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His career ended in 2001, not 1985.
Was Vinny Del Negro a decent player? Do you guys think he will do good as a coach? Which NBA Player of today would you compare him to.
His career ended in 2001, not 1985.
The battle to get Noah to a hair stylist ought to be better than the Skiles/Wallace spat over headbands
Vinnie was a solid player in the 90s.....however, his eye candy of a wife was a greater contribution to the Spurs in the mid 90s than he was. Everytime they panned to her in the stands it made my eyes quite happy. Vinnie, with that hair and beard, always looked like he should dressed in leather and hanging out at the Blue Oyster Bar....
He couldn't shoot a set shot very well.....but he was deadly with a running jumper or any off balance shot. He would always bank that running jumper from like 10-15 ft. He was an ok defender, well at least he tried to defend.
If I had to grade his performance while he was a Spur, I would give him a B-.
A poor man's Manu, minus the compe ive drive (Manu's best quality).
"Old Spurs fan" and Vinnie????
Don't think so.
Now if you want to ask about Rich Jones, Swen Nater, Gene Banks, et al...have at it.
Thanks alot
The original poster is like 13 years old. So Stephen Jackson is an old school Spurs player to him.
And???? Michael Jordan retired in 2003 does that mean he played the same as when he was a bull in the young 90s???
Correction.... 19 years old.
Vinnie has already epic-failed by going to the Bob Hill card.
Vinny Del Negro was worthless. He was cheap-ass Red McComb's replacement when he decided not to pay to bring Rod Strickland back. Del Negro was soft, never any good in the playoffs, and the weakest Spurs starter since Alfrederick Hughes. Replacing Del Negro's soft ass with Mario Elie is one of the main things that put the Spurs over the top to win the le in '99. that soft piece of . Del Negro < Steve Smith.
We are not old, we are experienced.
Vinny Del Negro was a slightly-above-average outside shooter, and could get to the rim on occasion. He was famous for his "hair fake."
He was probably the worst defender of any starting player in basketball at that time. The vision of Clyde Drexler scoring like it was practice in the 1995 WCF is burned into my brain. Throughout the mid-to-late 1990's, critics cited Del Negro as being too weak a starter for any team with le aspirations. They were correct.
He was also a world-class crybaby. Ray Allen is Admiral Freaking Cook in comparison. There is a reason he found the Phoenix Suns organization so attractive. He loved to cry to the media all the time. Bob Hill was his bedroom friend. Vinny never could take Pop's style of coaching, and bad-mouthed him to the Spurs' beat writer at the time, Kevin O'Keefe, who hated Popovich and David Robinson.
In 1999 Pop dumped Del Negro for Mario Elie. O'Keefe was as crushed as Steve Francis was when Cuttino Mobley was traded, and ripped Pop up and down in the paper as basically the second coming of Hitler. The E-N had enough and fired him.
The Spurs never looked back.
Del Negro went where all bags go -- Phoenix. He fit in perfectly there. Now he's going to go destroy the Chicago Bulls.
And you dont remember Vinnie? I am only 23 and I remember him.
But then again, I am a Spurs fan, so it is probably easier to remember guys that played for your favorite team when you were a kid than a player who played for a different team.
poor-man's Manu indeed, but without the range and above the rim skills.
There is no comparison between Manu and Del Negro. That's like comparing Tim Duncan and J.R. Reid.
He was superb at passing the ball to Robinson. Dunno about anything else.
I take it back; Alfrederick the Great never started a game. Vinny was only the second worst Spurs starter, behind Charles Smith. People will look at stats and overrate him on that, but those only came because the Spurs had no one else and were stuck playing his soft ass 30+ minutes a night.
No, F that noise, that's no excuse. I knew who VDN was before I became a Spurs fan.Thank you, NBA Jam.
I love this site because there are so many different kinds of fans.
A much better summation. The problem with McCombs strategy was Del Negro was touted to be the next incoming point guard. he was nowhere near being a point guard. In fact, he wasn't even a very good shooting guard.
As I've stated in another thread, Vinny was the kind of player who could perhaps get you 20 points versus the Clippers or Grizzlies. But if you pitted him against average to above average compe ion (Rockets, Fakers, Bulls), he would wilt like a flower in desert heat. He had a lot to do with why the Spurs were branded as "soft" back in the mid-90's. He was not only a worthless candy-ass, but he had no mental toughness whatsoever. By far, he was and will beTHE spur that I hated the most.
There's a story about how Del Negro, once during a game versus the Bulls, was so enamored going up against Jordan's Bulls, that he was overheard at the free throw line during the game, soliciting him to play in his offseason golf tournament. In fact, Vinny often seemed more interested in lowering his golf score than improving at his main profession.
As far as what kind of a coach he will make, I don't know. His ascension to this level is more of a testimony to his knack for developing relationships than for his understanding the game. I do find it rather amusing that a guy who was never tough-minded, aggressive, or even a fierce compe or, would be in a position where he's required to impart these same traits into young players.
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