Shams: Mitch Johnson Named Spurs New Head Coach

[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" 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 le. 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 ed.

[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!

[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

"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 le 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 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 compe ive 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 ing 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.
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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, 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 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.