire. Disgusting.

[scottspurs]

I like the hire! The analytics show he modernized the Spurs offense after Pop went out. He has already built relationships with the current players in the organization. Will have a full offseason now to implement his coaching style onto the team. 38 years old so will only get better. Will be able to grow as the team grows.

To me this signals the Spurs won’t be making any big trades this offseason. They will draft and develop. I don’t think it would be wise to bring in another superstar type player that will have their own agenda. A Kevin Durant could be toxic for a young coach like Mitch. A Giannis type trade would only come with massive roster turnover that would require a complete reset in basketball philosophy. I don’t think the Spurs would want to throw Mitch into that type of situation in year 1 as a Head Coach. They could make other moves or trades to improve the team I just don’t see them doing an overhaul of roster changes. Mitch knows this team and hopefully understands what they need to do moving forward to improve.

Worse case you can fire him in 2 years after Wemby signs his rookie extension. The Spurs would have to absolutely nail that hire or risk losing Wemby. Best case he grows as a coach as the team grows and gets better. He could build lasting relationships with the young players on the Spurs. They could build the next Spurs Dynasty!

[Chinook]

Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.

[rjv]

i figured the melt down would be enough to almost crash the server. nothing to be said, really. it's done. just have to hope he proves us wrong.

[benefactor]

Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.
The problem is there are good coaches now that are available. There's no reason to watch and wait when there are people there that can help immediately. But Pop it's not going to give up control to someone else. He is going to Jerry Jones this organization and it will finally get rebuilt when he is gone altogether.

[scott]

Maybe Mitch and Wright will do an end of season press conference now.

Would be interested in hearing them talk about philosophy and team identity going forward.

Love the “we weren’t winning next year anyway” approach. You can’t fail to meet expectations if you don’t have any :lol

[Death In June]

Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.this organization kept Pop for 29 years. We’re stuck with guy for at least Vic’s rookie contract if not beyond, with or without positive results.

[SpursGenius]

So Pop will still be running the team from the old folks home. Great.

What a disaster.
The holt children are dumb as rocks

[BatManu20]

What a fucking joke. Pop just wanted a puppet whose strings he can pull. He’s literally Jerry jones :lol

That's exactly what this feels like. He's Pop's lapdog who he can control. The ultimate "Yes-man." Basically an extension of himself. It appears the old man's senility will continue to haunt us from the Front Office.

[bigfan]

He earned the shot and better than some retread trying to relive their glory days. He seems sharp, has the respect of the team and also seems a very good guy. Congrats Coach Mitch!

[SpursGenius]

Not even opening up the position to interview other candidates. Reeks of Pops nepotism.
So he can control the team

[benefactor]

So much coping in here. The sniffer crew is out in full force.

[scott]

“We aren’t winning next year anyway… we’ve got to recover from trading Kawhi”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… we’ve got to have time to move on from DDR and LMA”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… we’ve got to tear it down and transition from DJM”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… we’re tanking for Wemby”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… Wemby is just a rookie”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… Wemby is only in his second year, he isn’t ready to win”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… We need to give Mitch time…”

Future ST.com comments?

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… We need to transition from Mitch…”

”We aren’t winning next year anyway… We just lost Wemby…”

[DPG21920]

Im good with it. I wanted someone young and that didnt have all the baggage of being a re-tread coach and he fits that. Let’s see what he can do. He did well enough overall and spurs competed in most games despite big talent gaps.

He wont have leash Pop had obviously but there is a nice benefit of this being done so full focus can be on team building now.

[Twisted_Dawg]

So Pop will still be running the team from the old folks home. Great.

What a disaster.

aka Shadow Government

[vy65]

Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.

This is such a bad philosophy. Just because they aren't title favorites doesn't mean you make bad personnel decisions. Progress takes multiple steps over the course of multiple seasons where the team won't be winning/winning it all.

[djohn2oo8]

There was zero reason to rush this. He could have interviewed other guys and come to the same decision. But he isn’t giving up control.

[Dverde]

Glitch Johnson can be the transitional coach before we get the championship level coach to replace him. I hope he gets a fair chance to run the team how he wants and replaces most of the assistants.

[timtonymanu]

Maybe Mitch and Wright will do an end of season press conference now.

Would be interested in hearing them talk about philosophy and team identity going forward.

Love the “we weren’t winning next year anyway” approach. You can’t fail to meet expectations if you don’t have any :lol

Sounds like copium if we fall short of making the playoffs again. If the spurs are just gonna play like they did last year where they were barely playing .500 ball, fire him. You know it’s just gonna be a wasted season at that rate. But I also think they don’t do this move without Wemby’s input and it appears he supports it.

[scott]

This is such a bad philosophy. Just because they aren't title favorites doesn't mean you make bad personnel decisions. Progress takes multiple steps over the course of multiple seasons where the team won't be winning/winning it all.

“We aren’t ready to improve” might be one of my favorite ST.com mindset tropes

Fails to reconcile nicely with the annual “this might be our last high pick in a while” and “our Young Core is stacked” wishcasting

[Chinook]

The problem is there are good coaches now that are available. There's no reason to watch and wait when there are people there that can help immediately. But Pop it's not going to give up control to someone else. He is going to Jerry Jones this organization and it will finally get rebuilt when he is gone altogether.

I'm not as confident in the current coaching crop, honestly. The Spurs gave up decent coaching talent over the years, so to some extent Pop knows how to identify or train coaches more than he's been able to do for players. I think Johnson may be one of those guys, and it's worth it to find out.

Pat Riley has continued to be the face of the Heat, but Spo has been able to develop into a good coach. I'm hoping for that here, but I'd want a much better vet assistant than Brown.

[exstatic]

I'm not too thrilled either but can we wait to see how the offseason plays out before doing our usual pansy ass complaining? Coaching is irrelevant most of the time as long as you have good players to build around.
The Spurs have something special with Castle and got Fox for free. I doubt their approach to this whole process is durr let's see what happens durr. No! They will be making other moves soon starting with the draft.

Wouldn’t be ST without it. :rollin

[Blizzardwizard]

I thought The Family would at least conduct some kind of sham interview process to make their puppet-installation look a little less obvious.


Impressively shameless tbh.


Remember folks. Winning doesn't matter. Friendship matters. Family matters.


"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? WE'RE A FAMILY!"



- Walter White in Ozymandias/PATFO when Wemby tries to escape The Family compound in the 2028 offseason.

[BatManu20]

There was zero reason to rush this. He could have interviewed other guys and come to the same decision. But he isn’t giving up control.

Nico Harrison would be proud.

[Chomag]

Another year of "let's see what we have"

[Chomag]

Sniffers already in full damage control with " There were no other good coaches available "

[TekXX]

All y'all talking about giving him a year or two? You know damn well he's going to be here a while regardless of how many games he wins because Pop and drunkford don't admit to mistakes

[scottspurs]

There is a reason Bud, Jenkins, Malone and others are available! They didn’t have the respect of their team. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens in basketball and regardless of the X’s and O’s they failed in the leadership department. Mitch Johnson knows this team. Has built the relationships. Let him gain the teams trust and see if he can lead. Let’s see how it plays out. A lot of you are rushing to the judgement department for a season that was full of turmoil. The Spurs went through a lot this past season and they made it through it all under Mitch Johnson. Moving on from him could have caused a rift between Front Office, coaching staff and players. Give the guy a chance. It was fhe best option under the circumstances.

[Mugen]

This organization has been bottom in the league for half a decade now, yet they just can't bring themself to bring fresh blood in. A ton of great coaches available and they bring back f'n Mitch. Jesus christ :lol

[Raven]

No no no no no no no no nooooo... good god, what a horrible decision

[rjv]

I'm not as confident in the current coaching crop, honestly. The Spurs gave up decent coaching talent over the years, so to some extent Pop knows how to identify or train coaches more than he's been able to do for players. I think Johnson may be one of those guys, and it's worth it to find out.

Pat Riley has continued to be the face of the Heat, but Spo has been able to develop into a good coach. I'm hoping for that here, but I'd want a much better vet assistant than Brown.

interesting point. everyone is so focused on mitch at this time no one has considered the rest of the staff. it would be nice to see him surrounded by some better assistants.

[SpursGenius]

That's exactly what this feels like. He's Pop's lapdog who he can control. The ultimate "Yes-man." Basically an extension of himself. It appears the old man's senility will continue to haunt us from the Front Office.
Wish the Team had owners with a brain instead of nepo kids taking over.

[Chomag]

interesting point. everyone is so focused on mitch at this time no one has considered the rest of the staff. it would be nice to see him surrounded by some better assistants.
Ya because I can see a ton of top level coaches climbing all over each other to be an assistant under Mitch...

[Chinook]

This is such a bad philosophy. Just because they aren't title favorites doesn't mean you make bad personnel decisions. Progress takes multiple steps over the course of multiple seasons where the team won't be winning/winning it all.

They aren't even a playoff team. Let's be clear, their talent is years away from even being a dark horse. Yes, sorry, they have time to see if this assistant they believe in is a good coach just like they have time to draft and develop guys still. Every good coach starts off as an unproven coach, and they all need to be given a chance.

I'm saying that now that Johnson is the HC, Pop and the others need to let him coach however he sees fit so they can really evaluate him and not just his attempt to hold Pop's team together. Give him a chance and be ready to make a real move for a coach if it doesn't work out.
.
I would have preferred them actually interview folks and deliberate on their next coach. But I'm not sad they didn't pick up a vet retread under the misguided assumption that they have a window to win yet.

[paperboy77]

If our roster is as good as many believe it is then it should carry any coach to the promise land. Timmy, Tony and Manu did that for Pop. MJ and Kobe for Phil.

I agree with comment #47 that Glitchy might just be transitional piece for a better coach later when to team is ready for the next step.

[objective]

This is a disgrace. Not even token interviews?

This is really about one thing:

$$$

It's a broke ass team that isn't saving any money on losing Pop because he's still going to be President

This was about getting the cheapest yes man they could.

Running things like the Sacramento Kings will get you Kings like results.

[Raven]

There is a reason Bud, Jenkins, Malone and others are available! They didn’t have the respect of their team. There is a lot of behind the scenes stuff that happens in basketball and regardless of the X’s and O’s they failed in the leadership department. Mitch Johnson knows this team. Has built the relationships. Let him gain the teams trust and see if he can lead. Let’s see how it plays out. A lot of you are rushing to the judgement department for a season that was full of turmoil. The Spurs went through a lot this past season and they made it through it all under Mitch Johnson. Moving on from him could have caused a rift between Front Office, coaching staff and players. Give the guy a chance. It was fhe best option under the circumstances.

i'm sure he's well liked by players, after he halved the rotation for no reason the moment he showed up, and took months to understand he was making a dumb move.

[SpursGenius]

this organization kept Pop for 29 years. We’re stuck with guy for at least Vic’s rookie contract if not beyond, with or without positive results.
The coattail artist would have fully retired if we hadn’t somehow got Wemby. The old hag needs to just be admitted to an assisted living facility.

[Chomag]

If Mitch doesn't pan out Wemby might be gone before we even get to see who could be our next coach.

[ginobilized]

I'm ok with Mitch. He grew up in the Association, 10yrs with the Spurs.
The Riley/Spo correlation is our best case scenario. My hope, perhaps irrational, is that Mitch can assume ownership of his role now that Pop is out. Also notable is that all the losses this season go on Pop's record. Mitch will be 0-0 going into game 1. He can build his own legacy.

The OG NBA coaches are starting to disappear. Bud and Malone might get another shot, but, might not. Taylor Jenkins was a former Spur staffer, so the FO knows exactly who he is and chose Mitch.

I'm just thrilled that we have clarity on this moving forward. I believe it's workable. GSG!

[poopbox]

This can't be real. :lol

SOMEBODY TELL ME SHAMS WAS HACKED :lol

[baseline bum]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. Keeping this scrub when there are high end candidates like Jenkins, Vogel, Malone, etc right there for the taking. Only thing worse is going to be when they fire Mitch midseason when they're still a lottery team and then hire Coc.

[benefactor]

They aren't even a playoff team. Let's be clear, their talent is years away from even being a dark horse. Yes, sorry, they have time to see if this assistant they believe in is a good coach just like they have time to draft and develop guys still. Every good coach starts off as an unproven coach, and they all need to be given a chance.

I'm saying that now that Johnson is the HC, Pop and the others need to let him coach however he sees fit so they can really evaluate him and not just his attempt to hold Pop's team together. Give him a chance and be ready to make a real move for a coach if it doesn't work out.
.
I would have preferred them actually interview folks and deliberate on their next coach. But I'm not sad they didn't pick up a vet retread under the misguided assumption that they have a window to win yet.
Literally the only reason they are keeping him is because they don't have to let him coach. This is just pie in the sky nonsense. They aren't even thinking about interviewing anyone when there's a bunch of coaches available. Are you telling me you can see the future and that there are going to be coaches available when mitch ultimately fails? There are a ton of really good coaches with NO FUCKING JOB RIGHT NOW. But fuck those guys. They are all just useless retreads.

Taking a chance on a veteran coach is a much better option then letting Pop pull the strings from his easy chair. And if you don't think that is exactly what is going to happen then you are just a blind sniffer.

[spurraider21]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. Keeping this scrub when there are high end candidates like Jenkins, Vogel, Malone, etc right there for the taking. Only thing worse is going to be when they fire Mitch midseason when they're still a lottery team and then hire Coc.
more likely Mike Brown imo

[MannyIsGod]

Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.

Why should he get a chance? They should have gone out and gotten the best candidate and I'd that's Mitch then ok (I'm extremely doubtful this is the case) but the idea they owe him a year is wild.


Maybe Mitch is a good coach and maybe he's got freedom to work free of Pop. I am extremely skeptical and there are damn good candidates out there right now. I don't think this move is 100 percent a disaster but I would eager it's more likely a disaster than a success.

[poopbox]

They aren't even a playoff team. Let's be clear, their talent is years away from even being a dark horse. Yes, sorry, they have time to see if this assistant they believe in is a good coach just like they have time to draft and develop guys still. Every good coach starts off as an unproven coach, and they all need to be given a chance.

I'm saying that now that Johnson is the HC, Pop and the others need to let him coach however he sees fit so they can really evaluate him and not just his attempt to hold Pop's team together. Give him a chance and be ready to make a real move for a coach if it doesn't work out.
.
I would have preferred them actually interview folks and deliberate on their next coach. But I'm not sad they didn't pick up a vet retread under the misguided assumption that they have a window to win yet.

This team should absolutely no questions asked be a playoff team next year if both Victor and Fox play 68 or more games. Anything else is a colossal failure.

And your "window" starts the very second your franchise player proves he is a franchise player. You start building it right then. All this "let's see what we have" shit is just wasting time. No team wins with the same team they tank with.

[Raven]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. Keeping this scrub when there are high end candidates like Jenkins, Vogel, Malone, etc right there for the taking. Only thing worse is going to be when they fire Mitch midseason when they're still a lottery team and then hire Coc.

yeah pop ain't doing that.. or anything else for that matter. we are officially done.

[rjv]

i will add that i had no interest in vogel at all. and malone has some thorns. jenkins might have been the only one i might have warmed up to. so many ST fans here want to will the spurs into being the organization that they used to be under red mccombs. that franchise was the one that really sucked. mccombs would have hired the biggest name out there thinking that's the only solution. and please don't infer from this that I am all on board with mitch or every move the spurs have made.

[Bill_Brasky]

Wish the Team had owners with a brain instead of nepo kids taking over.

That's kind of how how ownership of sports franchises works though. It's all passed down through the generations, for the most part.

[Seventyniner]

I don't like it, but I'm not gonna jump off a cliff.

[Gandalf]

Texas A&M baseball was great last year, one win away from winning the national championship. They hired the assistant from that team (whom the players wanted) and were ranked #1 to start the season—before plummeting.

The Spurs are hiring an assistant (whom the players like) from a team that has sucked for 5-6 years. A team that doesn’t know basic stuff like boxing out or how to develop players. With several great coaches like Jenkins available. Because ‘Spurs (Sucky) Culture.’ This is a Dallas-level joke, and we may ultimately lose Wemby and the franchise because of it.

[spurraider21]

I don't like it, but I'm not gonna jump off a cliff.
sorry i cant hear you from all the way down here

[rjv]

Texas A&M baseball was great last year, one win away from winning the national championship. They hired the assistant from that team (whom the players wanted) and were ranked #1 to start the season—before plummeting.

The Spurs are hiring an assistant (whom the players like) from a team that has sucked for 5-6 years. A team that doesn’t know basic stuff like boxing out or how to develop players. With several great coaches like Jenkins available. Because ‘Spurs (Sucky) Culture.’ This is a Dallas-level joke, and we may ultimately lose Wemby and the franchise because of it.

anecdotal evidence is a slippery slope.

[benefactor]

Why should he get a chance? They should have gone out and gotten the best candidate and I'd that's Mitch then ok (I'm extremely doubtful this is the case) but the idea they owe him a year is wild.


Maybe Mitch is a good coach and maybe he's got freedom to work free of Pop. I am extremely skeptical and there are damn good candidates out there right now. I don't think this move is 100 percent a disaster but I would eager it's more likely a disaster than a success.
Exactly. They don't owe him shit. They are a young team that needs an experienced leader. But hey...wait...they are getting an experience leader. Gregory Popovich.

[Trill Clinton]

ST hates the decision, which means coach Mitch is going to have a successful tenure as HC.

[Mugen]

Another season of we like what we have and zero pressure for the players :lol

[benefactor]

I'm starting to wonder if they called coach bud and he declined because he knew that he would have to deal with Pop's meddling.

[Bill_Brasky]

I'm starting to wonder if they called coach bud and he declined because he knew that he would have to deal with Pop's meddling.

Bud's got it made, tbh. He's getting paid 4 seasons worth of money for one season of work(or whatever his contract was). If I were him I'd take a reset year.

[Mugen]

Need to bring in some really good assistants now, and I don't mean keeping fn Brett around.

[spurraider21]

Need to bring in some really good assistants now, and I don't mean keeping fn Brett around.
just going to promote the video coordinator guy who coached the summer league team tbh :lol

[Bill_Brasky]

Brett Brown looks like a Great Value Steve Kerr.

[scott]

You gotta be fucking kidding me. Keeping this scrub when there are high end candidates like Jenkins, Vogel, Malone, etc right there for the taking. Only thing worse is going to be when they fire Mitch midseason when they're still a lottery team and then hire Coc.

One day we’ll be ready to be ready. Until then we should all just be patient.

[thOOdee]

Lol man the hate is deap. Team is sitting with 2 rookie of the years, including once in a generational talent, a steal in fox, and losing just enough games to make this draft worth it, all while taking the next step in more wins compared to last year.

Guarantee you much of the coaching decisions this year were designed not to win the most games as possible, but to put the spurs in the best position for the draft and for the team for the following years. Next year its playoffs or bust and dont think anybody has a valid right to complain until there’s no more progress.

[scott]

Stupid DET should have taken the Spurs advice and not hired the fired JB Bickerstaff (because all fired coaches are trash, apparently), because they weren’t ready to improve (they weren’t winning a title this year anyway, what were they thinking?). LOL Pistons

[CGD]

Bud's got it made, tbh. He's getting paid 4 seasons worth of money for one season of work(or whatever his contract was). If I were him I'd take a reset year.

All he’s missing is the girl like Belichick

[Maddog]

I'm kind of meh.

The only current coach of interest to me is Jenkins. That said- he's not like a slam dunk.
I think it's not completley unreasonable to give Mitch a whole year.

[thOOdee]

Also, thought there might be a strong possibility of hiring bud. But with this decision happening so quickly, Im willing to bet cards weren’t on the table since spurs will end up with durant, now that giannis is likely to be a rocket.

[spurraider21]

Lol man the hate is deap. Team is sitting with 2 rookie of the years, including once in a generational talent, a steal in fox, and losing just enough games to make this draft worth it, all while taking the next step in more wins compared to last year.

Guarantee you much of the coaching decisions this year were designed not to win the most games as possible, but to put the spurs in the best position for the draft and for the team for the following years. Next year its playoffs or bust and dont think anybody has a valid right to complain until there’s no more progress.
do you think anybody in this thread is expressing frustration with Castle, Wembanyama, or Fox?

[Chinook]

Why should he get a chance? They should have gone out and gotten the best candidate and I'd that's Mitch then ok (I'm extremely doubtful this is the case) but the idea they owe him a year is wild.


Maybe Mitch is a good coach and maybe he's got freedom to work free of Pop. I am extremely skeptical and there are damn good candidates out there right now. I don't think this move is 100 percent a disaster but I would eager it's more likely a disaster than a success.

He should get a chance because they already made a decision. You guys are reacting based on what you wanted to happen by wishing for a different coach. I'm reacting to him already being given the job and saying what they should do next.

[ace3g]

https://x.com/DejounteMurray/status/1918359314189959184

[spursistan]

On the one hand, I'm happy we avoided the grim finality of it all-- that something truly awful happens to Pop in front of the world. On the other; not a big fan of Mitch's getting the nod for the job but I understand it.

Spurs' offense improved slightly under Mitch, but the team's defensive schemes and overall execution of fundamentals (rebounding, rotations, charge-drawing etc.) have been abysmal. No way we should be this bad on that end having one of the greatest defensive anchors of all-time and the real DPOY on our roster. I'm totally on board with hiring elite defensive assistants on his staff (Mike Brown, JVG, Vogel..)-- guys who would be ready to take over if he fails at the job.

Another nitpick, he is too nice for my liking. Championships Coaches have a nasty streak and an appropriate, tolerable level of "prick" about them. Really hope it works out for him because the players seem to genuinely love him (see Wemby's comment about him at the end of season presser)

[Kurgan]

Not surprised they went with mouth breather Mitch. Spurs will continue to suck and display poor fundamentals leading to Mitch getting fired at the end of the year only to be replaced by Brown. Rinse and repeat.

[Chinook]

This team should absolutely no questions asked be a playoff team next year if both Victor and Fox play 68 or more games. Anything else is a colossal failure.

And your "window" starts the very second your franchise player proves he is a franchise player. You start building it right then. All this "let's see what we have" shit is just wasting time. No team wins with the same team they tank with.

I don't care about having high standards. The Spurs are not a top-six team without major improvements. The guy folks are inking in as their third star is currently a massive negative by many metrics. Their second best player has barely seen the playoffs despite approaching 30. Their best player is coming off a shortened season and is still learning to play NBA basketball. Whether you think it's a colossal failure or not doesn't change the reality that the Spurs are far from the established teams in the West. They should make the play-in, but the playoffs aren't going to be easy.

No, a window starts when you have players who can win a title. Victor has that potential but not that reality yet. I don't believe in assuming the future will happen either, but they aren't there and can't be willed to be there by impatient fans. There's a massive difference between waiting while doing nothing and making moves to clear out guys who you know aren't the answer like Vasselldon and Sochan to bring in new blood while accepting the reality of the team not being ready.

[SayNoToDrugsTBH]

we're soooo fucked.

[rankingtear]

A big part of it is there would be significantly less friction between coaching staff and FO if you are hiring from within. OKC BOS are two projected finalist with young coaches.

[scott]

Anyway… this may end up fine for even great… but I echo other opinions that we need to bolster the assistant ranks. Need some more experienced assistants. A former player on the bench might be good as well. Curious to see what we do on that front

[CorrectCrusader]

Can't be worse than geriatric pop

[scott]

I don't care about having high standards.

message received

[Robz4000]

Unserious franchise doing unserious things tbh.

[RC_Drunkford]

I like the hire! The analytics show he modernized the Spurs offense after Pop went out. He has already built relationships with the current players in the organization. Will have a full offseason now to implement his coaching style onto the team. 38 years old so will only get better. Will be able to grow as the team grows.

To me this signals the Spurs won’t be making any big trades this offseason. They will draft and develop. I don’t think it would be wise to bring in another superstar type player that will have their own agenda. A Kevin Durant could be toxic for a young coach like Mitch. A Giannis type trade would only come with massive roster turnover that would require a complete reset in basketball philosophy. I don’t think the Spurs would want to throw Mitch into that type of situation in year 1 as a Head Coach. They could make other moves or trades to improve the team I just don’t see them doing an overhaul of roster changes. Mitch knows this team and hopefully understands what they need to do moving forward to improve.

Worse case you can fire him in 2 years after Wemby signs his rookie extension. The Spurs would have to absolutely nail that hire or risk losing Wemby. Best case he grows as a coach as the team grows and gets better. He could build lasting relationships with the young players on the Spurs. They could build the next Spurs Dynasty!

https://media1.tenor.com/m/4mPiQEIiiGwAAAAd/chair-sniffing.gif

[spursistan]

On the one hand, I'm happy we avoided the grim finality of it all-- that something truly awful happens to Pop in front of the world. On the other; not a big fan of Mitch's getting the nod for the job but I understand it.

Spurs' offense improved slightly under Mitch, but the team's defensive schemes and overall execution of fundamentals (rebounding, rotations, charge-drawing etc.) have been abysmal. No way we should be this bad on that end having one of the greatest defensive anchors of all-time and the real DPOY on our roster. I'm totally on board with hiring elite defensive assistants on his staff (Mike Brown, JVG, Vogel..)-- guys who would be ready to take over if he fails at the job.

Another nitpick, he is too nice for my liking. Championships Coaches have a nasty streak and an appropriate, tolerable level of "prick" about them. Really hope it works out for him because the players seem to genuinely love him (see Wemby's comment about him at the end of season presser)

I thought even without Wemby and Fox, Spurs offense continued to be decent for the last month of the season and against playoffs-caliber opponents.

[RC_Drunkford]

Anyway… this may end up fine for even great… but I echo other opinions that we need to bolster the assistant ranks. Need some more experienced assistants. A former player on the bench might be good as well. Curious to see what we do on that front


https://www.betterteam.com/images/janitor-interview-questions-3210x4815-20201211.jpeg?crop=1:1,smart&width=1200&dpr=2&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=85

:pop: "Look how clean the floor is. I think we should make him an assistant coach."

[Bill_Brasky]

Stupid DET should have taken the Spurs advice and not hired the fired JB Bickerstaff (because all fired coaches are trash, apparently), because they weren’t ready to improve (they weren’t winning a title this year anyway, what were they thinking?). LOL Pistons

JBB made some really headscratching decisions in their series against the Knicks. Up 7 I think with like 3 minutes left, they have all the momentum and Ausar Thompson driving an open lane to the rim and he inexplicably calls a timeout. They turn the ball over coming out of timeout and get outscored something like 11-2 the rest of the way.

[exstatic]

Ya because I can see a ton of top level coaches climbing all over each other to be an assistant, coaching Wemby...

Sometimes, just a slight change of perspective helps…

[RC_Drunkford]

Not surprised they went with mouth breather Mitch. Spurs will continue to suck and display poor fundamentals leading to Mitch getting fired at the end of the year only to be replaced by Brown. Rinse and repeat.

this FO hasn't fired anybody since the late 90s. He could go 0-82 and would get a contract extension.

[exstatic]

JBB made some really headscratching decisions in their series against the Knicks. Up 7 I think with like 3 minutes left, they have all the momentum and Ausar Thompson driving an open lane to the rim and he inexplicably calls a timeout. They turn the ball over coming out of timeout and get outscored something like 11-2 the rest of the way.

They went from the worst record in the league in consecutive seasons to the sixth seed, skipping the play in phase completely. He did a pretty damn good job.

[Bill_Brasky]

They went from the worst record in the league in consecutive seasons to the sixth seed, skipping the play in phase completely. He did a pretty damn good job.

Let me be clear I don't think he is some terrible coach. But he might be a guy who improves the team to a certain point but not a good playoff coach. The guy before the guy, if you will.

[Robz4000]

Only two positive things I can say:

1. At least theoretically Mitch is still young and might show more with a full off-season and training camp to prepare.

2. At least it wasn't Doc Rivers

[VBM]

If our roster is as good as many believe it is then it should carry any coach to the promise land. Timmy, Tony and Manu did that for Pop. MJ and Kobe for Phil.

I agree with comment #47 that Glitchy might just be transitional piece for a better coach later when to team is ready for the next step.

Kobe shit the bed without Phil.

[Chinook]

message received

I have been open about that. Folks thinking that "expecting more" means they can sub in what they want to be true for what actually is. Expecting the Spurs to be a competitive team doesn't mean they will. Whether you consider it a colossal failure or to be expected based on the roster doesn't change the reality.

[exstatic]

Let me be clear I don't think he is some terrible coach. But he might be a guy who improves the team to a certain point but not a good playoff coach. The guy before the guy, if you will.

Could be. I’m not going to hold it against for him calling a TO to set up a play for a young, inexperienced playoff team, though.

[Atl Spur]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Getting ready for 6 more seasons of the lottery because we need to “see what we have” in Mitch

I’ll take this bet or are we just entertaining for a message board?

[vy65]

“We aren’t ready to improve” might be one of my favorite ST.com mindset tropes

Fails to reconcile nicely with the annual “this might be our last high pick in a while” and “our Young Core is stacked” wishcasting

Bigotry of low expectations.

And also, it's just fucking wrong. Year 3 Wemby who was a top 5-7 player, prime fox, castle, two lottery picks, and the rest of the gang should win. A lot. The idea that "we aren't ready" at this point is inane. If not now, then when?

[RC_Drunkford]

the only thing missing now is a CP3 extension where they promise him to be the starting SG for the entire season

[objective]

Need to bring in some really good assistants now, and I don't mean keeping fn Brett around.

I wouldn't hold my breath. The brain drain with the assistants worth a damn leaving and then not filling assistant seats for months, the emergency elevation of a g-league guy to the bench because a season was about to start .... This group is a mess and Mitch being the last one standing says a lot about just how bad the bench was

Mitch couldn't carry Becky's five-head

[vy65]

They aren't even a playoff team. Let's be clear, their talent is years away from even being a dark horse. Yes, sorry, they have time to see if this assistant they believe in is a good coach just like they have time to draft and develop guys still. Every good coach starts off as an unproven coach, and they all need to be given a chance.

I'm saying that now that Johnson is the HC, Pop and the others need to let him coach however he sees fit so they can really evaluate him and not just his attempt to hold Pop's team together. Give him a chance and be ready to make a real move for a coach if it doesn't work out.
.
I would have preferred them actually interview folks and deliberate on their next coach. But I'm not sad they didn't pick up a vet retread under the misguided assumption that they have a window to win yet.

This is all a red herring. 29 teams aren't champions. Does that mean that they should just pack it in and say, fuck it, we aren't winning this year? Winning is a process that takes time, yes. But it's a process that takes time, meaning you don't make poor decisions and then justify them by saying "welp, it was OKC's year anyway," That's how you justify losing.

More to the point, what the fuck happened last year? They had 80-85% of the season to "really evaluate" Mitch. Why isn't that enough? Why do they need another season? If you think it's because Pop was controlling him - which I find hard to believe considering the dude was recovering from a stroke - why would Pop be more hands off once he's recovered and is President of basketball operations. If your assumption is that the dude in the ICU isn't letting Mitch coach, then the dude sitting in the President of Basketball Ops office definitiely isn't.

[scott]

I have been open about that. Folks thinking that "expecting more" means they can sub in what they want to be true for what actually is. Expecting the Spurs to be a competitive team doesn't mean they will. Whether you consider it a colossal failure or to be expected based on the roster doesn't change the reality.

my expectations are irrelevant, but ownership and leadership’s are not. This team is never going to return to excellence by happenstance and surprise. It will only come when those are the expectations and moves are made in order to meet those expectations. A phrase I use in my organization: “excellence is when we no longer accept that which we do not expect”

[vy65]

He should get a chance because they already made a decision. You guys are reacting based on what you wanted to happen by wishing for a different coach. I'm reacting to him already being given the job and saying what they should do next.

"It was a good decision because that was the decision they made" is definitionally sniffer. You're better than this.

[vy65]

I don't care about having high standards. The Spurs are not a top-six team without major improvements. The guy folks are inking in as their third star is currently a massive negative by many metrics. Their second best player has barely seen the playoffs despite approaching 30. Their best player is coming off a shortened season and is still learning to play NBA basketball. Whether you think it's a colossal failure or not doesn't change the reality that the Spurs are far from the established teams in the West. They should make the play-in, but the playoffs aren't going to be easy.

No, a window starts when you have players who can win a title. Victor has that potential but not that reality yet. I don't believe in assuming the future will happen either, but they aren't there and can't be willed to be there by impatient fans. There's a massive difference between waiting while doing nothing and making moves to clear out guys who you know aren't the answer like Vasselldon and Sochan to bring in new blood while accepting the reality of the team not being ready.

Stopped reading after this. Well, I didn't, but I should have. Do you think that the team is just gonna wake up one day and be a contender?

[scott]

Stopped reading after this. Well, I didn't, but I should have. Do you think that the team is just gonna wake up one day and be a contender?

maybe that’s what happened in 1997 and the organization is effectively telling on itself

[exstatic]

This is all a red herring. 29 teams aren't champions. Does that mean that they should just pack it in and say, fuck it, we aren't winning this year? Winning is a process that takes time, yes. But it's a process that takes time, meaning you don't make poor decisions and then justify them by saying "welp, it was OKC's year anyway," That's how you justify losing.

More to the point, what the fuck happened last year? They had 80-85% of the season to "really evaluate" Mitch. Why isn't that enough? Why do they need another season? If you think it's because Pop was controlling him - which I find hard to believe considering the dude was recovering from a stroke - why would Pop be more hands off once he's recovered and is President of basketball operations. If your assumption is that the dude in the ICU isn't letting Mitch coach, then the dude sitting in the President of Basketball Ops office definitiely isn't.

That’s an easy one. Wemby and Fox were both on the shelf.

[Bill_Brasky]

I have expectations. They need to make the playoffs and gain experience playing in the playoffs next year. I don't think they should be a contender. I also(probably delusionally) want/expect them to clear some of our roster dead weight and get serious about finding role players.

What is the ST consensus on this? Playoffs or GTFO? I think it's kinda fair, imo.

[vy65]

That’s an easy one. Wemby and Fox were both on the shelf.

No, they weren't. They played. Before Wemby went down, they were consistently losing games when many had expected them to make the play in. And that's to say nothing of the 4 months of HC Mitch they got with Wemby.

[vy65]

So if Wemby or Castle or Fox go down in 25-26 (dear god I hope not), does that mean Mitch gets another year long free pass?

[BackHome]

We Tanking for the 2026 top 3 draft picks.

[vy65]

We've got 20131 penciled in as the year shit finally gets real

[jjspur]

So Pop will still be running the team from the old folks home. Great.

What a disaster.

Pop could be in a wheelchair and be using an oxygen mask and still be running the team - from the old folks home. (takes off his oxygen mask and yells play some defense ..I need some nasty)

[exstatic]

No, they weren't. They played. Before Wemby went down, they were consistently losing games when many had expected them to make the play in. And that's to say nothing of the 4 months of HC Mitch they got with Wemby.

They would have made the play in with just Wemby staying healthy after the Nico shit show and Sacto getting fleeced. Once Wemby went down, they were actively trying to lose games, and they still finished just 5 games behind Dallas.

[exstatic]

We've got 20131 penciled in as the year shit finally gets real

That pick is now gone, and that Meme has run it’s course.

[scott]

I have expectations. They need to make the playoffs and gain experience playing in the playoffs next year. I don't think they should be a contender. I also(probably delusionally) want/expect them to clear some of our roster dead weight and get serious about finding role players.

What is the ST consensus on this? Playoffs or GTFO? I think it's kinda fair, imo.

that’s pretty much where I am. Top 8 in the west at a minimum, but preferably top 6. Not expecting a top 4 team. DET’s leap is a good expectation IMO. Houston’s might be asking too much though it’s not like there was a huge delta between the 2 seed and the 8 seed

[BacktoBasics]

that’s pretty much where I am. Top 8 in the west at a minimum, but preferably top 6. Not expecting a top 4 team. DET’s leap is a good expectation IMO. Houston’s might be asking too much though it’s not like there was a huge delta between the 2 seed and the 8 seed

DET is a good comp for expectation. Some people are just going to throw shade because that's how their personalities are built.

Mitch may not be the answer but he's a choice that brings familiarity and continuity. He seems to be a solid representation of the organization overall.

[Spurs Brazil]

Good luck to Coach Johnson

[exstatic]

that’s pretty much where I am. Top 8 in the west at a minimum, but preferably top 6. Not expecting a top 4 team. DET’s leap is a good expectation IMO. Houston’s might be asking too much though it’s not like there was a huge delta between the 2 seed and the 8 seed

Yeah, this year was kind of OKC, then everyone else.

[superbigtime]

Awful news. Very disappointing.

[Russ]

Well, looks like the theory that the Spurs went interim with Mitch because they wouldn't need to take him long term is incorrect.

[Obstructed_View]

We fucked.

[Ice009]

Man, I had a bunch of posts quoted, but don't even want to reply to them anymore. I was not expecting this hire to be announced so soon after Pop's announcement that he is stepping down.

I will say, though, what about bringing in a defensive minded assistant like Mike Brown (would he be willing to be an assistant again?). Spurs need high level assistants. This is a must IMO. Maybe even a former player that has respect around the league as an assistant coach too. Sort of like with the Warriors having Jerry Stackhouse and Sam Cassell at Boston.

Also, here is another angle - Maybe the Spurs did enquire with other head coaches - What if some of those guys turned the Spurs down? Maybe they did talk to Jenkins or some of those other guys and they didn't want to come because of the pressure of expectations, or maybe they didn't feel they'd have full control to coach their way with Pop as President of Basketball Operations? Maybe the did look into it. Maybe one of two of them were interested, but they didn't offer them enough money?

Budenholzer, I am sure won't take another job if he's getting 10M a year from Phoenix to sit out and not coach. If he takes a job for less money, he loses all the Phoenix money. He'd have to be getting paid close to the 10M and go to a situation he likes, otherwise, I doubt he wants to give up any of that money. If the Spurs actually did want him, it's going to be tough to hire him in the next 4 years if the offer isn't for 10M a season, which I don't see the Spurs ever paying while also paying Pop his HC money still. I knew Bud was a long shot due to the money he's owed as I was talking to Exstatic about this within the past week. Maybe they did offer him 5M and year and he said no as he'd be taking a 50% pay cut losing the money Phoenix still owes him. Someone said Monty Williams is coaching his son's team in SA for free as he'd lose all the money the Pistons owe him if he takes another HC job for less money elsewhere.

Anyway, I did read articles about Mitch towards the end of last season that I were written at the start of last season when he first took over an interim HC. They were saying that anyone that's ever been around him talks about how high level his BBIQ is. Back in college the players (I can't remember who, but a couple of them made the NBA - I just looked it up and Brook & Robin Lopez and Landry Fields were at Stanford at the time Mitch played) used to call him "The Maestro," so maybe they wanted to give him a shot first if Victor has signed off on him and the other current players like him. They possibly view this as a Riley and Spoelstra type move giving the young guy they believe in the chance.

Btw, what year did Mitch join the Spurs? Has he been around at least one or two good Spurs teams that had TD/Kawhi still playing?

[vy65]

They would have made the play in with just Wemby staying healthy after the Nico shit show and Sacto getting fleeced. Once Wemby went down, they were actively trying to lose games, and they still finished just 5 games behind Dallas.

They were 5-8 in the month leading up to Wemby's injury and had a considerably difficult SOS for the last half of the season. But glad to see you acknowledge the reality that Wemby and Fox did, in fact, play.

[vy65]

That pick is now gone, and that Meme has run it’s course.

Oh. Ok!

[KobesAchilles]

We are a joke of an organization who isn’t serious about winning. We passed up actual proven winning candidates and instead of looking outside to winning organizations with different ideas and viewpoints, we hired internally in a team that hasn’t had a winning record in 7 years.

Idgaf what any sniffers say, this is absolute bullshit and a slap in the face to the fans

[vy65]

that’s pretty much where I am. Top 8 in the west at a minimum, but preferably top 6. Not expecting a top 4 team. DET’s leap is a good expectation IMO. Houston’s might be asking too much though it’s not like there was a huge delta between the 2 seed and the 8 seed

T1
OKC
MIN
HOU

T2
GSW
LAC
DEN
LAL

T3
MEM
SAC

I'd say top-6 should be the expectation. If they can't beat out at least LAC/LAL in T2, given their anticipated decline, then we got problems.

[Dex]

Why should he get a chance? They should have gone out and gotten the best candidate and I'd that's Mitch then ok (I'm extremely doubtful this is the case) but the idea they owe him a year is wild.


Maybe Mitch is a good coach and maybe he's got freedom to work free of Pop. I am extremely skeptical and there are damn good candidates out there right now. I don't think this move is 100 percent a disaster but I would eager it's more likely a disaster than a success.

That's where I sit too. Mitch "got a chance" to coach basically 80% of last season and the results were hit and miss (to say the least).

Yes, there were injuries and trades and he didn't really get to integrate his own system or staff or whatever...but I still have my doubts. And to know there are people like Malone and Jenkins and Budenholzer (and maybe Becky) currently available, it feels like the Spurs aren't doing their due diligence unless there is just really something AMAZING about Mitch we are all missing.

Or this succession plan was already in place and now they are just fast-tracking it, who knows. Hopefully we are all wrong and he turns out to be great, but this feels like a lazy hire. At least do some interviews or something and make it seem like you are trying.

[BatManu20]

The entire back-half of this season, the running theme on ST was "We can't wait til this season is over so don't have to watch this idiot Mitch Johnson coach another game and we can get a real coach" and not only did they keep him on staff, they decided to promote him to HC lol. Hilarious.

Just gotta hope he pulls his head out of his ass and figures it out I guess cause something tells me we're stuck with this guy for a long time, for better or worse.

[Obstructed_View]

Boooo.

[Racspur1]

He earned the shot and better than some retread trying to relive their glory days. He seems sharp, has the respect of the team and also seems a very good guy. Congrats Coach Mitch!

My sentiments exactly !!! Only this time with a healthy team !!! Go Mitch Go !

[tim_duncan_fan]

We know the Spurs believe in continuity more than anything else. Not surprised by this.


That said, nobody is 05 Gregg Popovich their first year, and our players (excluding CP3, HB, and Castle) are not always the smartest guys in the arena. Maybe the players will get a little smarter and Mitch will get a little smarter, and things will be ok.


Maybe.

[tim_duncan_fan]

A yo mods, can I get BLACKED?


My user name, I mean.

[spursistan]

that’s pretty much where I am. Top 8 in the west at a minimum, but preferably top 6. Not expecting a top 4 team. DET’s leap is a good expectation IMO. Houston’s might be asking too much though it’s not like there was a huge delta between the 2 seed and the 8 seed

This.

Tiers of the West going into 2025-26 season. IMO.

Top Seed (The juggernaut, Spurs have no chance against):


- OKC


(2-5) seeds (project to be better than the Spurs, but we can compete against):


- Houston (will add KD or Giannis)
- Lakers (will address depth + fitter Luka)
- Nuggets (best player ITW)
- Wolves (too deep with a star player hitting his prime)


6th Seed contenders (Spurs tier):

- Memphis (overrated star players)
- Warriors + Clippers (a year older and one-injury away from lottery)


Play-in Hopefuls (Spurs should ABSOLUTELY be better than those teams):

- Kings (Bulls West)
- Phoenix (dumpster fire and Booker not a number 1 guy)
- Mavs (no Kyrie and 33 year-old AD as your best player? Good luck with that)
- Pelicans (will be better but not good enough)

Lottery Lock:

- Blazers
- Jazz

[Trainwreck2100]

Grand opening grand closing

[Bill_Brasky]

That's where I sit too. Mitch "got a chance" to coach basically 80% of last season and the results were hit and miss (to say the least).

Yes, there were injuries and trades and he didn't really get to integrate his own system or staff or whatever...but I still have my doubts. And to know there are people like Malone and Jenkins and Budenholzer (and maybe Becky) currently available, it feels like the Spurs aren't doing their due diligence unless there is just really something AMAZING about Mitch we are all missing.

Or this succession plan was already in place and now they are just fast-tracking it, who knows. Hopefully we are all wrong and he turns out to be great, but this feels like a lazy hire. At least do some interviews or something and make it seem like you are trying.

Spurs over/under on wins was 35.5 last season and that was before Pop stroked out and Wemby went down.

I know Vegas expectations aren't the end-all be-all, just looking for hope lol. Interested to see where they have us next year.

[The Truth #6]

The FO gets practically autistic with some of their mantras, specifically Continuity. Basically, they just don't like to make change because they are cautious and anxious. There's no point in prioritizing continuity with a bad quality of product. And there's a huge gulf between bringing in a new coach (whom they already worked with!!) and behaving like the Phoenix Suns.

[exstatic]

They were 5-8 in the month leading up to Wemby's injury and had a considerably difficult SOS for the last half of the season. But glad to see you acknowledge the reality that Wemby and Fox did, in fact, play.

You act like his DVT was a singular event. The fact that he went from a top 10 player in December to barely getting up and down the court in January should tell you it wasn’t.

[thOOdee]

do you think anybody in this thread is expressing frustration with Castle, Wembanyama, or Fox?

Nope, just frustrations with certain coaching decisions over the past few years that didn’t focus strictly on winning every single game, which has led to the acquisition of castle, wemby, and fox.

[Silverheart80]

my expectations are irrelevant, but ownership and leadership’s are not. This team is never going to return to excellence by happenstance and surprise. It will only come when those are the expectations and moves are made in order to meet those expectations. A phrase I use in my organization: “excellence is when we no longer accept that which we do not expect”

I think you've been saying that the Spurs are going to make moderate, non-exciting moves this offseason. And not to expect radical change. I think you're gonna end up being correct. And the naming of Mitch speaks volumes about what's ahead. This organization does everything by design, and I think the current design points to a path I hadn't considered before this afternoon.

Every Spurs fan on this board analyzes each new move in the context of winning. Me too. But bottom line, seeing Mitch named as head coach -- we're gonna be a losing franchise for a very, very long time to come. And it's by design across more seasons than any fan will imagine enduring -- which is, stockpile draft pick assets and trade stars for even more draft pick assets, so that eventually we're too young, talented, and good, to lose. In the meantime, draft for volume and cost efficiency. That's the Sam Presti / OKC route, and we're nowhere close to having a winning roster of young, talented and too-good-to-lose players. I think OKC will win championships this way, and I think the Spurs might eventually do it too, but it's gonna take a longer time than Victor and the city will have. I don't think Victor will be a Spur in two years. Spurs will reside in another city within 10.

Is it what I want? No way. As fans, we've already endured a lot of losing, and we think the good days are ahead. But if design is a matrix of decisions, then that's not what the design says, and not the outcome to expect with Mitch as head coach, amidst so many capable veterans. The Spurs are not interested in winning anytime soon. The process is to keep stockpiling. Lottery after lottery after lottery. All part of the design of what's being put in front of us. Adjust watches, as needed.

[$pursDynasty]

I think the best option would be Ime Udoka, yes he has a job but he is the best candidate of the Pop disciples, and he might see the Spurs as a better option than the Rockets.

[vy65]

The FO gets practically autistic with some of their mantras, specifically Continuity. Basically, they just don't like to make change because they are cautious and anxious. There's no point in prioritizing continuity with a bad quality of product. And there's a huge gulf between bringing in a new coach (whom they already worked with!!) and behaving like the Phoenix Suns.

Your original claim was that Mitch didn’t have Wemby or Fox. You’ve now conceded that claim is demonstrably false. The point here is that the organization has had plenty of time to evaluate Mitch, so we need to put the “let’s see what he’s got” canard to rest.

The counter-factual of whether they would have made the play in or not with Wemby and Fox, while fun, is both pointless and irrelevant. Yes Dallas imploded, but they were 5-8 leading up to Wemby’s DVT. In all likelihood, Portland would have made the play in. Who knows, and more importantly, who cares?

[TD 21]

On the one hand, I'm happy we avoided the grim finality of it all-- that something truly awful happens to Pop in front of the world. On the other; not a big fan of Mitch's getting the nod for the job but I understand it.

Spurs' offense improved slightly under Mitch, but the team's defensive schemes and overall execution of fundamentals (rebounding, rotations, charge-drawing etc.) have been abysmal. No way we should be this bad on that end having one of the greatest defensive anchors of all-time and the real DPOY on our roster. I'm totally on board with hiring elite defensive assistants on his staff (Mike Brown, JVG, Vogel..)-- guys who would be ready to take over if he fails at the job.

Another nitpick, he is too nice for my liking. Championships Coaches have a nasty streak and an appropriate, tolerable level of "prick" about them. Really hope it works out for him because the players seem to genuinely love him (see Wemby's comment about him at the end of season presser)

They were a solid defensive team with Wembanyama on the floor, terrible with him off which makes sense considering the lack of a credible backup center/positional size in general.

Yeah, "too nice" or lack of commanding presence is my concern. It's not only with the players, but if necessary, Pop too.

Tactically, all these coaches know and mostly utilize the same stuff, tailored to their personnel, with a dash of preference thrown in, of course. They wouldn't sniff the NBA otherwise.

By far the most important thing is that they fix (size, shooting, physicality) the roster this off season. Do that and like any coach, they'll make him look good.

[vy65]

The FO gets practically autistic with some of their mantras, specifically Continuity. Basically, they just don't like to make change because they are cautious and anxious. There's no point in prioritizing continuity with a bad quality of product. And there's a huge gulf between bringing in a new coach (whom they already worked with!!) and behaving like the Phoenix Suns.

Your original claim was that Mitch didn’t have Wemby or Fox. You’ve now conceded that claim is demonstrably false. The point here is that the organization has had plenty of time to evaluate Mitch, so we need to put the “let’s see what he’s got” canard to rest.

The counter-factual of whether they would have made the play in or not with Wemby and Fox, while fun, is both pointless and irrelevant. Yes Dallas imploded, but they were 5-8 leading up to Wemby’s DVT. In all likelihood, Portland would have made the play in. Who knows, and more importantly, who cares?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I think you've been saying that the Spurs are going to make moderate, non-exciting moves this offseason. And not to expect radical change. I think you're gonna end up being correct. And the naming of Mitch speaks volumes about what's ahead. This organization does everything by design, and I think the current design points to a path I hadn't considered before this afternoon.

Every Spurs fan on this board analyzes each new move in the context of winning. Me too. But bottom line, seeing Mitch named as head coach -- we're gonna be a losing franchise for a very, very long time to come. And it's by design across more seasons than any fan will imagine enduring -- which is, stockpile draft pick assets and trade stars for even more draft pick assets, so that eventually we're too young, talented, and good, to lose. In the meantime, draft for volume and cost efficiency. That's the Sam Presti / OKC route, and we're nowhere close to having a winning roster of young, talented and too-good-to-lose players. I think OKC will win championships this way, and I think the Spurs might eventually do it too, but it's gonna take a longer time than Victor and the city will have. I don't think Victor will be a Spur in two years. Spurs will reside in another city within 10.

Is it what I want? No way. As fans, we've already endured a lot of losing, and we think the good days are ahead. But if design is a matrix of decisions, then that's not what the design says, and not the outcome to expect with Mitch as head coach, amidst so many capable veterans. The Spurs are not interested in winning anytime soon. The process is to keep stockpiling. Lottery after lottery after lottery. All part of the design of what's being put in front of us. Adjust watches, as needed.

There is no design here. It's "Pop's the goat, we're going to let him call the shots on everything in this organization until he's six feet under."

Say what you want about Kraft but at least he had the guts to tell Belichick you can keep coaching / doing player personnel stuff, just not here.

Unbelievable that this organization has a generational talent, got an All Star on the cheap from Sacramento, and hit on this year's rookie of the year too, only to let the geriatric narcissistic stroke patient continue to call the shots.

[mo7888]

I don't like the hire. I'd rather have gotten Jenkins, but I'm ready to make some moves and give him a chance. We need to upgrade the roster and decide how we want to go forward.

[Chillen]

I like Mitch and am happy with him being the head coach. If you guys don't like Mitch than hope for a Durant to Spurs trade because he seems good at getting coaches fired.

[TimmehC]

Yeah give him a chance to coach a more balanced roster that isn't having double-digit rebounds deficits every single game and maybe the results will be better.

[Silverheart80]

There is no design here. It's "Pop's the goat, we're going to let him call the shots on everything in this organization until he's six feet under."

Say what you want about Kraft but at least he had the guts to tell Belichick you can keep coaching / doing player personnel stuff, just not here.

Unbelievable that this organization has a generational talent, got an All Star on the cheap from Sacramento, and hit on this year's rookie of the year too, only to let the geriatric narcissistic stroke patient continue to call the shots.

Pop's gone.

Pop wasn't coach last year. He wasn't GM. Mitch was the coach. Wright was the GM. They called the shots. The team was a loser. The only shot Pop was calling last year was how high to raise his arm on a given day.

Organization gave Pop a title next year. But that's all it is. A title. You just said it yourself -- he's a stroke patient. He's done.

Chill.

[Chinook]

"It was a good decision because that was the decision they made" is definitionally sniffer. You're better than this.

I thought you read better than this.

My comments aren't saying that the Mitch hire was good. It's saying that he got hired, so here's the gameplan. I'm not shitting myself inside out like you guys are because I don't find that fun or interesting. If Pop had stepped down and the Spurs began a coaching search, I would have said something different because the reality would be different.

And for fucks sake, what does sniffer even mean now that Pop is gone?

[itzsoweezee]

I like the hire! The analytics show he modernized the Spurs offense after Pop went out. He has already built relationships with the current players in the organization. Will have a full offseason now to implement his coaching style onto the team. 38 years old so will only get better. Will be able to grow as the team grows.

To me this signals the Spurs won’t be making any big trades this offseason. They will draft and develop. I don’t think it would be wise to bring in another superstar type player that will have their own agenda. A Kevin Durant could be toxic for a young coach like Mitch. A Giannis type trade would only come with massive roster turnover that would require a complete reset in basketball philosophy. I don’t think the Spurs would want to throw Mitch into that type of situation in year 1 as a Head Coach. They could make other moves or trades to improve the team I just don’t see them doing an overhaul of roster changes. Mitch knows this team and hopefully understands what they need to do moving forward to improve.

Worse case you can fire him in 2 years after Wemby signs his rookie extension. The Spurs would have to absolutely nail that hire or risk losing Wemby. Best case he grows as a coach as the team grows and gets better. He could build lasting relationships with the young players on the Spurs. They could build the next Spurs Dynasty!

You unintentionally highlighted everything that’s wrong with this hire. Congrats!

Imagine thinking year six of wemby is when you really go for it. Some of you people have not watched basketball outside of the spurs, and it really shows.

Rookie scale Wemby is when the spurs need to maximize the supporting cast, not after his rookie contract is over, dummies.

[BackHome]

Pop is not gone in fact in all probability he was the deciding factor in promoting Mitch to head coach. No one wants to lock horns with Pop as that is a quick way to loose your job. Also, keeping Pop in new role and naming Mitch head coach gives job security for everyone from GM to Water Boy.

[Snaq O'Meal]

The hiring of the Bryn Forbes of coaches is totally in line with Pop's "pounding the rock" philosophy of persistence. Maybe this is also part of the plan to pick AJ Dybantsa in the next draft.

[Trill Clinton]

What exactly didn't yall like about Coach Mitch? He was thrown in the fire, had to run Pop's system all year. Best player goes down with an injury so we had to tank. The players love him and they played hard for him considering everything that went on off the court. I'm looking forward to seeing how he fills out his staff, tho.

[LeBowen]

What exactly didn't yall like about Coach Mitch? He was thrown in the fire, had to run Pop's system all year. Best player goes down with an injury so we had to tank. The players love him and they played hard for him considering everything that went on off the court. I'm looking forward to seeing how he fills out his staff, tho.

We didn't like that he didn't have the authority to sit CP3 in those few games he and Fox played together.
We didn't like that Castle played less than 20 minutes in a lot of games even though it made no sense.
We didn't like all the Sochan experiments yet again. He's not a backup big, if he's not good enough to play as a wing, then DNP and trade him.

There were some positives, but these next few seasons are the most important in the past 30 years and giving the job to someone who's been mediocre at best isn't encouraging.
We simply can't fuck this up. No more excuses.

[exstatic]

There is no design here. It's "Pop's the goat, we're going to let him call the shots on everything in this organization until he's six feet under."

Say what you want about Kraft but at least he had the guts to tell Belichick you can keep coaching / doing player personnel stuff, just not here.

Unbelievable that this organization has a generational talent, got an All Star on the cheap from Sacramento, and hit on this year's rookie of the year too, only to let the geriatric narcissistic stroke patient continue to call the shots.

If he were a narcissist, he’d have announced this last week, stepped all over Steph’s moment, and forced him to answer a bunch of questions about Pop and his retirement. I tend to discount your opinions, AHF, because you hated Pop WHILE we were winning titles for the simple reason that he didn’t do thing the way you wanted him to. Never change, dude.

[Dod01]

No surprise here. Per the course, the front office made the classy move rather than doing their due diligence. The laurels are continuing to be rested on.

The only thing is, those laurels are fast becoming a distant memory, as the last time we made the playoffs was back in 2019. We need to start winning, like, right now. ESPN will be salivating to get Wemby to LA if we don't start doing so ASAP.

[scott]

I will say, I’d be a lot more excited about this if I were confident that Mitch were empowered to call his own shots.

with that said, maybe I’m being too pessimistic and he will be. For fucks sake, I hope Mitch crushes it and is a COTY contender next year!

For that to happen, we need Brian to continue cooking this offseason. Make some magic happen Big Brain Brian, jettison the Power of Friendship and prove the haters wrong!

[vy65]

I thought you read better than this.

My comments aren't saying that the Mitch hire was good. It's saying that he got hired, so here's the gameplan. I'm not shitting myself inside out like you guys are because I don't find that fun or interesting. If Pop had stepped down and the Spurs began a coaching search, I would have said something different because the reality would be different.

And for fucks sake, what does sniffer even mean now that Pop is gone?

“He should get a chance because that was the decision” is not a value judgment on the hire? What are you saying then? Mitch Johnson is the coach of the spurs and will have a clip board and determine rotations? “Should” is a normative term; if you’re not saying Mitch was a good hire then you need to re-learn your words. we know that he is now the head coach. The whole conversation is whether that ought to be the case or not. Repeating a news headline isn’t exactly profound dude.

[vy65]

I thought you read better than this.

My comments aren't saying that the Mitch hire was good. It's saying that he got hired, so here's the gameplan. I'm not shitting myself inside out like you guys are because I don't find that fun or interesting. If Pop had stepped down and the Spurs began a coaching search, I would have said something different because the reality would be different.

And for fucks sake, what does sniffer even mean now that Pop is gone?

“He should get a chance because that was the decision” is not a value judgment on the hire? What are you saying then? Mitch Johnson is the coach of the spurs and will have a clip board and determine rotations? “Should” is a normative term; if you’re not saying Mitch was a good hire then you need to re-learn your words. we know that he is now the head coach. The whole conversation is whether that ought to be the case or not. Repeating a news headline isn’t exactly profound dude.

[ace3g]

https://x.com/mikecwright/status/1918456737654555102

[poopbox]

I don't care about having high standards. The Spurs are not a top-six team without major improvements. The guy folks are inking in as their third star is currently a massive negative by many metrics. Their second best player has barely seen the playoffs despite approaching 30. Their best player is coming off a shortened season and is still learning to play NBA basketball. Whether you think it's a colossal failure or not doesn't change the reality that the Spurs are far from the established teams in the West. They should make the play-in, but the playoffs aren't going to be easy.

No, a window starts when you have players who can win a title. Victor has that potential but not that reality yet. I don't believe in assuming the future will happen either, but they aren't there and can't be willed to be there by impatient fans. There's a massive difference between waiting while doing nothing and making moves to clear out guys who you know aren't the answer like Vasselldon and Sochan to bring in new blood while accepting the reality of the team not being ready.

It's not about high standards it's about common fucking sense. The faster you put a good team together, the larger the "window" you have to compete. 2 of OKC 3 best players are on rookie contracts. Should OKC be saying "oh let's wait and see if J Will is really an all nba player. Let's wait and see if Chet is even an all star player." Is that what they should have said about Hartenstein instead of giving him 80 million to fill the massive void at back up center for them? "Sorry Hartenstein our team isn't ready yet so maybe two years from now we can pay you to be the backup center." Think they would have been the number one seed without having him when Chet got hurt? Think they would have swept Memphis, one of the largest front courts in the nba, without him playing?

Wade was in his 3rd season when the Heat signed Shaq. Should they have said "no way, we got one star and he is still on his rookie contract, our window isn't open yet, it makes no sense to sign someone like shaq fresh off a couple of championships."

That's beyond an archaic way of thinking. When you sit around and wait for "windows" everybody else get's the prize except you.

The spurs have already gotten significantly better. Victor has gotten much better since year 1. Our point guard position went from bottom of the barrel worst in the league to at least top 12 if not top 10 in the league. We finally have a "do everything" wing player who won rookie of the year, and we went from the oldest coach in the league to the 4th or 5th youngest coach in the league. All of that and we haven't drafted a player or signed a player in the offseason for next year yet.

[Chinook]

“He should get a chance because that was the decision” is not a value judgment on the hire?

No. This was my reaction on RealGM within minutes of me hearing about the news:


I don't like Mitch Johnson getting the nod unless he's going to get free reign to coach and has some big changes he wants to implement. The Spurs have had a coaching issue for years now, and they shouldn't be aiming for continuity in that regard. Give Johnson a real chance, but be willing to move on to a real coach in a year or two if the problems continue.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2456932#p118392538

So it's pretty clearly not me saying I liked the hiring. He should get a chance because he already has the job now. I think making a bitch-fest about it is dumb. It's like drafting a player I didn't want. Every once in a while I'll get mad if I really hated the player or if there were circumstances around the pick that really bothered me. But most of the time, my reaction is, "Okay, well that's done. So what happens next?" I've said in this very thread multiple times that I would have preferred the Spurs had done a real coaching search. They didn't. They promoted Mitch. Okay. So what now?

[Gandalf]

anecdotal evidence is a slippery slope.

It was addressing the argument that ‘the players like him.’ That’s not that important or telling as far as ‘success.’ Players might like a coach for all sorts of reasons—many of them not good.

I’ve detailed many times before why Mitch is a bad choice. We’re near dead last in basics like boxing out for rebounds, developing players, etc. He had a trial run this year before Wemby’s injury. He sucked. Spurs have sucked for years. Gambling another year of Wemby and franchise on Mitch, who really has nothing to recommend him—particularly when you have guys like Jenkins available—is stupid.

What does Mitch have going for him? ‘Guys like him’ means nothing. ‘Spurs guy’ and ‘continuity’ are negatives now, and have been for several years.

[Trill Clinton]

We didn't like that he didn't have the authority to sit CP3 in those few games he and Fox played together.
We didn't like that Castle played less than 20 minutes in a lot of games even though it made no sense.
We didn't like all the Sochan experiments yet again. He's not a backup big, if he's not good enough to play as a wing, then DNP and trade him.

There were some positives, but these next few seasons are the most important in the past 30 years and giving the job to someone who's been mediocre at best isn't encouraging.
We simply can't fuck this up. No more excuses.

Those decisions came from up top imo.

[Ice009]

This isn't the article I initially read this in months ago, but here are those quotes on his old nickname that I mentioned previously in the thread. It seems like even back then players held him in a high regard.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44969821/popovich-done-coaching-spurs-next-mitch-johnson-san-antonio

at Stanford, where he was a four-year starter playing alongside Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez and Landry Fields. Brook Lopez told ESPN that in college, they nicknamed Johnson "Maestro" due to the "the way he conducts and runs the show."

"Seeing him in the position he's in now is not a shock. He belongs there," Lopez added. "[He's] such an intelligent basketball player, the highest basketball IQ I've ever played with or been around."

[Chinook]

It's not about high standards it's about common fucking sense. The faster you put a good team together, the larger the "window" you have to compete.

No. That isn't how it works. Windows are solely dependent on whether your best player is ready or not. Until Wemby's ready, there's no window, and he's not ready. He's not particularly close. STers don't want to admit that because they "expect" him to be there already regardless of how unrealistic that is. It gets exhausting, because even before the career-threatening condition Wemby has, I was pretty firm in the Spurs not having any chance at all until the fourth year at the very earliest. I find all this handwringing to be the equivalent of kids asking, "Are we there yet?" 30 minutes into a cross-state road trip. It's like no, sorry guys, but this is going to take time, and if you can't handle that, go do something else for a while.


Wade was in his 3rd season when the Heat signed Shaq.

I get you don't have an encyclopedia of every take I've ever had, but if you think bringing up that example is disagreeing with my point, I don't know what to tell you. I've never been against making a move for a superstar to be the franchise player for Wemby to learn under. But no amount of lesser stars will make Wemby an actualized franchise player. Time does that.


When you sit around and wait for "windows" everybody else get's the prize except you.

It's far more common that teams blow their loads and watch their stars walk than them slow-play their rise and miss out. It's called a window because you can miss on both sides of it.


We finally have a "do everything" wing player who won rookie of the year,

See at this point, I wonder if you're even serious. You can't both be pushing for the team to enter a win-now posture and be counting Castle as a key player. If you think Castle's going to have a major role, then you're projecting the window to be three or four years into the future. If you think the window is in next year or two, you're not thinking of Castle. He was so far from a win-now player last year that it's ridiculous. It's cool to believe in him and want him to have the chance to grow, but then you have to give him that time and understand that a huge chunk of your minutes are going to a player that was a major negative last year. That's fine if you believe the Spurs aren't a playoff team like I do. It's not fine if you think them missing the playoffs would be a "colossal failure".

[objective]

Also, here is another angle - Maybe the Spurs did enquire with other head coaches - What if some of those guys turned the Spurs down? Maybe they did talk to Jenkins or some of those other guys and they didn't want to come because of the pressure of expectations, or maybe they didn't feel they'd have full control to coach their way with Pop as President of Basketball Operations? Maybe the did look into it. Maybe one of two of them were interested, but they didn't offer them enough money?

Budenholzer, I am sure won't take another job if he's getting 10M a year from Phoenix to sit out and not coach. If he takes a job for less money, he loses all the Phoenix money. He'd have to be getting paid close to the 10M and go to a situation he likes, otherwise, I doubt he wants to give up any of that money. If the Spurs actually did want him, it's going to be tough to hire him in the next 4 years if the offer isn't for 10M a season, which I don't see the Spurs ever paying while also paying Pop his HC money still. I knew Bud was a long shot due to the money he's owed as I was talking to Exstatic about this within the past week. Maybe they did offer him 5M and year and he said no as he'd be taking a 50% pay cut losing the money Phoenix still owes him. Someone said Monty Williams is coaching his son's team in SA for free as he'd lose all the money the Pistons owe him if he takes another HC job for less money elsewhere.

Anyway, I did read articles about Mitch towards the end of last season that I were written at the start of last season when he first took over an interim HC. They were saying that anyone that's ever been around him talks about how high level his BBIQ is. Back in college the players (I can't remember who, but a couple of them made the NBA - I just looked it up and Brook & Robin Lopez and Landry Fields were at Stanford at the time Mitch played) used to call him "The Maestro," so maybe they wanted to give him a shot first if Victor has signed off on him and the other current players like him. They possibly view this as a Riley and Spoelstra type move giving the young guy they believe in the chance.

Btw, what year did Mitch join the Spurs? Has he been around at least one or two good Spurs teams that had TD/Kawhi still playing?

That sounds ridiculous to me.

Coaches never turned down jobs like SA. They almost never turn down jobs period.

Even prestigious coaches like Doc signed on under known scumbag Donald Sterling to get to coach the clippers. There is no ownership bad enough or roster empty enough that they couldn't get coaches.

ESPECIALLY with a chance to coach Wemby. Maybe someone who never coached before like Manu would have turned it down, but come on.

[vy65]

No. This was my reaction on RealGM within minutes of me hearing about the news:



https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2456932#p118392538

So it's pretty clearly not me saying I liked the hiring. He should get a chance because he already has the job now. I think making a bitch-fest about it is dumb. It's like drafting a player I didn't want. Every once in a while I'll get mad if I really hated the player or if there were circumstances around the pick that really bothered me. But most of the time, my reaction is, "Okay, well that's done. So what happens next?" I've said in this very thread multiple times that I would have preferred the Spurs had done a real coaching search. They didn't. They promoted Mitch. Okay. So what now?

Are you seriously expecting me to know what you posted on another message board (which I never visit, or even have an account for) to divine your intention here?

Bro, I just have the words you write on the board I actually read. If you don’t like the hire, then just say so. The idea that I would know your posting history across the internet is bananas.

[vy65]

Separately, saying “I don’t like it, but let’s give him a chance because that’s the decision” isn’t really a ground breaking take either. If you used your words and said as much, I’d still disagree, but there wouldn’t be the need to spill all this digital ink.

[Chinook]

Are you seriously expecting me to know what you posted on another message board (which I never visit, or even have an account for) to divine your intention here?

No. What I'm saying is that even on here.


Give Johnson another year with no handcuffs. If he fails bring in a real coach. They weren't winning next year anyway. He should get a real chance rather than implementing Pop's scheme. But they can't be married to him.

It's pretty clear on a forum that isn't whinging up a storm that I was never saying it was a good hire. I'll chalk up your misinterpretation to you being in some kind of mood. But I'm not backtracking and saying I wasn't a fan of the hiring now. I said it in my first posts on multiple forums.

[Chinook]

Separately, saying “I don’t like it, but let’s give him a chance because that’s the decision” isn’t really a ground breaking take either. If you used your words and said as much, I’d still disagree, but there wouldn’t be the need to spill all this digital ink.

No, because I did, and you were so in your feelings that you spilled the ink anyway.

[Uriel]

Just to provide an alternative perspective amidst all the gloom and doom in here: maybe there’s a universe in which Mitch grows and improves organically with the team, given his youth, and he becomes a Spoelstra-type hire in which he becomes the championship coach of a multi-title team.

[Uriel]

He also has outstanding pedigree: Stanford grad, a decade-plus as an assistant under Pop.

[Chinook]

Just to provide an alternative perspective amidst all the gloom and doom in here: maybe there’s a universe in which Mitch grows and improves organically with the team, given his youth, and he becomes a Spoelstra-type hire in which he becomes the championship coach of a multi-title team.

He might even just be a solid coach. Everyone has to start from somewhere. The Spurs are in a position where they can see what he does with a full off-season and on spectre of Pop coming back and taking over the team hanging over him. I just hope they didn't make this move expecting it to be another 30-year stint. He should have free reign but a short leash.

[Ice009]

Just to provide an alternative perspective amidst all the gloom and doom in here: maybe there’s a universe in which Mitch grows and improves organically with the team, given his youth, and he becomes a Spoelstra-type hire in which he becomes the championship coach of a multi-title team.

I'm willing to give him a chance as when I read some articles about him a month or two ago, there seemed to be a lot of praise from players that aren't on the Spurs. And then that Brook Lopez quotes made me ease off on him a bit the last 1/4 of the season (I don't remember everyone Brook has played with), but when he says he's the highest basketball IQ player he's played with or been around, that holds a bit of weight. Enough for me to be willing to give him a shot if the Spurs also think he's worth giving the job too (I did want someone else more experienced). Of course a high BBIQ doesn't mean he'll be a great head coach, but it can help. It also makes me wonder if he was handcuffed a bit during the season and wasn't able to coach the way he wanted to (I hope that was the case).


He also has outstanding pedigree: Stanford grad, a decade-plus as an assistant under Pop.

I think he was only an assistant under Pop since 2020.

[CGD]

What exactly didn't yall like about Coach Mitch? He was thrown in the fire, had to run Pop's system all year. Best player goes down with an injury so we had to tank. The players love him and they played hard for him considering everything that went on off the court. I'm looking forward to seeing how he fills out his staff, tho.

Spot on. I actually thought he made some great roster calls like ending the Branham experiment, reducing CP3’s minutes, benching Jeremy and Keldon, and even tightening the leash on Devin.

[TekXX]

He also has outstanding pedigree: Stanford grad, a decade-plus as an assistant under Pop.

Oh shit, he graduated from Stanford? Multi-championship run coming up. Don't tell me he graduated from the Wharton School of Business too, that's guaranteed success

[BackHome]

Every time I see Mitch I think of Forbes.

[MannyIsGod]

He should get a chance because they already made a decision. You guys are reacting based on what you wanted to happen by wishing for a different coach. I'm reacting to him already being given the job and saying what they should do next.

Holy circular logic.

[MannyIsGod]

If you're the only one in a thread making a point that no one else understands it in the way you do then it's not the people having problems reading your point its you having a problem communicating it.

[Uriel]

Oh shit, he graduated from Stanford? Multi-championship run coming up. Don't tell me he graduated from the Wharton School of Business too, that's guaranteed success
Among all active NBA head coaches, only Quin Snyder (BA, MBA, and JD, all from Duke) has a more impressive educational background. If you're an HR officer and you're looking to hire with someone with high potential who can grow into the position, there aren't many better options than Johnson.

[rankingtear]

I don't know if Mitch is a going to be a great coach for us but hiring from within is a great strategy as we have seen with OKC, BOS and MIA. Pop coaching prospects he developed from the ground up are known head coaches so far in Ime, Hardy and Becky. There is really nothing pointing to it as a bad move so far. So a meltdown is unwarranted.

[spursgu]

some of you just like to bitch and moan before things are even played out. it's what you did when we traded dillingham and people kept saying stuff like "castle willl suck, we should have gotten Reed." it's one thing to be disappointed that they didn't pursue other options, I kinda am. but you have idiots saying things like "the spurs will not make the playoffs again", "wemby will leave", " and its always form the same band of morons.

youre acting like the spurs didn't improve by 12 wins from last year and also started making progress when both wemby and fox were shut down. and don't bring up that teams were mailing it in already, the spurs were also suppose to be tanking and people here get bitching that they were getting late season wins because maybe just maybe they might eventually figure things out.

they come back next year with fox for a full season, improved castle, and hoping vassell will stay healthy if they keep him, and some other upgrades through the draft and free agency and you can believe they will be better. the west is tough but we're not ruining our chances already because we decided to keep Mitch. :lol

all this is useless anyway if wemby isn't healthy.

[slick'81]

Big dick mitch taking us to the promise land

[itzsoweezee]

some of you just like to bitch and moan before things are even played out. it's what you did when we traded dillingham and people kept saying stuff like "castle willl suck, we should have gotten Reed." it's one thing to be disappointed that they didn't pursue other options, I kinda am. but you have idiots saying things like "the spurs will not make the playoffs again", "wemby will leave", " and its always form the same band of morons.

youre acting like the spurs didn't improve by 12 wins from last year and also started making progress when both wemby and fox were shut down. and don't bring up that teams were mailing it in already, the spurs were also suppose to be tanking and people here get bitching that they were getting late season wins because maybe just maybe they might eventually figure things out.

they come back next year with fox for a full season, improved castle, and hoping vassell will stay healthy if they keep him, and some other upgrades through the draft and free agency and you can believe they will be better. the west is tough but we're not ruining our chances already because we decided to keep Mitch. :lol

all this is useless anyway if wemby isn't healthy.

Is Mitch finally going to ask his team to box out? To take charges? He didn’t this year. There is no evidence he holds his players accountable for anything.

There was a slight improvement almost entirely due to the fact that the spurs replaced bottom level talent with Barnes and Paul. Their play, however, absolutely did not look better.

[SupremeGuy]

I've been on Team Mitch tbh lol probably the only person on here.... so congrats. I think you guys are underselling him. Give young dude a chance. A real chance.

[Raven]

On the one hand, I'm happy we avoided the grim finality of it all-- that something truly awful happens to Pop in front of the world. On the other; not a big fan of Mitch's getting the nod for the job but I understand it.

Spurs' offense improved slightly under Mitch, but the team's defensive schemes and overall execution of fundamentals (rebounding, rotations, charge-drawing etc.) have been abysmal. No way we should be this bad on that end having one of the greatest defensive anchors of all-time and the real DPOY on our roster. I'm totally on board with hiring elite defensive assistants on his staff (Mike Brown, JVG, Vogel..)-- guys who would be ready to take over if he fails at the job.

Another nitpick, he is too nice for my liking. Championships Coaches have a nasty streak and an appropriate, tolerable level of "prick" about them. Really hope it works out for him because the players seem to genuinely love him (see Wemby's comment about him at the end of season presser)

he's the opposite of a good coach, instead of hard but fair, he's nice and unfair.. the worst combo

[LakerHater]

Wemby said he wanted to play for Pop, so i think if this fails, even if pop is controling mitch. Wemby will be gone!

[Raven]

Among all active NBA head coaches, only Quin Snyder (BA, MBA, and JD, all from Duke) has a more impressive educational background. If you're an HR officer and you're looking to hire with someone with high potential who can grow into the position, there aren't many better options than Johnson.

maybe because there is no point in paying a high tuition to get the same level of education or worse, than you can find on youtube.. getting 3 years of education to learn the food pyramid for a couple hundred grand, sound foolish.

[Raven]

I've been on Team Mitch tbh lol probably the only person on here.... so congrats. I think you guys are underselling him. Give young dude a chance. A real chance.

Why? he has done some of the worst coaching jobs of anyone in the last decade. Just to name a few:
- start by ditching 5 young players for no reason (resulting in his team always fizzling out)
- force feed tre jones only to trade him five minutes later
- play with no center then sign bismack, start him, then ditch him
- play sochan center
- force castle to up to 30% usage rate instead of focusing on creating an offensive scheme

.. so many more

[SupremeGuy]

Why? he has done some of the worst coaching jobs of anyone in the last decade. Just to name a few:
- start by ditching 5 young players for no reason (resulting in his team always fizzling out)
- force feed tre jones only to trade him five minutes later
- play with no center then sign bismack, start him, then ditch him
- play sochan center
- force castle to up to 30% usage rate instead of focusing on creating an offensive scheme

.. so many moreLike those were his choices.

He can now coach without poop telling him what to do from behind the scenes. (hopefully)

Goddamn you guys are dicks lol give him a chance.

[Obstructed_View]

If you can't tell your team to get back on defense, box out for rebounds, or stop sagging off the three point shooter in the corner, you're gonna have a bad time coaching in the NBA.

[Kawhi Duncan]

Told yall...pop in never gonna fire or demote or trade anyone he sees as spurs family...wembys growth and career is fucked ....I predict after this season, there will be talks around the league of wemby being soft and overrated....this dude can't coach nor develop players for shit

[Mnky]

Not sure the issue here, the agenda this year was to let the young guys learn to play together. Guys like sochan and keldon become pretty good in their roles. Castle won rookie of the year. Wemby was trending up before clot. This team was legitimately the worse team in the NBA to get Wemby.

As usual, I think people are way overestimating the talent on this roster. Without Wemby, they're the worse defensive team in the league. When you're whole system is built around wemby, things will get funky without him but that has less to do with scheme and just overall lack of talent.

This was still a rebuilding team that was positive and competitive throughout the year. That's literally the most you can ask for from a rebuilding team.

Mitch did fine. I agree with the challenge and timeout criticisms. He has to work on that, but that's easy as heck to call from the couch. It'll come with experience.

Mitch answered a few questions this year impressively tbh when it came to critiquing wemby and calling him out on some things.

Mitch is a very smart basketball player. He made it to thr big stage not on talent, but his knowledge and competitive drive. He knows what the vision is for Wemby and is familiar with the system. He should have been the leading candidate the whole time so there wasn't really a big reason to look at these other guys with them still in a rebuild mode, which they are whether people like it or not. There's three legit talents on the team. Everyone else is developing or fringe role player.

Mitch kept them competitive and positive together. Not sure what else big picture wise you could have wanted. He has your superstars approval. The available coaches lost their superstars approval last time I checked.

[Mnky]

I've been on Team Mitch tbh lol probably the only person on here.... so congrats. I think you guys are underselling him. Give young dude a chance. A real chance.

He legit did as good as he could with what he had. This years team ain't winning 10 more games if they had one of the available head coaches. Noones making up for the lack of talent on the roster.

They have an experimental time period with wemby developing the next couple years. Might as well have someone who understands what they're trying to do with Wemby instead of someone new coming in and throwing it off. The best thing for Wemby is absolutely continuity. It's not even a debate there. Mitch offers the most.

[Snaq O'Meal]

Every time I see Mitch I think of Forbes.

Mitch is the Bryn Forbes of coaches.

[SupremeGuy]

I think Mitch is going to prove a lot of people wrong.

A lot of people thought Ime was too young.

I mean, Mitch can't fuck poop's wife. So that's already a plus.

WAR MITCH!

[SupremeGuy]

Might as well just roll out the same exact team from last season....Fox, Castle, Vassell, Sochan, and Wemby.

With some actual direction. That's a playoff team as it is.

[RC_Drunkford]

Like those were his choices.

He can now coach without poop telling him what to do from behind the scenes. (hopefully)

Goddamn you guys are dicks lol give him a chance.

if those weren't his choices last season what makes you think he's making them now with Pop still being president? A press release? You sniffers come up with all kind of fantasy takes

[RC_Drunkford]

With how predictable this franchise is, I assume the new assistant coach will be the video guy who coached our summer league team last season.

[SupremeGuy]

if those weren't his choices last season what makes you think he's making them now with Pop still being president? A press release? You sniffers come up with all kind of fantasy takesFair point.

The fact that poop made the decision to "step down" even though it's kind of up gives me some hope that he'll let Mitch coach.

At this point it's up to Mitch. He's being handed a team with maybe not one but two generational talents. Even Doc Rivers could coach this team to 45 wins or more next year.

[RC_Drunkford]

Fair point.

The fact that poop made the decision to "step down" even though it's kind of up gives me some hope that he'll let Mitch coach.

At this point it's up to Mitch. He's being handed a team with maybe not one but two generational talents. Even Doc Rivers could coach this team to 45 wins or more next year.

I wouldn't be so sure that Doc Rivers is worse than Mitch...and Doc is straight garbage.

[Maddog]

Fair point.

The fact that poop made the decision to "step down" even though it's kind of up gives me some hope that he'll let Mitch coach.

At this point it's up to Mitch. He's being handed a team with maybe not one but two generational talents. Even Doc Rivers could coach this team to 45 wins or more next year.

Alright
Let's cut back on the hyperbole

[TekXX]

Like those were his choices.

He can now coach without poop telling him what to do from behind the scenes. (hopefully)

Goddamn you guys are dicks lol give him a chance.

You know this is just a continuation of last year? Pop is still in the office with his grubby hands on everything, of course he's going to be involved with coaching decisions. That's why you keep the young, cheap coach, so Pop gets to keep dictating. A Malone wouldn't have allowed Pop to do that. So in my mind the last decade of incompetance continues.

[BackHome]

Yep, as I said before Mitch reminds me of Forbes and we all know he was a shitty player but yet Pop would continue to start him and even rewarded him with a new contract. Looking back not only was he a shitty player but it turns out he was even a worse person.

[HankChinaski]

The old man made the right call. He still is head of basketball operations.

The Mitch Johnson selection I'm neither happy or upset about. It just isn't an exciting decision and just have to hope it pans out next season. Here is to hoping the draft favors the spurs

[scott]

Just to provide an alternative perspective amidst all the gloom and doom in here: maybe there’s a universe in which Mitch grows and improves organically with the team, given his youth, and he becomes a Spoelstra-type hire in which he becomes the championship coach of a multi-title team.

Is Mitch’s window open yet?

[scott]

If you're the only one in a thread making a point that no one else understands it in the way you do then it's not the people having problems reading your point its you having a problem communicating it.

Chinook is having an objectively good thread

[scott]

some of you just like to bitch and moan before things are even played out. it's what you did when we traded dillingham and people kept saying stuff like "castle willl suck, we should have gotten Reed."

link?

[LeBowen]

Some of the takes in here are embarrassing, tbh.
My take on PATFO is known and I'm not even slightly optimistic about this, but can we have a normal discussion without all these circlejerk takes?

As I wrote in that other topic, Spurs scored 117ppg over 25 March/April games and it's not like we didn't play against a lot of playoff teams taking it seriously.
Mitch obviously knows basketball, but I'd say that being a leader and a motivator/psychologist are as just as important as all the gameplan stuff. Head coaches have a dozen assistants for that.
Obviously the biggest issue will be Pop's influence. I'd give Mitch a chance if there wasn't any outside influence on him, but it was obvious he couldn't do some stuff this season, like sitting CP3 after we got Fox.

Will he have the authority to tell Wemby to stop with the awful heroball and turnovers? This season was experimental and he had the green light to do whatever he wants. If we're going to seriously compete, he shouldn't be able to iso on the perimeter at will and jack up Curry range 3s whenever he wants.

Defense was garbage, but there's only so much a coach can do when the personnel isn't there. At what point it stops being coach's fault NBA players are completely unaware on every rebound and don't know the basics of boxing out. That's not his job, they're supposed to know that shit.

What's roster going to look like? I said it many times, but I don't want to see Devin start with Fox/Castle. We need two legit wings with size, not makeshift smallball just because Devin is making a lot of money.
If Mitch can convince him to be the 6th man, that would be a big win. We all know PATFO won't give up on Devin and trade him.

If Jeremy doesn't fit the team as a wing in Mitch's basketball, he shouldn't be a regular rotation player, we need an actual backup big, no more charity cases or veterans. Again, a coach can't do much if he's left with Collins/Biyombo/Sochan/Bassey as his backup bigs.

Much like the players, Mitch will need to grow into the job and develop. If everyone's healthy and we get a couple of legit players, even a subpar coach should be able to get ~45 wins next season.
Two seasons should be enough to evaluate Mitch unless he fails miserably and shows he's out of his depth. We need to be a serious contender in 2027 playoffs, no excuses.

[MannyIsGod]

some of you just like to bitch and moan before things are even played out. it's what you did when we traded dillingham and people kept saying stuff like "castle willl suck, we should have gotten Reed." it's one thing to be disappointed that they didn't pursue other options, I kinda am. but you have idiots saying things like "the spurs will not make the playoffs again", "wemby will leave", " and its always form the same band of morons.

youre acting like the spurs didn't improve by 12 wins from last year and also started making progress when both wemby and fox were shut down. and don't bring up that teams were mailing it in already, the spurs were also suppose to be tanking and people here get bitching that they were getting late season wins because maybe just maybe they might eventually figure things out.

they come back next year with fox for a full season, improved castle, and hoping vassell will stay healthy if they keep him, and some other upgrades through the draft and free agency and you can believe they will be better. the west is tough but we're not ruining our chances already because we decided to keep Mitch. :lol

all this is useless anyway if wemby isn't healthy.

Some of you just want to be happy with everything the Spurs do and get upset where there are others who disagree with you. I didn't mind the trade, I liked the Castle pick, and I hate this hiring. Address specific people's posts aand avoid making these bullshit arguments against whoever the fuck you intend them for.

[SupremeGuy]

You know this is just a continuation of last year? Pop is still in the office with his grubby hands on everything, of course he's going to be involved with coaching decisions. That's why you keep the young, cheap coach, so Pop gets to keep dictating. A Malone wouldn't have allowed Pop to do that. So in my mind the last decade of incompetance continues.That's why I said, it's on Mitch now.

popp's mind has been gone for a while tbh basically the joe biden of basketball coaching

I've been on Team Mitch since the beginning. I don't think he's going to fuck up.

[Atl Spur]

Mitch will step up or not; this is not phenomenon exclusive to the spurs! Not worth all this handwringing in my opinion. He’s 0-0 as a head coach….

[Atl Spur]

Mitch will step up or not; this is not phenomenon exclusive to the spurs! Not worth all this handwringing in my opinion. He’s 0-0 as a head coach….

[Chomag]

Will Mitch demand his team box out and hold them accountable for lazy plays on both offense and defence? Is he willing to get into a players face no matter who they are to wake them up and demand excellence when needed? If this is so than what has he been waiting for ???

These are the things a winning coach must be willing to do just as prime Pop did and yeah I'm just not seeing in him it but I'll happily be wrong.

[Mikesatx]

It feels like a mob is out for Mitch’s head so it’s tough to pick which comments to reference specifically. If the board were split between the Spurs front office and coaching are inept or they are one of the best in the league, I’m in the latter. Here are a few reasons why.

Coaches are fired for a reason. Usually it either comes down to losing your team. The surprise firings over the last few weeks shared that in common.

Many on this board view Pop and the front office as awful. Opinions from around the league still view the franchise as one of the gold standards.

We don’t always get the draft right but it seems to me there are a lot of success stories on players we drafted and developed thriving around the league. Same goes for all of the coaches and front office people that the organization developed.

My impression is that the organization is evaluating whether the current team is a contender each year. If they are great go for it if not positioning for the lottery is more valuable. If you position for the lottery you can’t expect players to tank games but you can control who plays and where along with who’s on the injured list. If the team is doing that the coach will always look inept.

As for Mitch specifically, he is a highly educated, well regarded by his former teammates young guy that the team seems to like. He has 10 years in the organization so understands the Spurs culture which I believe is highly valuable.

Those of you that hate this may be right ultimately but I am more excited to have this guy than any of the others mentioned as alternatives. I also think this team will add some exciting pieces in the offseason. There should be a shift of focus to contending for next year. That will give everyone more clarity on the ability of Mitch as a head coach.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

If he were a narcissist, he’d have announced this last week, stepped all over Steph’s moment, and forced him to answer a bunch of questions about Pop and his retirement. I tend to discount your opinions, AHF, because you hated Pop WHILE we were winning titles for the simple reason that he didn’t do thing the way you wanted him to. Never change, dude.

It's my firm belief that Pop's stubbornness and iron fist rule of this organization cost the team at least two titles during the Duncan era. Things that were obvious then, but simulator crew couldn't get past. I'll always believe that way.

It's ridiculous that they are letting Pop stick around in any capacity at this point. He needs to ride off into the sunset, enjoy the hell out of his wine cellar, and spend his remaining days reminiscing over bringing SA five titles and the friends he made along the way. He shouldn't be anywhere near this organization in any capacity - it's been ten years since we were relevant in the NBA. Our strategies on O and D are still living in the Duncan era while the league and game have evolved. And everyone in this organization is oriented with his philosophy.

We need new blood, new ideas, and it's never going to happen as long as Pop is around, in whatever capacity he still has.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Some of the takes in here are embarrassing, tbh.
My take on PATFO is known and I'm not even slightly optimistic about this, but can we have a normal discussion without all these circlejerk takes?

As I wrote in that other topic, Spurs scored 117ppg over 25 March/April games and it's not like we didn't play against a lot of playoff teams taking it seriously.
Mitch obviously knows basketball, but I'd say that being a leader and a motivator/psychologist are as just as important as all the gameplan stuff. Head coaches have a dozen assistants for that.
Obviously the biggest issue will be Pop's influence. I'd give Mitch a chance if there wasn't any outside influence on him, but it was obvious he couldn't do some stuff this season, like sitting CP3 after we got Fox.

Will he have the authority to tell Wemby to stop with the awful heroball and turnovers? This season was experimental and he had the green light to do whatever he wants. If we're going to seriously compete, he shouldn't be able to iso on the perimeter at will and jack up Curry range 3s whenever he wants.

Defense was garbage, but there's only so much a coach can do when the personnel isn't there. At what point it stops being coach's fault NBA players are completely unaware on every rebound and don't know the basics of boxing out. That's not his job, they're supposed to know that shit.

What's roster going to look like? I said it many times, but I don't want to see Devin start with Fox/Castle. We need two legit wings with size, not makeshift smallball just because Devin is making a lot of money.
If Mitch can convince him to be the 6th man, that would be a big win. We all know PATFO won't give up on Devin and trade him.

If Jeremy doesn't fit the team as a wing in Mitch's basketball, he shouldn't be a regular rotation player, we need an actual backup big, no more charity cases or veterans. Again, a coach can't do much if he's left with Collins/Biyombo/Sochan/Bassey as his backup bigs.

Much like the players, Mitch will need to grow into the job and develop. If everyone's healthy and we get a couple of legit players, even a subpar coach should be able to get ~45 wins next season.
Two seasons should be enough to evaluate Mitch unless he fails miserably and shows he's out of his depth. We need to be a serious contender in 2027 playoffs, no excuses.

Defense isn't a personnel problem when your defensive strategy is to sag and protect the paint and dare teams to shoot the three like it's 2010, when every team is running their offense to get their guys open looks from three.

That's just idiotic stubborness to the old ways from when we had Duncan anchoring our D and teams couldn't shoot the three.

[itzsoweezee]

You know it’s bleak when the supporters of these moves are saying settle down and wait until 2027.

A competent team with third year Wembanyama should be competing for a championship. Yes, he is that good.

Expecting anything less just shows how far this franchise has fallen. Years of shitty players (still can’t believe the derozan era was a thing), shitty moves, and shitty coaching has left a pervasive stench of loserdom, where squeaking into the playoffs with a top 5 player in this league will be celebrated.

[Dejounte]

I’m neither here nor there with this move but what’s funny to me is that the same guys who burst a vein complaining about Pop for the past 10 years thought they were going to see a new beginning will instead have another 10 years of bursting their veins. Relax and have a good time, and your blood pressure will thank you for it.

[exstatic]

You know it’s bleak when the supporters of these moves are saying settle down and wait until 2027.

A competent team with third year Wembanyama should be competing for a championship. Yes, he is that good.

Expecting anything less just shows how far this franchise has fallen. Years of shitty players (still can’t believe the derozan era was a thing), shitty moves, and shitty coaching has left a pervasive stench of loserdom, where squeaking into the playoffs with a top 5 player in this league will be celebrated.

LeBron won in Year 8. Durant won in year 10. Just because YOU want it in year 3,that doesn’t make it the norm.

[LeBowen]

Defense isn't a personnel problem when your defensive strategy is to sag and protect the paint and dare teams to shoot the three like it's 2010, when every team is running their offense to get their guys open looks from three.

That's just idiotic stubborness to the old ways from when we had Duncan anchoring our D and teams couldn't shoot the three.

It actually is a personnel problem. Bad defenders sag off because they know they'll just get blown by if they play aggressive defense.
CP3, Barnes, Devin, Keldon are all awful 1v1 defenders. Playing small lineups on top of that is a killer. Like for example Devin being matched up with Bane who just ran though him every single time.

Did you watch how Timberwolves destroyed the Lakers? Reaves played aggressive defense, but it doesn't help when he's too slow and can't guard anyone on the perimeter. He just got blown by.
Can't have two bad defenders on the floor. Now look at the players I listed as bad defenders, how many lineups without at least two of them Spurs played this season?

Fox/Castle/Barnes/PF/Wemby is our best hope of having a solid defense next season. PF being a ~6'10 good defender who can also shoot the ball decently well.

[itzsoweezee]

LeBron won in Year 8. Durant won in year 10. Just because YOU want it in year 3,that doesn’t make it the norm.

Don’t change my statement to fit your agenda. Lebron and Durant were in the nba finals by their fourth years. Tatum was in the eastern conference finals by his second year.

Wembanyama has the gifts to be better than any of these guys.

It’s sad that the front office seems to have the same low expectations and standards as the sniffers on a fan message board. I would expect better from a multibillion dollar business with one of the most valuable assets in the league.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I’m neither here nor there with this move but what’s funny to me is that the same guys who burst a vein complaining about Pop for the past 10 years thought they were going to see a new beginning will instead have another 10 years of bursting their veins. Relax and have a good time, and your blood pressure will thank you for it.

Who's bursting a vein?

I've resigned myself to watching us be largely irrelevant as long as Pop has a death grip on how this franchise operates. He's become the Jerry Jones of the NBA. Nothing will change for this franchise until he's gone, unfortunately. Just hope somehow Victor has patience and we don't watch him leave to another program because of it.

[Mugen]

It still hurts tbh.

[polandprzem]

Him being a coach made me disgust Spurs basketball.
They played the most boring and disappointing bball in a long time.