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Its addition by subtraction
For the first time in forever, the Spurs have themselves a real coach.
Its addition by subtraction
My number one concern with this dude is that he has a follower mentality. He straight up said he isn’t Pop and can’t do what he does (paraphrasing). I’m not sure he has the confidence to be a long term coach. Also, I’d want my long term coach to be admired by players around the league and i’m not sure Mitch has those qualities. Maybe he does and we don’t know much about him yet.
I want the next coach to be more than the Pop tree coaches who are either out of the league or havent done much, that includes Bud, the bald guy that was in PHX and now in detroit (forgot his name), and even Udoka… like, I wish Mitch was some sort of prodigy like the Boston coach right now or Spoelstra. I’m not sure he is. Im not saying i want an established coach either. I just havent read anything about Mitch that makes him stand out other than hes been an assistant coach for Pop. He’s not some discovery from the video room or whatever.
Give Mitch this and the next season, should be enough to evaluate his qualities.
If he fails, get a proven name. I'd go for Kerr when Steph retires in 2026 or 2027.
That was just public speak for the old man during the health issue. What's he supposed to say? "I know Pop just had a stroke but I'm going to be better than him in every way."
His in-game coaching, rotations, and how the team has looked under his stead shows to me he's not just some lackey tbh.
You can just see what the infusion of new blood at the head of the bench has done for the roster tbh.
There's a compe ive edge we haven't seen since maybe Manu retired. It's no longer just the "Aw shucks, it's just basketball..." mentality.
What a breath of fresh air tbh.
Spo and Mazulla were not admired around the league when hired, or even known. You get that by coaching, and you can’t coach until you have a job.
Both of those guys were still deliberately selected with careful thought and consideration. Mitch is just a guy that had to take the reins because they weren’t prepared for Pop’s stroke.
Pop is 75 and there had to be a plan for what happens after he's done.
If it was a panic solution, we would've seen Brett Brown in charge.
Mitch getting the job with no experience over an older coach says a lot.
Most all-time great coaches got thrown into the fire with no previous experience and did fine.
We obviously can't know if Mitch is the guy, but right now it's pointless to even debate it because he'll surely have until the end of the season to prove himself.
Mitch being interim over Brett Brown leads me to believe there have been plans to make him the successor for a while.
And Mazulla became HC because of the whole Udoka scandal. He wasnt carefully picked until he needed to be tbh.
He‘s doing a great job. Good game plan, gets after players. His half time adjustments have been impressive tbh. I wouldn‘t mind him taking the reigns.
I always like finding that Coach from the video room story. One thing I noticed about Mitch is he listens to his players, like that time Keldon thought the ball wasn’t off him so they challenged the call, just to learn it brushed off Keldon’s knee or something and Mitch was smiling and Keldon was giving him the shrug like, “hey I thought it didn’t lol.” That was a funny moment to me. I love Pop but sometimes he’s a tough coach. Like he doesn’t want “special treatment” for Wembybfrom the referees if Dillon Brooks was being too rough, etc so Wemby can learn to toughen up. It works but sometimes you want to feel your coach got your back, which Pop does but he shows his tough love.
Mitch to me is perfect. I forever want my Spurs coach coming from that Pop tree. “This is the Spurs way” and that’s why we do things this way, never faltering from that philosophy. I want Mitch to be once again the genius from that Pop tree, like Bud or Ime or Kerr. And people would say, yup Spurs did it again! Go Mitch!
"When i get off this ventilator I'm taking my job back and Mitch is going to get over himself"
Give Bassey some run over Collins and I might be sold.
I thought he was just a useless flunky, but if the old re isn't there for him to have to defer to, he seems to do well. I hadn't seen a hard show by the big on defense since Timmy retired until last week.
Mitch seems to be settling in. I have no beef against him so far and it’s way to early to say whether he’s the one or not.
That said, the spurs are playing like a different team since he took over. They are 7-5, which isn’t impressive on paper, but considering the injuries and the strength of the opponents they are doing ok. The early loss to the rockets, Dallas, and Utah were bad (rockets and Mavs due to the embarrassing fashion and Utah because it’s Utah), and going down bing vs Utah (again) and the warriors shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Even in a win letting the wiz score 130 is bad.
That said the offence is modernized. 3pa went from 33.6 a game to to 42 a game (sorry all by heart so calculation coil be wrong). 3p against went from 39 to 37.7 small drop but % went from 36.4% to 33.6%. Eye test confirmed it yet as the cuts and rotations opened up perimeter, while the decrease in drop coverage improved challenges at the 3 pt line. These are not ground breaking stuff as even the board has been calling it for a year, but to be able to implement these changes on the fly is a testament to his ability to lead and also the players ability to execute rather quickly. It also showed that perhaps they have been practising those sets earlier but didn’t break them out for whatever reason. Wild guess.
It makes you wonder, would the Spurs be winning these games with Pop calling the shots instead of Mitch?
he never impressed me in summer league...so ill wait and see a bit longer before anointing him...
if he cuts zollins minutes in half and lets bassey take those minutes - it would serve the purpose of keeping all three of
wemby/zollins/bassey fresher and free of injuries...so im hoping he realizes that...
if he keeps branham on a very short leash...it would serve the team...
hope he continues to remain locked in...and on a separate topic - if zollins/branham/vassell could be packaged and traded for anything decent it would really help the team...
we would definitely have a worse record if the old man was coaching. I hope he gets healthy, but he should hand over the reigns. I said for years we'll win again once he steps down and you can see it already.
As stated, the Spurs are playing close to .600 ball with Johnson which is WAAAAAY ahead of what we thought was their schedule. Like 15-20 wins more than expected. My Spurs colored glasses translate to a possible 50-win season, while I know some would say 40-45 is the best case.
Don't need to say much more than that, but I like his sideline demeanor and there seems to be evidence he may be strong both in Xs and Os as well as overall game strategy. The fact that he was Pop's current #2 gives him instant credibility both league wide and with our players. If Pop were not to come back due to health or hang it up after this season, MJ has the "spiritual leader" component seeming nailed down as the rightful successor to Pop.
Wesley should also be on any trade wish list. Maybe we can offload 1-2 players along with CP3 for some kind of decent asset(s).
To think that an organization who’s known for doing classy things would trade away a player who’s making a huge impact to the team right now is laughable, tbh…
Why would anyone wonder that?
Not playing Bassey last night was puzzling, but so far so good with Mitch.That was just public speak for the old man during the health issue. What's he supposed to say? "I know Pop just had a stroke but I'm going to be better than him in every way."
His in-game coaching, rotations, and how the team has looked under his stead shows to me he's not just some lackey tbh.
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