Reply With Quote
Jokic is going to be a quarterback?Not so fast mi amigo
Josh Kroenke owns the LA Rams so we all know what that means.
I know a lot of you guys don't like his demeanor/temper, but I kind of like him because of that. I'd have him near the top of my list. I think he has the best balance between old Pop. Maybe not as calm as old school Pop, as Pop had amazing balance where he could go off on the players and then a minute later be all cool and calm, and still very approachable. Not sure if Mike cools down as fast, but I want a coach that is willing to get on players and call them out/call the team out when they're playing poorly. Mike seems very approachable even if he does go off on you like Pop used to do back in the day. I don't want a pushover coach. I just don't know what kind of balance Michael Malone has.
I also wonder if any coach would be willing to come on board and co-coach with Pop for a season and then take over? Malone might be the only guy willing to do that since he knows Pop quite well.
Jokic is going to be a quarterback?Not so fast mi amigo
Josh Kroenke owns the LA Rams so we all know what that means.
watch jokic sign with the Lakers next season and play with his buddy Luka for a bag of chips and a hot sauce
And yet were stuck with Pop and Wright and their decade of mediocrity because the owners handed the whole kingdom to Popovich. At least the Nuggets have some accountability even if it's used for a bull reason.
He's under contract for at least 3 more years, 4 if he picks up his option. They're not trading him unless he publicly demands it and even then I'm not sure they would. It's more realistic that Luka would go to Denver as a Free Agent next Summer than it is the Nuggets trading him to LA.
Trading for Bryn Forbes should cost you your job.
My thoughts:
1) There is no guarantee Pop is planning to return next season. I know he talked about "going out on his terms", but his terms may be to let Mitch have his shot (which he has) and to sort this out in the offseason rather than going through a mid-season coaching change for a team who hasn't changed coaches in over two decades.
2) I don't want the Spurs to keep Mitch. I think he was put in a tough spot and, again, you don't just an fire interim coach in a bad spot after your HoF coach just suffered a potentially career-ending (if not life-ending) stroke. The Spurs weren't going to make noise in the playoffs this year anyways, so might as well just let him ride it out.
3) A lot rides on what Wemby wants. If he is deadset on keeping Pop, then guess what...Pop is staying. You could call that NBA malpractice or whatever but...we can't afford to piss of Wemby and lose him.
4) Having more candidates in the coaching pool helps the Spurs here. They now have more options to select from including several qualified candidates (Malone, Jenkins, Becky if she decides to leave WNBA, etc) so it seems even less likely that Johnson is given the spot. We also have former head coach and Spurs assistant Brett Brown on the bench right now, and I'm still surprised he didn't get the interim gig when Pop went down
I wish I could tbh.
4 of the last 5 head coaches that Westbrook has played for either quit or were fired after coaching him for a year
Mike D’Antoni quit in 2020 after a season of Russ on the rockets
Scott Brooks was fired in 2021 in June after a season of Russ on the wizards
Frank Vogel was fired in 2022 (after coaching the lakers to a ring 2 years prior) after a year of Russ on the lakers
Ty Lue = anointed and protected by the Holy Spirit
Malone = fired after almost a year with Russ
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1juln6j/4_of_the_last_5_head_coaches_that_westbrook_has/?rdt=37438
if the FO decides to keep Mitch or bring back Pop, I'm all for signing Russ
tbh for most of the season Russ has been a force for good for denver
He was good as a high energy backup, then Murray got injured and Russ started getting more and more usage, which led to garbage basketball, as per usual.
yeah but thats not on him. heck there were games he was starting at PF in the aaron gordon role and performing admirably. the fact that denver has awful depth (and used their entire mini midlevel exception of dario saric who has not cracked the rotation) isnt westbrook's fault
Obviously, but he's 36 and still hasn't learned what he should and shouldn't do.
He just goes and doesn't think about anything.
He's not the reason for their issues, far from it, but as of late he's not helping at all.
Just think of our recent win against them, there was a possession with maybe 2 minutes left in the game and we were 4 or 5 points up, he just dribbled the ball for like 15 seconds and then took a 3pt from 2 steps behind the arc. Why?
People are gonna say Jokic had a hand in this but I think we are seeing an era of owners just over stepping their knowledge and do stupid things.
Mavs, Memphis and now nuggets. Not to mention the kings who have made some non sensical trade this year (thanks). It’s a culture of owners listening to yes men around them, where a couple of dimwits who google online and read a couple of Reddit threads would think they got this basketball thing figured out, then proceed to do the stupidest thing possible.
Hit pieces are coming out and saying key players were frustrated by Malone not reducing Westbrook's role despite him being a negative on the floor.
I'm also inclined to believe in theory that Jokic agreed with both firings because he hates drama and grown men acting like children. He just wants to focus on basketball, Booth and Malone were in the way of that.
FWIW, Jokic said that Kroenke told him of the decision, but that it wasn't a discussion, rather the decision had already been made:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...llenge-shakeup
I don't believe it was about Westbrook.
Kroenkes are pretty good owners, so this is strange.
There are people here who believe Jokić didn’t give this the ok? If not out right initiate it?
Ownership is supposed to protect their franchise guy/best player in the league. Good for them.
How much of a do you have to be make Joker turn on you? Crazy stuff.
Look up a couple of posts to the link. Joker himself said he didn’t, nor did they ask him to sign off on it.
What would you like him to say? “Yeah you got me. It was I who did it and I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling kids”.
One of the funniest things in fandom are the ones who think the thought process for foreign players is the same as Americans. Jokic is a straight shooter who was honest enough to say he didn’t care about their victory parade, but just wanted to go home to be with his horses and work in the stables. He was genuinely disappointed that he had to stick around for a few extra days. He’s not the guy you think he is.
Jokic strikes me as an old school type who would have more respect for the org/owner who outright makes the decision and stands on it rather than waffling about and essentially asking players if it would be ok. Jokic has said in the past that in his home country if something is broken/not working you should expect to be fired. Obviously, in the NBA roster moves are quite difficult due to trade deadline/contracts/aprons etc, but coaching and front office changes don't have those constraints which is why the coach change lever gets pulled most often.
Jokic alluded to Kroenke essentially blasting the players for poor performance and that even though the coach took the fall the players share that blame as well. Jokic is not a diva superstar (think KD), even though he probably has the most power to wield in the league he certainly doesn't act like it.
I always thought one of the funniest things in fandom was stating one's opinion, speculation and inferences as though they are facts.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
